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Check out this cool music video for a song called Yosawya-san by Japanese electropop group Omodaka from Far East Recordings. I like how the whole time, they make it look like the little kimono-clad 8-bit ladies with the shamisen are the ones playing the song.
I posted another Omodaka video on Boing Boing.
(Thanks, Matt!)
It was a huge big deal when the Michelin Tokyo guide came out late last year for the first time in ages. First of all, everyone has much respect for the little green book that rates restaurants with stars. And second, it quickly became clear that the reviewers at Michelin believed Tokyo to be the city with the best food in the world by a far shot. Until the Japan edition came out, Paris was the cuisine leader with 65 stars. Tokyo got 191, including eight that got the highest 3-star rating.
I remember my mom telling me about this a while ago, and the AP has a good story about it this week.
Sharp Electronics teamed up with London University biologist John Oxford to create a new revolutionary defense against bird flu, also known as virus H5N1. By releasing positive and negative ions simultaneously, the technology causes virus cells to instantly combine on the surface and become free radicals, essentially replicating the properties of fresh air. It disables microorganisms that yield pollution or airborne disesase.
Plastmacluster itself was developed in 2000 as an air purification method, and is used in Sharp air conditioners and air purifiers. This summer was the first time it was proven to fight the spread of bird flu. It successfully removed 99% of the bird flu virus in lab tests.
Link (Japanese)
About a month ago, a 41-year old port worker named Nobukazu Kashiwagi called an ambulance, claiming he had been bitten by a poisonous snake. He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. When police searched his condo near Harajuku station, right in the heart of Tokyo, they found 51 poisonous snakes, including super-venomous cobras.
Apparently, the guy kept all the snakes in boxes. The one that bit him was a six-foot mamba from the African Savannah, one of the most poisonous snakes in the world. Kashiwagi is inviolation of the Law Concerning the Protection and Control of Animals, and was promptly arrested after he recovered. Nobody knows why he had so many poisonous snakes in his house.
Remember the cute bony robot soldier in Hayao Miyazaki's classic anime Rapyuta: Castle in the Sky? Well there's a dude in Japan who can do a perfect imitation of him without even wearing a robot suit. His name is Masaaki Okuyama, and he's a 28-year old salaryman at a cell phone company in Tokyo. Funny guy! This is a clip from a TV show in which people with quirky talents come on stage and are judged with a tower of lights by a panel of celebrities.
via Gizmodo Japan
In 2008, Chronicle published my book: Urawaza: Secret Everyday Tips and Tricks from Japan.
I am also the founder of The Tofu Project, a boutique program that helps Japanese entrepreneurs and creators think deeper, tell better stories, and go out into the world in a much bigger way. We work with companies like Mixi, Japan Airlines, and Salesforce.com.
Sometimes I try to explain Japanese culture on CNN, BBC, CBC, WSJ, ABC (so many acronyms!) or in person at places like the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, ETech, and Ignite!
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