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This cool-looking GameGrip for iPhone came out today in Japan from Trinity, a company that makes lots of cool-looking accessories for Apple products. The bright blue gaming grip has a silicon sweat-proof lining and neatly tucked in slits for cables in case you're playing while charging or have a headset plugged in.
Product page (Japanese)
I took this photo at the hot spring town of Izu last weekend. These little birds came to a cherry blossom tree at the train station and started happily drinking the sap from the flowers. I took this photo with my Canon G10.
I've been thinking about getting Lasik for a while now, but yikes. This news makes me think twice. Dozens of patients who got laser eye surgery in a Ginza clinic are suffering from corneal inflammation and conjunctivitis after the clinic allegedly used a dirty steam cleaner to disinfect the devices that slice the surface of people's eyeballs. The clinic was aware of these problems, but they didn't tell health officials; instead they got a replacement disinfection device and hoped it would slide. For shame, Ginza clinic!
TokyoMango reader Jay Horinouchi is having an art exhibit in LA next month. I like this piece a lot. It's called Blind, and it reminds me of Erina Matsui's axelotls. (I interviewed her for my NPR piece earlier this month.) Anyway, here's his explanation of the piece:
I had just graduated from college so I was confused about a lot of things... finding the right job, working through a relationship, etc. The left side represents going with the grain, doing what's expected of me and finding contentment in what everyone else finds contentment in (very Japanese). The right side represents going against the flow, even if I'm alone in doing so. I wanted to evoke the thought of who really is "Blind" in this kind of scenario? To blindly follow your heart or blindly follow the crowd, which is worse? Haha, did that make sense?
Strap-ya has these awesome metallic cell phone straps that look just like a Japanese license plate. You get to choose from six different designs, and then you customize the issuing city & plate number. Unlike their confusingly long, hard-to-remember American counterparts, Japanese license plates are only four digits long, so you could easily put your birthday, or the last four digits of your social, or whatever. Sorry, no vanity plates!
Product page (Japanese)
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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