TOKYOMANGO

Get your hand-printed limited edition TokyoMango t-shirt now (2 weeks only)

My friend Ben and I made a test run of TokyoMango t-shirts on Saturday. They're really nice, do you want one? If so, you can buy one here. Below are the details:

- All shirts are 100% cotton.
- Each t-shirt will be hand-silk screened by me and Ben on his Yudu machine. The shirt logo was custom-designed by Ben. Mango design courtesy of my web designer James.
- The Women's tees come in a t-shirt style (pistacio and white) and a spaghetti strap ribbed tank (yellow).
- The Men's tees come in orange and white. In the pic above, Ben is actually accidentally wearing a girl's tee, but you get the idea... the sleeves will be more manly on the one you get.
- You can choose a custom colored tee for $25. Just shoot me an email with your preference after you place the order.
- The sizes tend to run a little big (except for the tanktops). They might shrink in the wash.
- Some of you will receive a free surprise Japanese toy or gadget with your t-shirt! I'm just gonna randomly stick them into bags, so keep an eye out.
- We're taking orders over the next two weeks only, at least for this first printing. They'll ship at the end of those two weeks, when Ben & I will silkscreen them by hand.
- Last day to order is Monday, October 5th.

UPDATE: T-shirts are no longer for sale. Maybe we'll do another round sometime!

TokyoMango on Twitter & Facebook

I'm not crazy about social networking, but I have noticed that I spend more time Twittering and Facebooking (?) when I'm on deadline.

TokyoMango on Twitter
TokyoMango on Facebook

Reader photo: Pants-eating dog statue in Kyoto

Photo by Moogs

Will the Japanese guy remain the masturbating champ of the world?

This Saturday is the annual Masturbate-a-thon in San Francisco—it's a group masturbation event-slash-competition-slash-fundraiser for the Center for Sex and Culture. The world record holder for "longest time spent masturbating/male" is Masanobu Sato of Tokyo. He masturbated for 9 hours and 33 minutes in 2008, and is back this year to defend his record. Every year, at least a couple guys come from Japan to compete. Anyway... the event is this Saturday, and it should be a lot of fun if anyone wants to check it out!

Masturbate-a-thon main page

R2D2 cell phone strap with LED

This R2D2 cell phone strap/keychain doubles as a LED flashlight. Buy it here.

Video: A dog that plays the piano

I had dinner with childhood friend Tomi from Tokyo last weekend, and he told me he has a dog who looks just like Malcolm that plays the piano. He sent me this video to prove it. Bati is a seasoned pro, but his little sister Luna can't reach the piano so she opts to chew on Tomi's mom's feet and sleeves instead. Tomi's mom, by the way, was my piano teacher when I was in grade school. I think her dog is a better student than I ever was, but oh well.

Geeky portable shrine worships gadgets and figurines

The geekiest shrine ever is this portable mikoshi designed by a maid cafe employee in Akihabara. Instead of Buddhas and mochi, this shrine features a TV screen, a keyboard, anime figurines, laptops, game consoles, and tons of cell phone handsets.

via Japan Probe

Reader photo: Mister Lost and Found

What an amazing photo of a kooky bum.

Photo by Jordon Cheung

New site reviews Japanese curry joints in the US

My friend and colleague from Wired, Chris Kohler, started a web site that exclusively reviews Japanese curry restaurants in North America. It's awesome, I want to try them all. So far Go Go Curry in NY has the most stars.

Americurry main page

Fangirls swarming Hello Kitty in Japantown

After the parade in Japantown last weekend, I ran into Hello Kitty and My Melody on the street. I was about to go bonk Kitty in the head when this gang of Asian women ran up to her screaming and took this very exciting photo. I think it totally made their day.

Reader photo: I am beer machine. And you?

Ying Hao writes:

This is a vending machine in a hostel called J-Hopper's that I stayed in with my friends from college, when I was being a tour guide and showing them around Hiroshima.

Photo by Ying Hao Lai

Reader photo: Kabukicho Ichibangai entrance

Kabukicho, famous for its hostess clubs, seedy night clubs, and the kabuki theater that was never built.

Photo by Erik Katerborg

Juice boxes look like the real fruit

Look at these beautiful juice boxes by industrial designer Naoto Fukasawa. He made each container resemble the look and texture of the fruit it embodies—here, we see (from l-r) soy, banana, and strawberry, and kiwi (below).

Thanks, Paul!

See your favorite photos of Japan on TokyoMango

Want to share your best Japan photography with us? Send me your best shots of Japan with explanations, and I'll put them on TokyoMango (with a photo credit, of course, and any other info you send along). It could be scenery, a moment captured on film that meant something to you or told you something about Japanese culture, or something just totally abstract or random that looks cool. Thanks!

Different flavored umaibo

Umaibo is a Japanese snack frequently found at dagashiya, traditional Japanese candy shops, and more recently, at maid cafes. Five friends and I won this lovely selection of different flavored umaibo when we went to one and beat our waitress in a Jenga-like number game. I think they were shrimp, corn, chocolate, spicy jalapeno, and...monkey clown?

Why was SMAP's Kusanagi naked in the park?

A couple days ago, cops found 90s boy band star Tsuyoshi Kusanagi sitting naked on a park bench at 3AM. As he was taken away, the drunken ex-heartthrob allegedly yelled something like: What's wrong with being naked???

Which not only brings up a valid point, but raises the question of why he was in the nude in the middle of the night by himself in a park. Here are my three best guesses:

1. It was hot. I am not sure what the weather was like that day in Tokyo, but it can get pretty gruesome.
2. Panicked by the lack of recent attention in his drunken stupor, he thought being in his birthday suit might bring back some fans.
3. He has a serious drinking problem.

From what the news reports are saying, it sounds like #3 might be the most realistic answer.

How to make cream puffs that look like Totoro

Anna the Red has a great tutorial with pictures on how to make delicious cream puffs filled with custard that look like characters from Hayao Miyazaki's iconic anime, My Neighbor Totoro.

(Thanks, Walter!)

Experimental Japan: reader-made stop motion video

TokyoMango reader and photographer Dave Lee made this cool stop motion video of Japan. Love the rabbit at the end!

Mr. Ando of the Woods—a quirky animated short film

This is so funny! 5-minute animated skit about whether a guy named Mr. Ando is human or not, by quirky animator Takashi Taniguchi.

via Pink Tentacle

Amazing stereographic images of Tokyo

Photographer heiwa4126 used an ultra-wide fisheye lens to create 360°x180° panoramas using stereographic projection--a technique used in geometry to map a sphere onto a plane.

via Pink Tentacle and BBG

Urawaza on Neatorama

I wrote a quick intro and excerpt to Urawaza on Neatorama, a super fun blog that I enjoy reading a lot. It's on the front page today if you want to take a quick read.

Urawaza on Neatorama

Hello Kitty beer

I'd imagine Hello Kitty beer would taste like cotton candy. Yuck.

via Gizmodiva

Designer sushi roller

This neat-looking sushi roller machine by designer Osko & Deichmann will be on display at the Kitchen Ecology Exhibition in LA this June.

via Designboom

Trains that run dangerously close to humans

I feel really bad for the person in Japan who lives in this house. A reporter from Daily Portal Z took this pic from the train while on a quest to find places where the train runs dangerously close to human habitation.

Link

Video: Japanese man is the best bartender in the world

The best bartender in the world? Keisuke Goto, a Japanese guy who blew the crowd away at a Texas tournament recently.

via Japan Probe

Breakfast gadget that makes egg three different ways in the microwave

Hario's microwave egg cooker is a little egg-shaped container that allows you to make things like scrambled eggs, onsen eggs, or poached eggs with just your microwave. No need to dirty pots and pans.

Product page (Japanese, via Impress Watch)

Related stories:
The perfectly microwaved boiled egg

Japantown Cherry Blossom Festival pics

Today was the last day of the Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco's Japantown, and I walked in the big parade with my friend's daughter and her elementary school friends. We wore yukata and got to borrow these cool orange umbrellas, which saved us from heatstroke. It was an unusually ridiculously hot day.

Contest: Win a TokyoFlash watch in the Team Lazy contest

Last call for the Team Lazy fan contest:

The winner will get to be our team's official fan—you'll get a free PixiMix t-shirt and lots of continuous love from all of us on Team Lazy. All you need to do is show me something that represents how much you want to be our fan--whether it's a poem, a cheer, face paint, or even better, a YouTube video of you reading a poem or doing a cheer while wearing face paint. Email all entries to mango [at] tokyomango [dot] com with the subject line: Team Lazy Fan Contest.

UPDATE: The winner will also win a super cool Japanese watch courtesy of TokyoFlash.

Original post about the contest is here.

David Sedaris on quitting smoking in Japan = hilariously insightful

The Smoking Section is a short story about quitting smoking in Tokyo by humorist David Sedaris. You can find it in his newest book, When You Are Engulfed in Flames. Determined that he needed a complete change of scenery to quit smoking cold turkey, Sedaris—who normally lives in Paris with his boyfriend Hugh—spent two months in Tokyo living on the 26th floor of the apartment building on top of Peacock supermarket in Azabu Juban. He isn't a Japan expert per se, but his description of the two months he spend are some of the funniest and most insightful I have read in a long time. Here's an excerpt:

A Japanese woman we'd met in Paris came to the apartment yesterday and spent several hours explaining our appliances. The microwave, the water kettle, the electric bathtub: everything blinks and bleeps and calls out in the middle of the night. I'd wondered what the rice maker was carrying on about, and Reiko told us that it was on a timer and simply wanted us to know that it was present and ready for duty. That was the kettle's story as well, while the tub was just being an asshole and waking us up for no reason.

"The Smoking Section", in When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris = 5/5

Inochiku-kun videos making waves on YouTube

If you've ever been to a Takashi Murakami art exhibit, you've probably seen Inochi-kun, the half-alien, half human boy who goes to school with other kids his age and has little adventures with love and lunch milk, etc. I don't know why now, but people have been circulating these videos—which I first saw at the Brooklyn Museum's © MURAKAMI exhibit last year—on YouTube.

(Thanks, Emily!)

This week on BB: cables in Africa, otaku culture on the DS, and cable guy porn

This week on Boing Boing Gadgets and Offworld, I wrote about:
- Why underwater cables might not solve the problem of Internet access in East Africa.
- The "sex with the cable guy" fantasy, and whether it happens in real life.
- Why the new DS Lite game Rhythm Heaven is the perfect conduit for understanding otaku culture.

Follow the links below to read any or all of them.
Underwater cables in Africa (BBG)
Sex with the Cable Guy (BBG)
Understanding otaku culture through RH (Offworld)

Doggie chew toys that look like giant mouths

These doggie chew toys, available on Rakuten, are amazing. I think I will ask my mother to send me some.

via W00kie's ramblings via Japan Probe

Review of the five second stadium stopwatch

I reviewed Bandai Gadget's five-second stadium stopwatch on BBG today, and took this video of me and Malcolm playing with it. Read review.

Five-fingered sauce bottle for food decoration

Magic Five is a sauce bottle that squirts out whatever you put in it in five thin lines instead of one big blob. Pretty awesome. Read Steven's review and how he and I both ended up with one each on BBG.

Time lapse video of Shinjuku

TokyoMango reader Sam made this awesome time lapsed video of Tokyo. He says:

This one was shot over the span of a year with Canon DSLRs (mostly a 350d/Rebel XT), processed with Lightroom (raw files color adjustment and resizing)/VirtualDub (assembling the pics sequence as a movie, using various filterss to remove any shake or flicker)/Sony Vegas (editing). The original is 1080p HD and looks much much better.

He's a long-time Tokyo resident from France.

Psychiatrist convicted of leaking arson-murder boy's confidential info

In June 2006, a 19-year old boy set fire to his home in Nara, killing his mother and two siblings almost instantly. It was horrifying. What happened next is pretty bad too. The court appointed a psychiatrist, Morimitsu Sakihama, to conduct psychiatric tests on the boy. Sakihama did as told, and then he leaked his assessment and confidential information the boy gave him to a journalist. "I did it to benefit the boy" was his lame excuse. The journalist, a woman named Atsuko Kusanagi, used the information to write a book about the boy titled I Decided to Kill my Dad.

Sakihama was convicted to four months in prison for violating the privacy of his patient yesterday, but I think the larger problem here is that news like this creates an even deeper mistrust of psychologists and psychiatrists than there already is. Mental health care in Japan is scant, and most doctors are quick to prescribe meds without even taking the idea of seeing a shrink into consideration. Problems like hikikomori and suicide arise in large part because these people see no escape. And then some government-entrusted psychiatrist dude comes along and spills his guts to a reporter... not a very good thing for mental health care's rap in an already skeptical society.

Link

Town sells four school buildings on Yahoo! Auction

Ever wish you could own a school building in Hokkaido? Now you can. A small town called Nikappu is putting four elementary school buildings on Yahoo! Auction, with bidding starting at about $200K. Not a bad deal, considering it includes everything from the main campus building to the gym and pool and teachers' dorms. The reason for the auction is a little depressing, though—the number of children in Japan is on a decline because of the low birth rate, and seven schools in this town alone shut down in the past year.

via IT Media (Japanese) and Asiajin

Woman publishes book full of text messages sent to her dead husband's cell phone

65-year old Toshiko Fukuda of Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, lost her husband to asbestos on April 17th last year. Her husband, Motoo, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2006, probably from the steel pipe factory he worked at. He got worker's comp, but the disease ultimately destroyed his lungs and left him with hallucinations for the remainder of his life. Shocked, the widowed Fukuda started sending text messages to her dead husband every time she thought of something she wanted to say to him. Continue reading at BBG

New Bandai somen toy is a giant slide for noodles

Bandai's new somen-making toy looks like so much fun. It's basically a slide for "nagashi somen," thin somen noodles that are served in a stream of water. The noodles come out of a little house at the top of the slide and end up in a strainer at the bottom. To be released tomorrow, 4/18, in Japan. What's better than a toy you can eat off of?

Press release via Impress Watch (Japanese)

Famous Japan writer Donald Richie in Berkeley April 21

Donald Richie, one of the most respected living Japan writers of today, will be giving a talk about Japanese film at Berkeley's First Congregational Church on Tuesday, April 21. He is the author of books like Old Kyoto: The Updated Guide to Traditional Shops, Restaurants, and Inns and The Inland Sea. His newest book is A Tractate on Japanese Aesthetics, which is kind of entering into Richie's brain—it's written in a free form, random rambling thought type of way. Man, I wish I could gain enough cred so that I can get my random thoughts published one day.

More info about the event here.

Black and white photograph of Ginza in the 50s

TokyoMango reader Dak Roland send me a link to this beautiful photo that his father took of Ginza in the 50s. He says:

My Dad was stationed in Roppongi, Tokyo Japan from 1954 until 1956, and took tons of photos when he lived there. I am in the process of scanning them, and he has many photos of this area of Ginza. Here is one...

(Photo by John Kenney)

Amazing handsets designed by Yayoi Kusama

OMG. I really want this Au cell phone designed by Yayoi Kusama. I don't even care that I can't use it in America. Kusama is a genius OCD artist who lives in Japan—I have written about her here and on io9 in the past. She is now pretty old and lives in a mental hospital in Tokyo, but still commutes to her nearby studio to make amazing things like these phones. The BBC video shows more.

TokyoMango on BornRich.Org

Haha, I'm BornRich.org's Cool Geek of the Week. And yes, that really is me holding hands with the Dalai Lama. I had the honor of meeting him in Dharamsala, India a year and a half ago.

Donburi Mania, a cookbook for bachelors who love rice bowls

Donburi Mania is a fun Japanese cookbook full of creative recipes for rice bowls. I haven't tried any yet, but I really want to make a killer oyakodon and I also kinda wanna try the Melty Cheesy Meat Sauce Donburi.

Explore a secret icicle cave in Hokkaido

There's a secret icicle cave called the 100-tatami cave in Date, Hokkaido, and a local non-profit offers tours there until it melts. Maybe it melted already? Anyhow, you have to hike for close to an hour in boots or snow shoes to get there. Looks fun!

via the Mainichi

Greatest living samurai is a TV sensation

My friend Jason just sent me this video of Japan's greatest modern day samurai. His sword skills are really quite amazing, but it's a little bit unfortunate that he has nothing better to slice than mushrooms and cucumbers on variety TV shows.

This week on BBG: 3D printer art and dog poop compost

It was my first full week as an editor at Boing Boing Gadgets, and I wrote two fun stories for our Printers and Gardening theme days, respectively: a photo gallery of museum-grade sculptures made with 3D printers, and an illustrated guide on how I am composting Ruby and Malcolm's poop.

High-end 3D printer art on BBG
Composting minpin poop on BBG

Swimmy's party for job-hunting investment bankers in Tokyo

My enterprising college sempai Swimmy Minami was on Bloomberg today, in a story about his new high-end online head-hunting firm, BizReach. He had a big party at Heartland in Roppongi where he invited people searching for jobs that pay $100K or more—Heartland was the investment banker hangout back in the heyday before Lehman died. He called it the Pink Slip Party—cute! Swimmy is a great guy—smart (he graduated summa cum laude from Tufts even though every time I saw him he was just screwing around with his friends), motivated, and kind (I ran into him once at Ala Moana Shopping Center in Hawaii, where he was frantically trying to fulfill a two-page illustrated shopping list from his girlfriend). I wish him the best! (Thanks, Yushi!)

Shingo Katayama kicking ass in golf tourney

Shingo Katayama and I are not related, but how awesome that someone with the same last name as me is kicking ass at the Masters in Augusta right now? He shot a five-under 67 in the first round today, and is tied for first with American Chad Campbell.

At least, I don't think we're related. He's from Ibaragi, and my family's from Kyushu. But my dad is a really good golfer, and so obviously is he...hmm, maybe he's a long lost cousin. I will investigate this and let you know.

Woman falls in hole at golf course and dies

Saddest golf story ever. A 38-year old housewife named Takae Gassho was playing golf with her family in Hokkaido when she suddenly fell into a deep hole in the ground and died. The hole was hidden by grass, so there was no way she could have seen it. There was water at the bottom—what police believe to be part of a subterranean melt water path—and by the time rescuers got her our half an hour later, she was dead. She was playing at the Le Petaw golf course in Abira.

iPhone app features ancient Japanese woodblock prints

Appliya collaborated with the museums' curators to create Ukiyo-e Beauties, an app that puts high-res, digitally restored versions of geisha-like women on your iPhone screen. Full text @ BBG