Wired has a fun photo gallery of hypercolored sea creatures by Iori Tomita, a fisherman-turned-artist who uses digestive enzymes and chemicals to manipulate their disintegration process so that it stops right before they start to crumble--for some reason, the fish turn transparent for a fleeting moment at that stage. And then he dyes and preserves them. You can see some of his work at Design Festa next month in Tokyo.
Do you guys remember this character, Kero Kero Keroppi? I used to love him when I was a kid--don't know why. Something about his simple, cross-eyed smile I find very endearing. I used to do all my school homework using notebooks and pens with his insignia on it. Anyway, he completely slipped my mind for about 23 years until a couple weeks ago, when I found a Burning Man art car parked near my house with a Kero Kero Keroppi stuffed doll sticking out the back of the truck bed. Odd, I thought. A few days later, the truck was gone and Keroppi was found hanging by the neck from a tree near the local burrito joint. I thought about rescuing him, but I was driving, and couldn't make a clean stop.
A few days later, he was gone. Assuming he died or was stolen.
If you're even the slightest bit a Japanophile, you know the story of Hachiko, the faithful dog that waited for its dead owner to come home to Shibuya station. (Tokyo's most famous rendezvous point is the cluster of benches in front of his statue.) Brian clues us in to a video, via Laughing Squid, about a dog in Texas that is doing the same thing: waiting for its owner, Wayne Giroux, to come home. Wayne was killed by a drunk driver in June, but the dog doesn't know it. Sad.
The Ctenoides ales — also known as the electric flame scallop — is a mollusk found in shallow tropical coral reefs. Check out its glowing lips!
via Pink Tentacle
If you grew up in Japan in the 80s and 90s, you will remember Mutsugoro, the eccentric animal-loving researcher and essayist from Hokkaido. In this video, a TV show brings us highlights from the top 5 most scandalous Mutsugoro moments. Watch him drink cow piss, rumble with a bighting jaguar, and get a bare hug from an anaconda.
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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