While I was in Tokyo last week, Uniqlo launched their Save Japan campaign. Together with Conde Nast Japan, they got all these celebrities to design black and white (and sometimes a little bit of color) t-shirts. I think this is the Lady Gaga one. Others include Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron, Karl Lagerfeld, and Orlando Bloom. So fancy pants!
You can buy them at any Uniqlo store for $20 each.
My friend Peter Arcuni, aka Sonny Pete, has a new album out called Where the Shadows Pass that is inspired by Japanese death poems. Very cool! He says:
Where the Shadows Pass, first inspired by a collection of Japanese death poems, is conceived as a series of vignettes and meditations on the nature of death and passage. You see, in the Buddhist tradition monks would each write a single haiku on their deathbed to reflect on the shadowy journey ahead. Despite the grim circumstance of their creation, these death poems were also a celebration of life both in this world and on to the next. This duality is the crux of the odes comprising Where the Shadows Pass.
We just missed his performance at Cafe du Nord (one of my favorite venues in SF) last week but keep an eye on his web site for more show dates... also, I just downloaded the album (available on iTunes) and it's great!
Instead of doing what I'm supposed to be doing on the Internet, I've been surfing YouTube for Mario theme song instrumentals for the past hour. Love this one of a guy playing the flute + beatboxing...
But! This song is by far my favorite. Is it called Donuts? It's so lovely on the piano. If you can play this song for me, please video tape it and I'll post it on TokyoMango. So far I only know two people who can play it--my good friend Joe Sabia and The Mario Piano Guy (who seems to have erased himself from the Interwebs). Thanks.
My friend Alexandra sent me this lovely music video. She says:
It's a group called Jupiter, their hot track called "Saké", produced by Maison Kitsuné, one of the hottest, trendiest Parisian music labels.
I'm sitting at SFO airport en route to New York, watching this clip of Swedish band Little Dragon performing a song from their new album Ritual Union on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon yesterday. 29-year old lead singer Yukimi Nagano is from Gothenberg, Sweden. her dad's Japanese. You might remember her from a couple of songs she co-wrote and co-performed on the latest Gorillaz album. Like!
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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