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!

Vivienne Tam's Mickey Mouse Dresses

It's the year of the rat according to the Chinese lunar calendar, and to celebrate, designer Vivienne Tam created these Mickey-Mouse-themed dresses and held a fashion show at Hong Kong Disneyland.. They're very kitschy-pretty. I like the fourth one from the left and the third one from the right. Image by Reuters.

Link

Fortune Highlights Dearth of Powerful Japanese Women

The October 15 issue of Fortune Magazine features 100 of the most powerful women in the world, 50 in the US and 50 in the rest of the world. Pretty surprisingly diverse group of ladies—the #1 in the US is Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo. She's Indian-American. Andrea Jung of Avon is Asian, and Oprah is black, and they're both in the Top 10. The international list has plenty of representation from France, Britain, China, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Africa. So guess how many of the 100 are Japanese?

Two! Surprising, considering that Japan is so first world. But then again, not surprising at all if you know a thing or two about what it's like to be a woman in the Japanese work force. Anyway, Yoshiko Shinohara, president of Tempstaff, comes in at #39 on the Global List, and Sawako Noma, Pres and CEO of publishing giant Kodansha (she's the founder's granddaughter), comes in at #45. Interesting to note also that both Shinohara and Noma are much older than the average woman on these lists—they're in their sixties and seventies, compared to the American top dogs who are mostly in their early 50s (some are even in their thirties!).

Photo Of Killed Japanese Journalist

Check out this Reuters photo of demonstrators in Burma (Myanmar). Here, security forces shoot at the demonstrators, who are fleeing. The guy lying on the floor is 50-year old video journalist Kenji Nagai. This was taken shortly before he died from the bullet wounds that have him lying on the ground. He was 1 of 9 that died in Yangon that day.

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Eva Popiel, Korean Celebrity

Apparently, this girl—whom I swear was in my brother's middle school class in Tokyo (can anyone confirm?)—is a celebrity in Korea. Here she talks about sex ed and Korean chicks.

Little Chinese Girl Rocks Out On Xylophone

This little Chinese girl, who makes an appearance here on a Japanese TV show, is really good at playing the xylophone. And she's having so much fun!

(Thanks, Cherlyn!)

Condom Fashion Show in China

At a reproductive health and technologies expo in China last week, models wore these pretty dresses made entirely out of condoms. I don't know if this really sends out the right message, though. It's kinda like when TLC wore condoms as accessories on their album cover, it doesn't really tell you the right way to use them. Anyway, these dresses are pretty rad-looking so I had t post them. More pics (courtesy of Reuters and MSN Mainichi Daily News) after the jump.

Housewives Buy Gay Boys In Bangkok

Okay, Yaoi is one thing, but you know the gay boy fetish has gone too far when Japanese women start flying to Thailand to frequent go-go bars there. Apparently, it's the new trend for young housewives bored out of their minds to head out to Bangkok's gay bars in pairs and bring go-go boys home to their hotels and pay them to fuss over them and treat them like princesses.

Link

Jackie Chan makes America's most famous Japanese people list.

A survey of 100 American company workers posed the question: What Japanese person are you most familiar with? The answers are interesting. See below.

1. Ichiro Suzuki, baseball player
2. Puffy, singing duo
3. Koizumi, former prime minister
5. Emperor Hirohito, wartime emperor
12. Jackie Chan, action hero

Uh, okay, corporate America, let's get one thing straight here. The goofy man in the black bodysuit pictured above right? He's Chinese.

More on the survey here.

Tokyo Mango - India

I just came back from two weeks in India. I was planning to blog about my trip while traveling, but Internet access was super slow and inconsistent. So I'm doing it retroactively, piece by piece.

Dharamsala is the craziest, funnest place in the world. I highly recommend going there if you like people, jewelry, speeding backwards down windy mountainous roads crowded with cows and monks and rabid dogs, or all of the above.

Link

Breaking news: What Kim Jong-Il is REALLY thinking.

The father of the North Korean people, Kim Jong-Il, announced his first nuclear test today, declaring (and I quote) that "the nuclear test was conducted with indigenous wisdom and technology, 100 percent." 

Kim Jong-Il is not so different from Dr. Evil. They both wear baggy gray jumpsuits, like to pose in front of the camera, and are more self-important than they are recognized. (According to North Korea's fantastically propaganda-stic only official news source to the outside world, Kim regularly gets floral baskets sent and biographies published by world leaders in every country, from Laos to Syria.)

Did you know Kim Jong-Il has a Live Journal account? It turns out he has regular conversations with Bush, Cheney, Hu Jintao, and Saddam on AIM. If you want to add any of them to your buddy list, their screen names are License2KimJongIll, Bush43, BreakTheseCheneysOfLove, Hu's-on-first, and Saddam keeps changing his, but last time I checked it was WeaponsOfAssDestruction.

For a more serious analysis by one North Korea expert, check out this interview I did when I was an intern at Mother Jones Magazine.