Contemporary Japanese visual artists tweaked the genes of Osamu Tezuka's manga characters in dozens of works featured at the recent "Tezuka Gene - Light in the Darkness" exhibit at Parco Factory in Shibuya. Here is a small selection.
The Three-Eyed One (Enlightenment)
Ambassador Magma (Yutanpo Shirane)
Ode to Kirihito (Motohiko Odani)
Buddha (Junichi)
Eleven winners of the "Japanese New Souvenir" competition -- a public contest to recognize novel souvenir concepts that creatively express elements of Japanese culture -- were exhibited last weekend as part of the Design Touch festivities at the Tokyo Midtown complex. Coming soon to a souvenir shop near you.
Moustache Fuji (Mariko Takeuchi)
"Moustache Fuji," a fake moustache resembling a snow-capped Mt. Fuji, is a subtle but bold fashion statement that pays homage to Japan's most sacred landmark. Described as a "moustache communication tool," this fun-to-wear facial accessory lets you inject a little Japanese flair into meetings, parties and summits.
Air-Bonsai (Wabisabi)
"Air-Bonsai," a vinyl toy shaped like a potted dwarf pine, gives the traditional Japanese art of bonsai a pop-culture makeover. The soft vinyl tree packs flat into your suitcase for easy transport home.
Japanese, Face (Kozue Kojima)
These "Japanese, Face" beauty masks moisturize the skin while giving you a traditional Japanese kabuki-esque appearance.
139 Views of Mt. Fuji (Keita Suzuki)
Inspired by Hokusai's famous "36 Views of Mount Fuji" series of woodblock prints, the "139 Views of Mt. Fuji" drinking glass lets you reflect on the ephemeral beauty of Mt. Fuji and the Japanese seasons while you drink. Enjoy a different "view" of the mountain with each new type of beverage you pour.
Other top souvenir concepts (not pictured) include "Kutsu-kutsushita" socks colored to look like shoes, incense sticks tied into traditional mizuhiki knots, and a round red "Hinomaru" paperweight that instantly transforms a stack of paper into the Japanese flag.
In addition to cash prizes, the winning designers will receive active support to help turn their concepts into marketable products. The contest was organized by Tokyo Midtown Design Hub, a consortium of industrial designers, graphic designers and educators focused on promoting Japanese design.
Jemapur - Maledict Car (Dir. Kosai Sekine)
Tokyo gets mirror-tweaked to kaleidoscopic effect in Jemapur's "Maledict Car" video directed by Kosai Sekine (produced by W+K Tokyo Lab). Sekine's previous work includes the quirky "Right Place," which won the best short film award at Cannes in 2006.
Mexican tattoo artist Dr Lakra is known for drawing macabre designs on found objects and images. During a visit to Japan last year, he inked hardcore tattoos on some fine antique ukiyo-e woodblock prints purchased at used bookstores. Some of these works were included in the "Goth" exhibition at the Yokohama Museum of Art in March, but a few of the more provocative tattooed shunga prints were refused because they offended museum officials.
Untitled (Hiroshima Tomonohira Take-Emon)
Untitled
Untitled (Yokohama doll)
Untitled (Shunga IV)
[Images: Kate MacGarry]
These ferociously awesome custom rides were spotted in a parking lot near Tokyo.
Check out photographer ch.knuckles' Flickr photoset for more.
[Via: Bouncing Red Ball]
See also:
- Extreme Japanese custom vans
- Japanese custom scooters
- Dekotora photo galleries
- Itasha: Pimped rides, otaku style
A well-choreographed troupe of synchronized (and anonymized) high divers splash it up for Denki Groove in the new "Fake It!" video. Directed by Hideyuki Tanaka.
[Link: Denki Groove - Fake It!]
More:
- Denki Groove videos
- Video: Mononoke Dance
"A Dream To Have In Heaven" (Tengoku De Miru Yume - 天国でみる夢) by Maki Sasaki is a surreal non-narrative one-shot manga published in the November 1967 issue of the now-defunct Garo, an alternative manga monthly magazine that peaked in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
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The Tokyo-based Groovisions motion graphic design crew has created a stylishly animated educational video for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), which highlights some of the issues surrounding the future of food in Japan.
In the video, Groovisions use their hallmark playful-yet-ordered sim-like virtual landscape to illustrate a host of food-related challenges facing Japan. Issues include Japan's 40% food self-sufficiency rate (the lowest of any major industrialized nation), the declining agricultural industry, and the impact of world population growth and environmental changes on the global food supply.
The video also suggests that the Western-style diet of meat, fat and oil, which has partially replaced Japan's traditional diet of rice, fish and vegetables, has contributed to a variety of health problems and reduced demand for domestically grown produce. The food situation is exacerbated by other demographic factors such as the aging farming population and the abandonment of agricultural land. To reverse these trends, MAFF encourages consumers to make sustainable food choices and urges the industry to produce safe, properly labeled food.
The video (w/ English subtitles) was posted on the official MAFF YouTube channel, which was created last month.
[Link: Ensuring the Future of Food (Tip: watch the high-quality version)]
Recycle artist Masataka Koike creates realistic-looking marine life sculptures from used wooden chopsticks. This octopus, which took eight months to complete, is made of 2,000 chopsticks.
