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In a salute to luxury brand Chanel, artist Tetsuya Noguchi has created some concept samurai armor suits designed to appeal to the fashion-conscious warrior. Made from resin, cashew lacquer, cloth and glass, the exquisitely crafted protective suits sport the iconic double-C logo, allowing the wearer to flaunt his superior social status while crushing the enemy on the battlefield.
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Related:
- Samurai dog armor
- PET bottle armor
- Mickey the Knight
Kamikaze (from an unidentified series)
This high-spirited set of vintage New Year's cards celebrates the historic flight of the Kamikaze, a Mitsubishi Ki-15 aircraft that became the first Japanese-built plane to fly from Japan to Europe. Sponsored by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper and piloted by Masaaki Iinuma (who came to be known as "the Japanese Lindbergh"), the Kamikaze made its momentous 51-hour flight from Tokyo to London in April 1937. The New Year's cards were printed later that year by Tanaka & Co. (the artist is unknown).
Kamikaze between Tokyo and London (from the "Japan in Progress" series)
Kamikaze and pilot (from an unidentified series)
Kamikaze (from an unidentified series)
Kamikaze and pilot (from an unidentified series)
Kamikaze over Mt Fuji (from the "Japan in Progress" series)
Boy on bicycle waves to Kamikaze (from an unidentified series)
Kamikaze (from the "Japan in Progress" series)
Boys on the prairie wave to Kamikaze (from an unidentified series)
Kamikaze over Mt Fuji (from the "Japan in Progress" series)
[Link: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]
As we bid farewell to 2009, it's a good time to look back at some of the most popular Pink Tentacle posts of the year. Here are the top ten, in case you missed them the first time around.
1. Animated stereoviews of old Japan: Meiji-period stereoview photographs by T. Enami, presented as animated GIFs to create the illusion of three dimensions.
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2. Nocturnal Gundam: A glimpse of the Odaiba Gundam after dark.
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3. Monster mummies of Japan: A look at some of the mummified monsters found at temples and shrines around Japan.
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4. Pregnant dolls from Edo-period Japan: 19th-century dolls designed to teach the anatomy of pregnancy.
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5. World Sand Sculpture Festival: Photos from the 2009 World Sand Sculpture Festival in Tottori, Japan.
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6. All-purpose tanuki testicles: Ukiyoe prints by Kuniyoshi depicting the remarkable versatility of oversized tanuki (raccoon dog) testicles.
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7. Anatomy of Japanese folk monsters: Cutaway diagrams from Shigeru Mizuki's Yōkai Daizukai, an illustrated guide to yōkai anatomy.
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8. Ultrasonic bath: Video and photos of a futuristic human washing machine unveiled at the 1970 World Expo in Osaka.
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9. Giant robot spider in Yokohama: Photos and video of the first La Machine sightings in Yokohama.
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10. iREX 2009: Photos from the 2009 International Robot Exhibition held in Tokyo in November.
Have a Happy New Year! See you again in 2010.
+ (autumn)
The latest time-lapse video by Tokyo-based photographer Samuel Cockedey features captivating views of Mt. Fuji, Miyajima (Itsukushima Shrine), and Iwate prefecture.
Reports of mermaid encounters were not uncommon in 19th-century Japan, and a number of illustrated documents from that period -- including a few by notable natural historians -- depict some fantastic specimens rarely seen in today's world.
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Mermaid illustration obtained by Blomhoff, late Edo period (artist unknown)
This mermaid illustration from the National Museum of Ethnology (Leiden, Netherlands) was obtained by Dutch trader Jan Cock Blomhoff, who served as director of the Dejima trading post in Nagasaki from 1817 to 1824. The drawing appears to show a different mermaid than Blomhoff's famous mummified specimen, which is also owned by the museum.
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Noted natural historian Baien Mouri (1798-1851), a prolific illustrator known for his colorful depictions of plants and animals, included two sketches of a mermaid in his 1835 book Baien Gyofu ("Baien Book of Fish").
No apparent effort was made to distinguish the mermaid drawings from the dozens of other illustrations of known sea animals that appear in the book.
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This 1805 illustration (artist unknown) from the Waseda University Theater Museum shows a mermaid that was reportedly captured in Toyama Bay. According to the accompanying text, the creature measured 10.6 meters (35 ft) long.
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Keisuke Ito (1803–1901) -- a.k.a. the father of modern Japanese botany -- was a noted botanist, medical practitioner, and prolific natural history illustrator. He included several mermaid illustrations in his books, which consisted mostly of drawings of known animals.
Ito's illustrated Kinka Juufu ("Book of Beasts") included a drawing of a mermaid swimming alongside an Australian sea lion (Zalophus lobatus).
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Kinka Gyofu ("Book of Fish"), another illustrated work by Ito, included a depiction of scaly mermaids measuring about 67 centimeters (26 in) long.
Ito also included this pair of mermaid illustrations in Kinka Gyofu with no apparent effort to distinguish them from the hundreds of other known fish and sea animals pictured in the book.
It is unclear whether these illustrations were based on actual observations. Were they the product of an overactive imagination? Were they deliberate fabrications? Or did mermaids once inhabit the waters of Japan?
"scoreLight" is a laser-based musical device that generates real-time sound based on the shape of drawings or objects.
Relying on 3D tracking technology developed at the Ishikawa-Komuro Laboratory in 2003, scoreLight uses lasers to trace the outline of a drawing or object. As the laser dances along the contours, scoreLight produces and modulates sound according to the curvature, angle, texture, color, and contrast. An abrupt change in the direction of a line generates a discrete sound (a glitch or percussion sound), resulting in a steady rhythm when the laser follows a looped path (the size and shape of the looped path determines the tempo and structure of the beat). The device creates a layered tapestry of sound when multiple laser points explore different parts of a drawing.
Here is some video of scoreLight making music from a sketch of a brain:
+ NOU-ISE
scoreLight's developers include Alvaro Cassinelli (concept, hardware and software), Kuribara Yusaku (software), Daito Manabe (sound concept and programming) and Alexis Zerroug (electronics). See Cassinelli's YouTube channel for more videos.
[Link: scoreLight]
A frenetic animated version of the Japanese television apocalypse is depicted in "the TV show," a video by Kousuke Sugimoto with music by Takayuki Manabe.
[Via MetaFilter]
As a tribute to Michael Jackson, Japanese chiptune pioneer Saitone has released an 8-bit version of "Thriller."
+ Video
Watch the full live version here.
[Link: Hear Japan]
