Milky white blockheads, lizardmen and assorted geometrical objects get their wiggle on in this quirky stop-motion animation short by Katsushi Bowda.
For an extra dose, see Bowda's surreal sequence from Winter Days, a 2003 collaborative animated film based on a renku (collaborative poem) by 17th-century Japanese poet Bash?.
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.
Smooth nylon shrimp (Heterocarpus laevigatus) inhabiting the dark depths of the Pacific employ a brilliant method of defense. When threatened with attack, the creature spits a cloud of bioluminescent blue fluid from its mouth, temporarily blinding its predator and allowing escape.
This rarely seen footage of the smooth nylon shrimp's defense mechanism in action was shot at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium.
See also:
- Video: Tremoctopus defense mechanism
- Video: Three bioluminescent sea creatures
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
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.
Freelance creative designer Ryosuke Tei has done a few animated motion IDs for MTV Asia/China that are inspired by Saiyuki ("Journey to the West"), the classic Chinese adventure novel about a monk's trek to India in search of Buddhist texts.
In the first video, followers of the monk Genjo Sanzo (Xuanzang) psychically transmit a message from the Buddha urging him to go west.
The second one introduces the three protectors that accompany Sanzo on his quest: the powerful monkey king Son Goku (Sun Wukong), the gluttonous and libidinous pig Cho Hakkai (Zhu Bajie) and the river ogre Sa Gojo (Sha Wujing).
Check Tei's YouTube page for more animated shorts, including this music video for French electronica artist DJ Missill's "Forward," which features a giant guitar-playing robo-rabbit that frees the oppressed minds of jackbooted soldiers.
The video was produced by Furi Furi Company, the creative design agency Tei established and directed for 10 years before going freelance in 2008.
[Link: Ryosuke Tei]
Red paper lanterns, or aka-chochin, are a familiar sight on the city streets of Japan, where they typically hang at the entrances to cheap pubs, capturing the attention of passersby. The ocean, however, is home to a different variety of red paper lantern -- an unusual species of deep-sea jellyfish.
Officially named Pandea rubra, the red paper lantern medusa (aka-chochin kurage) was first discovered in the Bering Sea in 1913, but details about its distribution and life cycle have long remained a mystery. In recent years, the creature has caught the eye of researchers at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) armed with high-definition video cameras.
Using manned and unmanned submersibles, the researchers have collected over 100 hours of high-definition footage showing more than 60 specimens of the jellyfish in waters from northeastern Honshu to Okinawa, at depths ranging from 500 to 1,000 meters. Here is some raw video:
The red paper lantern medusa has a transparent, bell-shaped hood measuring about 10 centimeters in diameter and 17 centimeters from top to bottom, with between 14 and 30 tentacles that extend up to 6 times the length of its body. Inside the transparent hood is a deep red colored mantle that can crumple up or expand like a paper lantern, hence the name. JAMSTEC researcher Dr. Dhugal Lindsay is credited with coming up with the name.
The gelatinous creature is commonly found at depths of between 450 to 900 meters in warm and temperate waters around the world. Observations have been reported in the Antarctic Ocean, but never in the Arctic Ocean.
The JAMSTEC videos suggest that a variety of sea creatures regard the red paper lantern medusa as a safe place to establish temporary residence. In the video, the developing larvae of shrimp and sea spiders can be seen hitching extended rides on the jellyfish.
"We didn't expect to find such a variety of organisms attached to the jellyfish," said Dr. Dhugal Lindsay. "Humans apparently are not the only ones attracted to red paper lanterns."
[Source: Mainichi]
For drowsy train commuters afraid of sleeping past their stop, inventor and manga artist Pyocotan has developed "Noriko-san," a sleep mask with an electronic scrolling display that communicates the wearer's destination to fellow passengers.
Noriko-san is designed to give sleepyheads greater peace of mind (and thus a deeper level of sleep) by increasing the odds that a stranger will wake them in time. In theory, other passengers feel compelled to act either out of courtesy or simply so they can sit in the empty seat left behind. Here's a video of Pyocotan testing a prototype on Tokyo's Yamanote line.
The video shows Pyocotan board the Yamanote line at Nishi-Nippori station. When a seat becomes available, he sits down, slips on the mask and goes to sleep. The mask's scrolling message reads: "I will get off at Mejiro station." Unfortunately, nobody wakes him up when he arrives. The test fails.
Pyocotan admits that Noriko-san is not 100% effective, perhaps because the unusual appearance makes other passengers feel uncomfortable and prevents them from acting. But the device will likely grow more effective as it becomes more widespread, he suggests. Until then, the fact that the mask might encourage others to act makes it a little easier for the user to relax and sleep more soundly.
Noriko-san cost about 20,000 yen ($200) to develop.
[Source: INTER News]
