Shinjuku Ni-Chome

By akgoemans on 5/18/09 8:22am
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NIi-ChomeNIi-Chome

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo Source: Payton Chung via Flickr

 

I came across the name 2-chome in Antique Bakery, a funny little anime about four guys and a bakery. Actually what grabbed my attention was the reference to a possible world record. Apparently, this area just might be the largest group of attractions aimed at gay culture, at least in Asia. This was surprising as, somehow, I had assumed Bangkok would win that title. Well, I did find out some interesting details about this area.

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Funny Japanese Street Signs

By akgoemans on 5/8/09 10:07am
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Spoken language can be complicated with each one having its own weird word structures and feminine/masculine nouns. Now add visual media in the form of street signs and the like. You'd think that images make it easier to understand a message, that it is the best medium to overcome a language barrier. Well, maybe not, judging from this group of funny pictures.

 

I saw the sign


Head BangingHead Banging

Photo Source: Gruntzooki via Flickr

In theory, this one should be pretty self-explanatory. Low-hanging signs will give you a nasty headache. I must admit, I was a bit confused about this picture; for the life of me, I could not figure out why anyone riding the escalator would experience a face-plant with a flying dustbin. With weird little springs at the back too.

 

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Japanese Food

By akgoemans on 5/5/09 7:36am
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I've heard of Black Pudding (from UK), Kraut and Sausage (from Germany) and Oliebollen (from Netherlands) but I don't know much about Japanese food. Oh sure, there's sushi ... but then everyone knows sushi is a Japanese delicacy. And the food list stops right there. So I embarked on a quest to seek out and oogle at some Japanese cuisine. And ended up a very hungry reader.

Oyako Donburi


 

 

 

 

 

Photo Source: Jetalone via Flickr

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Japanese comic called Ubunchu

By akgoemans on 4/24/09 12:44am
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Photo Source: Seotch

This week, the net was abuzz with news of a manga about Ubuntu, a tech-comic from Japan. It's called Ubunchu; it's meant to be a cute play on mispronouncing Ubuntu. Well, this much was evident from the comic creator's quirky comments in between panels. Who's the tech-geek behind this fun little comic? For those of you who don't already know, it's made by Hiroshi Seo, aka Seotch.

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5 Hot Japanese Male Stars

By akgoemans on 4/16/09 12:14am
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We always associate gadgets and technology with Japan. It's not a bad thing. But it also overlaps its human face. So,what's not and what's happening in Japan? Better yet, who are the hottest male celebrities in Japan?

1. Gackt

For years to come the sleek and slender form of Gackt will top all such lists. He is a 30-something pop star who has tried his hand at singing, modeling and acting. He certainly has a David Bowie-style charm, a fact that is enhanced by his Glam Rock looks.

Gackt made a name for himself when he joined the rock band Malice Mizer. While their music definitely falls into the rock category, it also borders a bit on industrial and power metal. Whatever the case, their musical pieces and acts boasted expressive showmanship. Check out one of their songs here.

Gackt was supposed to be filming for a Hollywood movie called Bunraku. It also features big names like Josh Hartnett and Demi Moore.

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That's a rather pink tower

By akgoemans on 4/6/09 9:17pm
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By Elmimmo via Flickr.com

I didn't quite believe it at first. I surfed the net thinking it was an April Fool's joke. No, it wasn't. I know I am going to regret using these words, it looks like the real deal. On hindsight, it was perhaps not the best of ideas of scroll through pictures of the event without an undue explanation to anyone else within viewing range of my computer. Admittedly, it is a tad too late for damage control.



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So I've heard ...

By akgoemans on 4/1/09 10:00pm
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Source for original photo: Pin Pon via Flickr

Image License: Derv/Share-Alike/Attrib

Wouldn't it make more sense to wait for your very own hologram style lookalike to be released? Then you can “beam” over your holographic self whilst you do that thing you do in that place we will not mention. By the way, if mainstream news is anything to go by, holograms are on the way. Or at least computerized video projections that are conveniently being passed off as holograms. The point is, this might be a more viable idea than the homely flushing sound device.



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Oooh, same shirt as last night?

By akgoemans on 3/29/09 9:48pm
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If you happened to be an 80s child, chances are, all your creative writing teachers demanded fictional essays that predicted life in the year 2000. It could have been laziness on their side; after all, they didn't need to come up with a title on the spot. Or they might very well have wanted us, I mean those proverbial 80s children, to really look forward to the future (read: graduation). Either way, you would have grown up with pretty high expectations of the 21st Century. And by this I refer to visions of spaceships as transport vehicles, teleportation capabilities, weird little capsule food and of course, everyone donning the Jetsons' outfits. Well, guess what? We just might be that much closer to realizing one of those dreams.

And what dream might this be? It's called J-ware and apparently you can wear it seven days a week. Now if I can tone down the infomercial-style enthusiasm in my voice, I will elaborate. It's simply odor-free, clean-enough-to-wear-for-a-week outfits. That's right, the technological breakthrough in question is a style of clothing, eight pieces to be precise.

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Cooler than Johnny 5

By akgoemans on 3/20/09 2:21am
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As I read more and more about androids, robots and whatnot walking the walk in Japan, I keep expecting one of them to pipe up with “Bite the shiny metal...” or something similarly Bender-like. That, by the way, was a reference to the science fiction animated show called Futurama which depicted a strange little future where humans and robots co-exist. Might I add that in that show robots seemed to have equal status (read: life, liberty and all other such civil right goodies) as humans.



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WTHIGO #4

By msarko on 3/10/09 10:50pm
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I try to be understanding. Really, I do. I try not be judgmental or to jump to ridiculous, even offensive conclusions. Heck, I've even decided to ramp up my cultural sensitivity by going into this project with the assumption that there's some non-twisted logic behind Japanese cultural ephemera. I have to remind myself that Western culture is full of its own post-industrial absurdities.

Take for instance our marketing tools, which sometimes veer into downright surreal territory. Since 1963, corporate shills have used the following things to sell cheap hamburgers to the American public: A clown who hallucinates a day-glo world filled with friends and adversaries who all have eating disorders, a megalomaniac with a history of home invasion, a shameless rip-off of Pippi Longstocking, and yet another, somehow creepier clown who refuses to go east of the Rocky Mountains.

So, is our culture really so much saner than the ball-trampling, squid-ink-eating, giant-robot-fetishizing Japanese?

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