It’s just about an old monkey who speaks human language, who scrubs guests’ backs in the hot springs in a tiny town in Gunma Prefecture, who enjoys cold beer, falls in love with human women, and steals their names.
A sequel to 2006’s A Shinagawa Monkey, translated by Philip Gabriel.
What a beautiful and fascinating website!
This is a layered interactive narrative that traces the life of Captain Antonio DaCosta, a Black Portuguese sailor who visited Japan in 1597. From his early life as a slave in Lisbon to his voyage to Japan, this site weaves together his personal diary and drawings, along with artwork and historical notes from 1500-1700, the Age of Exploration.
Speaking of Koya Bound, here’s the web-based counterpart to the physical book.
The ability of the physical world — a floor, a wall — to act as a screen of near infinite resolution becomes more powerful the more time we spend heads-down in our handheld computers, screens the size of palms. In fact, it’s almost impossible to see the visual patterns — the inherent adjacencies — of a physical book unless you deconstruct it and splay it out on the floor.
Craig gives us a walkthrough—literally—of the process behind the beautiful Koya Bound book.
Deciding to make any book is an act of creative faith (and ego and hubris, but these aren’t all exclusionary). But before Dan and I sold any copies of Koya Bound, we walked atop the pages that would become the book, not really knowing if there existed an audience for the book.
I’ll take two.
Animatronic rabbit ears powered by brain waves …in Japan. Of course.
A fascinating look at the experience design of the 9h brand of capsule hotel. I like the consistent use of colour, light and iconography.
The game Yakuza 3 as reviewed by 3 Yakuza.
Kanji characters that transform into the animal they represent.
An interesting experiment in making Katakana self-describing.
Turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so.
Garfield, translated into Japanese and then translated back into English.
Could it be that the inability of 8-bit computers to render Kanji had a direct influence on the direction of Japan's electronic product design and economy?
I'm going to Japan in November to talk about Ajax. I am very excited about this.
Strikingly different illustrations of the Star Wars pantheon from Japan.