De De Mouse – baby’s star jam
Posted by harvey in Music on 11. Feb, 2009 | 2 Comments
Japanese musician. The language is not Japanese. The song though, is hot. – Harvey
TOKYO! – a film by Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, Bong Joon-ho
Posted by harvey in Media, Tokyo on 07. Feb, 2009 | 6 Comments
(higher quality version available here) Those who have been to Tokyo will notice most of the landmarks in this trailer. Shibuya crossing, the retro-futuristic looking cube buildings, and that location in Shibuya I photographed a while ago. (I think that’s the same local anyway, what do you think?) This movie looks fun. I’m not going [...]
Hi-kara Karaoke Machine
Posted by harvey in Crazy Consumers, Gadgets, Music on 31. Jan, 2009 | Comments Off
New toy alert! If you’ve ever lived in Japan you’ve most likely enjoyed karaoke on more than one occasion. With this new product called “Hi-kara”, brought to you straight from Japan by TheJapanShop.com, now you can sing Karaoke at home with friends as often as you like… and even download the most popular songs from [...]
Baraka: many interesting Japan scenes
Posted by harvey in Media on 19. Jan, 2009 | 3 Comments
I recently watched Baraka, a beautiful film featuring scenes of humanity from around the world. Lots of the scenes in the film were shot in Asia, and there are a significant amount from Japan. I don’t have a blue-ray player so I saw it on DVD, but word on the street says it is one [...]
Suggested Reading – Beyond Culture
Posted by harvey in Books, Culture on 03. Jan, 2009 | Comments Off
I read this book ages ago, probably within my first few years arriving in Japan. It recently came up again in a discussion when Joi Ito came to speak at my school. Beyond Culture This book is about the factors that influence cross-cultural communication, and is presented in a very engaging way. It was a [...]
New Japan Blog – Making Monks
Posted by harvey in Culture on 07. Oct, 2008 | Comments Off
Heads up everyone, a fascinating new Japan blog created by my former IUC buddy called Making Monks just went live. Behind every interesting blog is an interesting story… now tell me this story isn’t interesting. I quote. On October 27th last year, I had my head shaved and I was given the dharma name (hōmyō, [...]
Unlucky Ferris Wheel
Posted by harvey in Culture on 13. Aug, 2008 | 7 Comments
There is a ferris wheel attached to the HEP Five building near Umeda station in Osaka. (click image for bigger ferris wheel) In the area, Japanese say that if you ride this ferris wheel with your significant other, you’ll break up. Be careful. Vocab: Ferris Wheel – 観覧車 (kanransha) – Harvey
Are you a dreadist?
Posted by harvey in Crazy Consumers, Culture, Osaka, Society on 25. Nov, 2007 | 15 Comments
Remember how I mentioned that down at Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri almost all of the participating girls had their hair braided? Well, I also ran into this place in Kishiwada. The Japan Extension Dreadist Society! Their window was plastered with photos of their clients. The girl in the upper right looks so young! I bet she’s [...]
