TOKYOMANGO

Where's Lisa? I'm in São Paulo Looking for Lovefoxxx

Yep, I'm off to São Paulo for a week—and hopefully taking a side trip to Rio and some jungly rain forests. Look! São Paulo kinda looks like Tokyo. Did you know it also has the largest Japanese population outside of Japan? There are about 1.5 million Japanese immigrants and descendants living in Brazil—more than in the US. And some of them are hot and talented! My two favorite Japanese-Brazilians are supermodel Juliana Imai and Lovefoxxx of CSS. CSS is a kickass indie-electro girl band from Sao Paolo that I've seen in concert a couple times in San Francisco. Pics after the jump.

Announcing Death Note Contest Winners

Thanks everyone for entering the free movie ticket contest for Death Note! I've picked two winners based on how much I laughed—not freaked out—when I read about how you would use the killer notebook if it fell in your hands.

Linda said:

If the Death Note fell into my hands, I would use it to plot world domination, starting by assassinating of the Prime Minister of Malaysia in which all proceeds and child labor workers will be donated to the Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good. Yay for charity!

 

Or I would give it to Viz Pictures in exchange for a housekeeper.

Keep reading for the other winning entry...

NSFW: Sexy Sumo Wrestler Car Wash Ad

I guess my friend Alyssa thinks sumo wrestlers are sexy, because she just sent me this video of six chunky, hunky, mostly naked guys in fundoshi doing their version of a sexy carwash. It's actually a really funny Subaru ad.

$25,000 Melons Sold in Hokkaido

Two melons—yeah, melons—sold for $25,000 at a retailer near a large wholesale auction in Sapporo. Crazy!

The melons are from a city called Yubari, which is in financial crisis. It's only saving grace seems to be its very expensive, very juicy melons.

I don't know who bought them.

Link

Win Free Tickets to Death Note: The Movie

The live action film Death Note comes out in select theaters next week. It's a story based on a famous manga about a notebook that can kill people—just write a person's name in it, outline how he's going to die, and it will come true. Two young, strange, good-looking Japanese boys go head-to-head in the hunt for the guy who carries the evil notebook. I saw it a preview screening of it a couple of months ago—it's really good!

I'm giving away two tickets for the Death Note screenings on May 21st here on Tokyomango, courtesy of Viz Pictures. All you have to do is shoot me an email with your name, address, and a short statement on what you would do if the Death Note fell in your hands (remember—you can't just throw it in the bin, because someone else might pick it up and commit crimes with it).

Tix are for Bay Area screenings only. All entries must be in by Thursday at noon PST. Thanks!

Replica of the World's Oldest Robot

The first robot in the world was an Edo period miniature humanoid that served tea, circa 17th century. My friend Christine and I found a replica for sale at Maker Faire last weekend.So cool!

Fred Schodt writes all about this robot in Inside the Robot Kingdom,an out-of-print must-read about Japan's robotics industry.

Miso Soup School Opens in Nirasaki

Why does this guy look so happy? All he's doing is dishing out some miso soup, right? Well, this is actually a specialty miso soup cafe in Nirasaki, Yamanashi prefecture, where a non-profit Miso Soup School was opened recently. For 100 yen, you can get a bowl of soup with fresh vegetables and serious pork. The region has historical ties to miso soup, which was considered battlefield food during the Sengoku Period, when battles were fought there.

Must be yummy. I have no idea where Nirasaki is but if anyone goes and tries a bowl, please let me know how it was.

Link

Gajin Fujita's Graffiti-Meets-Ukiyo-E Art

Gajin Fujita is a LA-based Japanese-American artist who combines traditionally-inspired images with graffiti. His materials include semi-precious metals like white gold that he slabs onto wooden panels, plus spray-paint, plus stenciled images of cranes, geisha, samurai, and flowers.

His work is currently on display at the Haunch of Venison in London.

USB Brain Massager

Every time I walk past one of those weird infomercial stores in suburban shopping malls, my hand automatically goes to those brain massager things that you can stroke your head with. I don't really believe it improves circulation and makes you smarter (or whatever they claim it does), but it feels great. Well, in Japan, we have the same thing, except it vibrates and is powered by USB.

Also runs with two AA batteries.

 

Product page (Japanese)

Cuddly Pillow Looks and Smells Like Diarrhea Meds

You know you always wanted to cuddle up with your diarrhea medicine. This is a big cuddly pillow modeled after Seirogan, a classic gastrointestinal drug with a really pungent smell. Not only does the pillow look like seirogan, but it also smells like it. Gross, and slightly nostalgic.

Product page (Japanese)

Mangobot: The Original Speed Racer

From my bimonthly futurism column on io9:

Way before Speed Racer became fodder for one of the season's most highly anticipated blockbusters, it was a simple 60s-style Japanese cartoon. The original Speed Racer was a TV anime series called Mach GoGoGo, aired on Fuji TV—one of Japan's major television networks—in 1967 and 1968. Like many other sources of entertainment in Japan at the time, Go's determination and the superior technology of Mach 5 were symbolic of the country's rapid post-war recovery and the determination that drove it. While you're waiting to head to your multiplex to watch the Hollywood version tonight, let me take you back in time and show you a glimpse of the original.

Continue reading...

Basta Pasta, Yummy Japanese-Style Italian Food

I'm in New York City and the hotel I'm staying in doesn't have free Internet, so here's a quick post about the restaurant I had dinner at last night. It's called Basta Pasta NYC, and it's a Japanese-owned Italian restaurant with awesomely Japanese pasta dishes like tobiko-shiso spaghetti and onsen tamago. It's off of Union Square, and I was craving fish egg spaghetti so I went there with five of my college girl friends. They all live in the city but some of them hadn't seen each other since we graduated. Too bad I was too full for the purin (Japanese-style flan) they serve for dessert.

Anyway, strongly recommended for anyone who likes any kind of food with a Japanese touch. Not to be mistaken with fusion, which is often just western food infused with Asian.

Restaurant main page

Must Read: Dog Man, a Story About Akitas

I just finished reading a book called Dog Man by journalist Martha Sherrill. It's a simple biography of a man named Morie who spends his life in the mountains breeding Akitas. It was one of the best stories about Japan that I've read in a long, long time.

Sherrill follows the lives of Morie and Kitako Sawataishi from the moment they met in wartime Tokyo to their present day life as elderly mountain dwellers. While it has a seemingly simple plot on surface level, it's one of those books where, when you're done reading, you think, wow. This book works on so many levels. There isn't a single fluffy adjective or expression of emotion anywhere, and it's written with the snappiness of good magazine journalism—yet you'll find yourself close to tears at the end of several chapters. Morie, the husband, is a super Asian patriarch who makes decisions without consulting his wife and hardly shows any emotions. But he has one gigantic soft spot that he dedicates his life too, and that's the Akitas.

Blue Chihuahua Trend Spawns Lots of Genetic Defects

This is an old NY Times article, but I just had to shed light on this blue Chihuahua issue. To get smaller, cuter, and rarer dogs, backyard breeders in Japan are doing screwed up things like mating dogs repeatedly with their own offspring to make rare recessive traits show up more often. Pictured here is one of these blue-tinged chihuahuas that were so very trendy a couple years ago. People paid up to $10,000 for these. And of course, horror stories that come with excessive in-breeding abound: some of these pups have brain disorders that make them just run in circles all day, and others had "bones so frail they dissolved in their bodies." Apparently, genetic defects in dogs are 4x more common in Japan in the US or Europe.

Good thing Ruby's a red minpin, not a blue chihuahua.

Link (Thanks, Brian!)

Conscientious Suicidal Couple Leave Toxic Gas Warning

A couple in Fukui prefecture committed suicide together in a car today. They mixed some chemicals to make hydrogen sulfide, and then released it in the car. The suicide pact was successful--they both died. The interesting thing was that they left a little note on the car window, facing out, that read: Caution! Toxic Gas.

Apparently, there were a few other instances of suicide by toxic gas recently, and in some, people nearby got sick from the fumes. This was a respectful way of making sure that nobody else but themselves got hurt.

 

Link

Exotic Baby Tree Cell Phone Straps

Strap-ya has these cute cell phone strap capsules that have little trees from different countries in them. Pictured here is the hose tree from Argentina. Also available are trees from South Africa, Mexico, and the US. The trees are actually alive, and if you water them properly (once or twice a month), they can live for up to six months in their little capsules. They could even grow to be real trees if you replant them in soil.

Link

Japanese Seniors Find Raison d'Etre on Match.com

In Japan, a lot of the older generation has been reluctant to adopt Internet use. Not anymore. Recently, more people in their fifties and sixties are going on Match.com to find love. The guy in the picture is a 65-year old cab driver named Yoichi Kawamura. He has been divorced for twenty-some years, but now, he's dating three different women. "My horizons are wider and my life is richer," he told Reuters.

Link

New Documentary Highlights Problem of Vanishing Electronics

The latest episode of BoingBoing TV is about a Japanese pop culture documentary called Tokyology. There's an interesting segment about a new law that could put all the electronics parts stores in Akihabara out of business. Before there were maid cafes and cosplay stores and megastores like Don Quixote, Akiba was a treasure trove of vintage electronics. It still is, they've just been pushed into the back streets, behind all the flashiness. It would be a real shame if they went out of business—so a group of young artists featured in the documentary pay homage to them in their "exhibition of vanishing products."

Actors Arrested for Filming Porn at McDonalds

A porn film crew was arrested at a McDonalds in Saitama Prefecture recently. Apparently, the director and three actors strolled in and just started filming in the restaurant. A suspicious customer followed them to their corner and then called the cops. The cops arrested the foursome for indecent exposure and obstruction of business.

I know it sounds strange, but I actually believe this story. When I was 18, I was walking home from driving school and I passed by a film crew shooting dirty school girl photos by the train tracks. I was like, hmmm. Interesting. But not surprised.

Link

Oldest Robot in History Resurrected

80 years ago, someone made this giant Buddha-like humanoid robot that can change its expression and move its head with surprising ease in order to commemorate the new Showa emperor. Some consider it the oldest robot in history—at the time, people called it a "manmade human." The robot was refurbished in Osaka last week after years of collecting dust.

Link (Japanese)