TOKYOMANGO

Que Houxo's fluorescent live art

Japanese artist Que Houxo does live performances where he draws giant flowers and other beautiful things using fluorescent paint in black light.

Link via NotCot

Bra doubles as a golf putting green

Lingerie company Triumph's newest conception is this crazy green bra that transforms into a putting green. If you get a ball into the boob hole, a built-in speaker says: "Nice shot!"

Via Pink Tentacle

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Reader photo: The way to Pontocho

I absolutely love this photo taken by TokyoMango reader Ian Nelson while traveling in Kyoto with his wife.

New "luxury" capsule hotel has computerized lighting, fancy sheets

Product designer Fumie Shibata has created a new concept for a luxury capsule hotel — she is transforming the most barebones way for traveling businessmen to spend the night into a trendy fancy type of thing. It's called 9 h (Nine Hours) and the first one will open in Kyoto next month. The hotel will include 125 clean, minimalist capsules, as well as lockers, showers, and a communal lounge. Each capsule has its own computerized lighting system by Panasonic and sheets with a thread count equivalent of a four-star hotel. It's 4,900 yen a night.

Nine Hours main page via Designboom

46 years ago today: a coal mining accident and train wreck kill 600

Wired.com spotlights two tragedies that happened on Nov 9, 1963: industrial accidents that killed more than 600 people in one day.

The first accident occurred at the Miike coal mine between Omuta and Arao. Ten mining carts loaded with coal were being hauled to the surface at around 3:12 in the afternoon. One of the chains linking the carts together severed and sent eight of them careening out of control to the bottom of mine. The carts traveled nearly 400 yards and hit speeds of 73 mph before crashing....As if that weren't enough, several hundred miles away in Yokohama, a deadly three-train railroad crash had occurred.

This day in tech [Wired.com]

Pics of readers wearing TokyoMango Ts

Here are some pics of you good-looking TokyoMango readers wearing the t-shirts that Ben and I made... from top to bottom, Mat, Nami, Derek, and Ruby & Malcolm.

Crystal-studded Hello Kitty MP3 player

Wondering what music player to buy? For $150, you can now own this beautiful (?) crystal-studded Hello Kitty MP3 player that doubles as an accessory.

Link (via News on Japan)

Toyjector, a low-res, super cute toy projector

For $150, you can now get this cute, boxy toy projector called the Toyjector. It's two cubic inches and weighs just four ounces, so it's super portable, but it really is just a toy — it projects 300x224 images and only has an internal 1W mono speaker. But if you're looking for a cute-and-little gadget-y holiday gift for a non-gadgety person, this could be a good gift. It goes on sale in Japan at the end of November.

Press release (Japanese, via CrunchGear)

Reader photo: Gate at the top of Mt. Fuji

Lovely photo of the gate at the top of Mt. Fuji taken by TokyoMango reader Kevin Menchavez.

Judith Hill, the half-Japanese woman who sang at MJ's memorial

Last night, I watched This Is It, the movie that documents Michael Jackson's final days of rehearsing for the big comeback concert that was slated to begin just days after his sudden death this summer. If you haven't seen it already, you really should. It was kind of amazing to see how he worked behind the scenes.

Anyway, I wanted to introduce the woman who was supposed to sing with MJ on tour. Her name is Judith Hill, and she's half Japanese, half African-American. From what I could see in the film, she was the only female background vocalist chosen and she had a lovely rendition of I Just Can't Stop Loving You that she was planning to do with MJ on stage. She also led the final Heal the World rendition at the memorial service held right after he died.

Her own music is a super cool, too — she's still unsigned, but I'm willing to bet she'll become reasonably famous.

JudithHillMusic.com

The 10 most common Japanese last names

Last week, I posted about a JT story that researched the complexity of the historically super long Japanese naming system. I also asked if you could guess what the 10 most common Japanese last names were. Here are the answers:

1. Sato 2. Suzuki 3. Takahashi 4. Tanaka 5. Watanabe 6. Ito 7. Yamamoto 8. Nakamura 9. Kobayashi 10. Kato

Japan has 100,000 last names, compared to about a million in the US, several thousand in China, and 200 in Korea.

Link

Firefly-themed ad campaign offers cool artsy e-card alternative

Hotaru-san (Mr. Firefly) is a fun web program that lets you send short messages to people in a slightly e-cardish way, except it's much more fun. The start screen shows a gymnasium full of people dressed in black full-body tights with giant light bulbs on their bums; they're supposed to be fireflies. When you type a message into the boxes at the top of the screen and press start, the firefly guys will get up, rearrange themselves, and spell out your message with their butt lights. Once you've created a custom message, you can send it to people by email. Cute idea! It's an ad campaign for web provider So-Net.

Link (Thanks, Kazuyoshi!)

USB breast-warming pads (maybe NSFW)

Thanko has a wonderful solution to those whose nipples get cold during winter days at the computer — The USB Bust Beauty Pad. Just plus it into your computer, slip the U-shaped pads under your bra, and cozy up as the pads get warm. The pads are meant to last about six months, and the whole set-up costs about $20.

Product page (Japanese)

Japanese full names used to be super long

My mother sent me an interesting article published in The Japan Times earlier this month that digs up the origins of Japanese first and last names. Japanese names used to be super long back in the pre-Meiji period, including clan name, birth order, two ancient titles, and a personal name. The first name-last name simplified combo is only a century or so old.

The story also comes with a fun sidebar that lists the 10 most common Japanese last names. Can you guess what they are? I'll post the answers on Monday.

Link

Reader photo: Myodani Station, Kobe

TokyoMango reader Kevin Menchavez took this lovely photo of Myodani Station in Kobe.

Yoko d'Holbachie's surreal alien creature drawings

Yoko d'Holbachie is a young, super-cute surrealist artist who draws these strange colorful creatures. If you want to see her work in person, she'll be exhibiting at the London Miles gallery in London from Nov 19-30.

Artist's home page

Hello Kitty solar charger

If you love Hello Kitty and care about the environment, this Hello Kitty solar charger strap could be a good fit for you. It also comes with a Kitty-shaped carabiner.

Product page (Japanese)

New toy plays back everything you record backwards

Takara Tomy has a new crazy toy called the Sakasa Master Japan. It's actually a recording device that plays back whatever you say backwards — useful for those who want to make up a secret code language or are linguistically curious. But mostly, just pure entertainment.

Buy it here.

Reader photo: The Thunder Gate by night

TokyoMango reader Gilles Losier took this photo that he describes as follows:

I was in Japan for 2 weeks in June. The second night of my visit in Japan when I was coming back from Akihabara going to my hostel located in Asakusa. When I walked threw Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate). Nakamise was so calm and peaceful, nothing like this during the day time.

Video: Men wearing colorful leggings for fashion

Men's stores in Tokyo are now selling leggings, which some guys like to wear under capris. Funny when the one woman interviewed at around 1:30 says: "I prefer men in jeans." Later on, though, another woman says, "If it looks good, I think that's fine."

Related story:
Boys in skirts are a new fashion trend in Shibuya, Harajuku

(Thanks, Larry!)