What I wouldn’t give for a color printer right now! These are adorably designed critters from Fwis that you can print and fold for free. These would make clever additions to gift wrapping or interesting conversation pieces.  Definitely could serve as inspiration for aspiring graphic designers.
I would love to actually use these in […]

Marine in Okinawa rape case released - Reuters
A U.S. Marine arrested earlier this month on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old girl was released by Japanese authorities on Friday, a spokesman for the U.S. military on the southern island of Okinawa said.
Death penalty for man who abducted, raped, burned woman alive upheld - Breitbart.com
According […]

Don’t know why I’m on such an art kick lately, but in any case check out these interesting (disturbing?) street installations by Mark Jenkins. Most of them involve human figures doing things you would wish to never see real people doing, but here and there you will see a cheeky little bird poopin’ out […]

These are the top ten popular posts of February 2008!

Fashion: Eco-Friendly Clothing
It’s true that there are really creative ways to recycle waste, and making a fashion statement that increases environmental awareness is one of them. But I think making a gown out of drink pouches is overkill.
How-to: Look Asian
Sometimes I will meet a person who […]

Picture taken by R in Shinsaibashi, Osaka
So you know how to read the foreign language and can pick up key phrases and words when listening to natives speak it.  The next step is speaking it.  No, I’m not talking about the stuttered talking, filled with “ehms” and “urrs,” among other indicators that you are mentally […]

“His press corp is bigger than mine,” Bush joked. “And we both have trouble answering questions in English.”
A quote from (soon to be former!!) President Bush regarding Daisuke Matsuzaka when the Red Sox went to the White House.
One thing the average Joe might not know about Japan is that they are so obsessed with […]

Japan’s gender inequality puts it to shame in world rankings - The Japan Times Online
Then there is the “attractiveness” factor. As robotics expert Yukiko Nakagawa points out, “Girls are considered ‘uncute’ if they go on a date to a science museum and if they know more about the exhibits there than boys.”
But are women and […]

There is an interesting interview on New York Times with graphics editor Steve Duenes. A lot of people might take advantage of diagrams and images that appear in media, but for artists and designers, those are the things we notice first. And to be able to read some of our questions answered by a graphics […]

This is an visually stunning site featuring a gallery exhibition at MoMa entitled Design and the Elastic Mind:
Design and the Elastic Mind explores the reciprocal relationship between science and design in the contemporary world by bringing together design objects and concepts that marry the most advanced scientific research with attentive consideration of human limitations, habits, […]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuVSZCDOUJk

Yanagihara Kanako (柳原可奈子), a fast-speaking Japanese comedian imitating a schoolgirl on a bus
One major obstacle in learning a foreign language is listening to it being spoken by natives. By default everything you learn yourself or in class is at a slower pace. But what happens when you hear it being spoken in a […]