Tag: japan

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Awesomeness Featured Science & Technology Video Clips

Earthrise, Earthset

In 1968, astronaut William Anders aboard the Apollo 8 mission took a image of the Earth as their spacecraft orbited the moon. Officially known as NASA image AS8-14-2383, the famous image came to be called an earthrise. 40 years later, a Japanese lunar orbit spacecraft called SELENE captured high-definition video of an earthrise. Check out the beautiful scene below.

In 2007, the same orbiter captured an earthset.

If you liked that, you might also enjoy a time-lapse video of a day to night Earth cycle as seen from the International Space Station. See that video after the jump.

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Music Video Clips

Tokyo Stormtrooper: Singin’ in the Rain

Danny Choo is famous. Not only is he the son of shoe mogul Jimmy Choo, he also minces around the streets of Japan in a Stormtrooper costume.

Given the vast amounts of oddness that country seems to be gifted with, you might not even notice Choo, but in this fun little clip, he dances to Mint Royale’s remix of Singin’ in the Rain with assistance from two cute little backup dancers. The force is strong in this one.

[via Laughing Squid]

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Music Weirdness

HIFANA Takes to the Sea in “WAMONO”

The Japanese DJ duo HIFANA is made up of KEIZOmachine! (Keizo Fukuda) and Juicy (Jun Miyata), and they’re are quite adept at using non-traditional objects to make music. They are just as creative when it comes to their music videos.

Now we don’t know whether these lads have always been a little insane in the brain (or just Japanese) but in the music video for their song, WAMONO, the duo are represented by a musclebound cyclops and a pink thing with a face full of teeth. The oddball duo decide go on a rather extraordinary fishing trip. Check it out below (NSFW – mermaid boobies).

[via ufunk]

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Arty Awesomeness Music Video Clips

The Nike Music Shoe

Sportswear giant Nike is going big in Japan with a great campaign for their Free Run+ running shoes. Nike asked the Japanese DJ duo HIFANA to make music by leveraging (love those marketing terms!) the bendable qualities of their new footwear. The duo happily obliged, hooking up the shoes to their sound system and experimenting with the different sounds the shoes made when twisted or bent.

Shot in some secret location in Tokyo, this is their performance.

The homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey in the beginning is a nice touch. If you’d like more technical details on how it’s done, see here.

I believe there will be a disclaimer saying the shoes sold at retail won’t actually make music when you’re using them, which is a pity. The world needs more music.

[via PS3ZA]

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Arty Awesomeness Featured Video Clips

Japan – The Strange Country

I don’t think we need to tell anyone that the Japanese can be a little odd. Of all the places in the far east I’d like to visit, Japan certainly ranks high up there. The kooky, off-the-wall antics of our slitty-eyed friends just appeals to me. To quote Tracy Morgan from Cop Out, I love you like the fat kid loves cake!

So we’re fans of Japan and of infographics so when I spotted this I was compelled to post it. A 23-year old Japanese artist by the name of Kenichi created an infographic video for his thesis project in which he took at a look at the country, its people and their culture, not through his own eyes but if it were from a foreigner’s point of view. It’s informative and beautifully designed. Have a look at Japan – The Strange Country below.

See more of Kenichi’s work on his website, www.kenichi-design.com.

[via Design You Trust]

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Arty Awesomeness Featured Video Clips

Tokyo Sky Drive is Beautiful, Dreamy

YouTube user cat2525jp takes you on a mesmerizing trip through Tokyo at night on the Yurikamome line. I have no idea how it’s done, I would assume the footage is mirrored, but you never know with these crafty Japanese. In any case, the effects are stunning and the journey seems more like a trip through a futuristic floating city. The musical accompaniment is fantastic as well.

Have a look at Tokyo Sky Drive -Night ver.- 01 below or see it in HD on YouTube.

There is also a version 2 of the sky drive and a day trip through the city. See those clips after the jump.

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Eating and Drinking TV Video Clips Weirdness

Disco, Star Wars, and Sea Chicken!

Disco, Star Wars, and sea chicken. It’s an unlikely combination to the majority us, but certainly not to the Japanese, who as we know are clinically insane. In this 1978 spot for Hagoromo, the Star Wars posse do a little dance to shill what I assume to be canned tuna fish. It’s quite odd. See it below.

[via SlapDashAsh]

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Arty Cautionary Tales Weirdness

Internal Anatomy of Japanese Folk Monsters

According to Wikipedia, Yōkai is a broad terms for a class of monsters and supernatural beings in Japanese folklore. In the 1960s, a manga artist by the name of Shigeru Mizuki created the Yōkai Daizukai, an illustrated guide that takes a look inside the humorous or bizarre characters that inhabited the Japanese countryside.

Have a look at a few of the cutaway diagrams after the jump.

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Inspirational Designs

Good Design Expo 2009

The Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization (JIDPO) hosts an annual event to showcase well-designed products. At the Good Design Expo this year, over 2000 products under consideration for the Good Design Awards were shown to the public. And the Pink Tentacle were in attendance to snap photos of the eye-catching designs.

This hourglass-shaped freshness label for meat products measures the amount of ammonia in the container and will change colour to indicate the meat has gone bad.

These beautiful lamp shades from Sony stores energy from sunlight during the day and use it to power the lamp at night.

These cute flash drives can be used as magnetic stickers when not slotted into the USB slot of your computer.

See more designs at Pink Tentacle. We’ll keep you updated with the winners when 1) we learn enough Japanese to navigate the Good Design Awards site or 2) the English part of the site gets updated.

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Arty Awesomeness Featured Inspirational Designs

The Psychedelic Art of Tadanori Yokoo

I don’t know much about graphic design but I do know what I like. And I love the art of Tadanori Yokoo. The 73-year old graphic designer is widely recognized as one of Japan’s most successful and influential artists.

Yokoo’s interests in mysticism and psychedelic art shaped his work and in the late 60s, he created a number of eclectic posters. Take a look at some of them below – click the embiggen.

See more after the jump.

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