Philippe Starck is a French designer known for his interior, product, industrial and architectural design including furniture. In 1989, Starck would create the iconic landmark, the ASAHI SUPER DRY HALL (which the top structure unfortunately would be known by some as the golden turd). And Read More …
I wrote about my visit to the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum for the “Decoration never dies, anyway” exhibit. But now I want to focus on the actual building where the museum is located. The building is actually the former residence of Prince Asaka from Read More …
I am a major believer in opening one’s mind to the world and that includes enjoying pop culture from other countries. That includes music. And I hope that by sharing what I’m listening to this week, may influence some of you to go out and Read More …
When I first watched “Café de Flore”, the first thing that stood out for me about Jean-Marc Vallée’s film is how the film employs many cuts. To quickly show the life of each person, we are given various short cuts of different duration. For example, Read More …
I am a major believer in opening one’s mind to the world and that includes enjoying pop culture from other countries. That includes music. Lately, I’m listening to Yamashita Tatsuro’s “山下達郎 – OPUS ～ALL TIME BEST 1975-2012～”, Dream Come True’s “DREAMS COME TRUE GREATEST HITS Read More …
“The Navigator” is a film that definitely shows the audience why Buster Keaton is one of the three kings of silent comedy. The film not only offers wonderful physical and risky comedy that Keaton is best known for, the amount of gags and having an Read More …
Greetings everyone, My “Random Musings” Travel Vlog #31 went up this past weekend but due to YouTube rules, it’s only available for viewing in Japan. But you can view it here: But I went ahead and posted an off-shot “Random Musings” to make up for Read More …
One of my favorite sculptors is Emile-Antoine Bourdelle, an influential and prolific French sculptor, painter and teacher. From his dark sketches (inspired by classic and contemporary literature) to his earlier career to the amazing sculpture he would make a few years later through the early Read More …
Hanshin Koshien Stadium, sure it may be the home of the Hanshin Tigers but for Japanese baseball fans, Hanshin Koshien Stadium is a place where dreams are made of. The stadium opened back in August 1, 1924 as a stadium to host the national high Read More …
A second post for the day and some good news from JapanBall.com. One of the big things that Japanese baseball fans of Wayne Graczyk’s “Japanese Baseball Media Guide” was wondering if whether or not the book will continue, after his passing last April. And the Read More …
Since 2014, Yahoo! Japan has been one of few companies that have continued to raise money for those affected by the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster of March 11, 2011. On that fateful day, more than nearly 2,000 people died, nearly 120,000 people were displaced. Read More …
Recently, I have noticed that Ancestry has made a few tweaks to their DNA section and it has done a much better job of starting to narrow things down to a region. When I last blogged about my DNA results, it would just feature Asia Read More …
This year, one of Japan’s most successful pop group’s, TRF (Tetsuya Komuro’s Rave Factory) will be celebrating their 25th year anniversary. When I first started listening to Japanese music, TRF was the first pop group I listened to. In fact, I can remember it quite Read More …
As I watch “Samson & Delilah”, I can’t help but feel respect towards filmmaker Warwick Thornton. For taking on something that others may consider as taboo or something that people knows that happens in Australian society but confronting those issues in his film and perhaps Read More …
When it comes to film that seem realistic by nature, verbose as if we are watching conversations with a perfect flow and for the most part, realism and conversation on the big screen done right, I’m a big supporter of those films. Eric Rohmer’s 1969 Read More …
This morning, I was reading Eric Levitz article on “We Must Cancel Everyone’s Debt, for the Economy’s Sake”, especially reading the comments on universities should be “free” (for engineering, science and mathematically-founded degrees). For me, my college loans were sold while I was in Read More …
I’m often asked of how I became interested in Japanese culture. I know a lot of people get into it because of their interested in Japanese animation, the music, cinema and often pop culture-related. I think it would be a shock to some if I Read More …