January 2012
20 posts
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Tsutaya Daikanyama is the Future
The popular Tokyo bookseller has just unleashed a Death Star of creativity onto the Tokyo scene. Located in the designer chic district of Daikanyama, this modern bookstore seamlessly fuses printed matter with ubiquitous digital presentation to create an outstanding mecca of creativity.
Occupying six large retail pods on two levels on the main street, the bottom three sections are dedicated to a...
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Slurp Voraciously.
It is essential that you slurp your noodles in Japan.
It’s rude if you don’t.
You have to make more noise than the salary man sitting to your left and the high school hip hop kid to your right. The chef will be watching you and he’ll be horribly offended if he can’t hear you enjoying his noodles at fighter jet level decibels. His staff will be on call to sloppily pour...
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Home on the Range
I’ve been able to take a few days off in a row. Something that doesn’t happen very often in my gig at Wieden+Kennedy. It’s a 24/7 business, that is growing increasingly complex with the amount of digital tools at our disposal. It makes for a very exciting, ‘Always On’ work life, but it’s always great to step away from that world for a bit to get some...
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Basketball is a Universal Language
I speak a little bit of Japanese. Enough to get by. It flows slower than molasses, but it eventually gets the job done.
But last night I found that the language of hoops turbo charges my conversational speeds in Japanese.
I went to an open gym with my brother-in-law in rural Tochigi, Japan. None of the players in the gym spoke English beyond ‘Hello.’ So the greetings were slow. But...
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On the Ekiden and the existence of finish lines.
The runner collapsed on national TV.
He gave his all for all to see. Before he collapsed he gave his teammate a huge heave with all the power he had left. As soon as the power left the spring of his right arm, he collapsed to the asphalt. Spent.
The cameras tracked the next runner, full of spirit and collegiate pride. Well aware that this would be the high point of his life’s fame....
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December 2011
16 posts
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WatchNike: HALF GLASS. Copywriter: Andrew Miller. Art Director: Naoki Ga. Director: Kosai Sekine.
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WatchNike Japan: NEW BEGINNINGS. Copywriter: Andrew Miller. Art Director: Naoki Ga.
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Darvish Musing, December 19
I watch a lot of baseball in Japan.
I’ve been to several games live, and I frequently turn it on when the season is going on. It’s fun, but it feels to me like watching college or top level high school baseball. It doesn’t generally have the shock value or alarming depth of talent that a major league baseball game can have.
The game in Japan is taught and played very...
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A zine full of mediocre photographs of alleyways...
Miles Davis is Tokyo.
The Internet is Tokyo.
Flannel is Tokyo.
Ambition is Tokyo.
Uncertainty is Tokyo.
A million pixels is Tokyo.
Grey is Tokyo.
The rainbow is Tokyo.
Feeling like you’re staring at a blank canvas every morning is Tokyo.
Eating foods that you have no idea what they are called is Tokyo.
Taking pictures of art installations that involve lasers or...
November 2011
13 posts
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Tokyo Winter
The snow like rain,
or rain like snow,
the illuminations like snow.
like retina memory or a screen saver.
the life is a fantasy tonight.
the winter snapping,
steaming drinks against your cheeks.
the mist overtakes us
and binds us together.
folds memory and nowness into one.
guitars echo and reverb.
Drum hits in tiny ear pods.
A billion songs in our pockets.
A million songs about...
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Creativity is the Nutritious Part of Technology
Technology is not the revolution.
Technology has existed from the time man built the first primitive tool. Technology is an evolution. The revolution lies in how people will use the tools of our time. Will they be happy to use new sophisticated tools to merely kill their time by sending videos of cats to their friends. Or will they search their souls, find their message and purpose first, and...
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Running Yoyogi Park at Midnight
All is dark and the autumn winds are playing the branches of trees. Amplifying the gusts. This park is electric at night. The clouds speed past overhead. In the direction of Shibuya, there is a neon glow projecting onto the low hanging clouds.
In the park, at this hour, all is still, save an elite eccentric few characters.
There are the shadowy couples parked on distant benches. Statuesque in...
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The Mosh Pit of the Shibuya Apple Store
A month after the release of the iPhone 4S, there is still a queue outside the Shibuya Apple store.
Apple enthusiasts wait in a line that extends for several blocks, happily playing with iPads and photo-documenting the scene.
I wasn’t there for an iPhone, so I could sidestep the line, but inside the store itself was filled wall to wall with customers.
It seemed half of the crowd were...
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October 2011
10 posts
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Minimalism's Next Door Neighbor Maximalism
Japan is a beautiful country of contrasts.
It has a proud and rich history full of tradition and ceremony. Yet modern Japan happily burns its way through trends and technology in a way that has established a kind of science fiction, culture of the future aura.
The traditional side of Japan is sparse and full of deep meaning.
The minimalism can be seen in centuries old ink brush renderings of...