AltJapan

Sock Puppet Conspiracy

A friend of Hiroko's was sending us links to old Muppet Show clips on YouTube when it hit me: Kermit's no frog! He's a kappa! I mean, c'mon...

Frog.

 

Kermit and a suspiciously similar-looking lifeform supposedly recovered off the coast of Mito in 1836:

You make the call. Hey, it wouldn't be the first time a famous American icon was found to have yokai skeletons in his closet...

Season's Cretins

Potomac Video, 7:15pm:

Clerk: "Alt.... Alt... Yeah, here's your account. Last rental, March of 2003. Whoa."

Me: "Yeah, I've been away."

Clerk (slightly agitated): "Away!? Where'd you go man, China!?"

Me: "Sort of. Tokyo."

Clerk (long pause): "Dude... That's far away."

Merry Xmachinders

 

A late Christmas surprise from the Kennedy Center in Washington DC! A juicy high-def video walkthrough of the Jumbo Machinder display from the February Japan: Culture + Hyperculture exhibition, heretofore only seen in Bigfoot-sighting-like, blurry photos on this blog. 

Shot ten months previously, for some reason it only made it online a few days ago. Forgive any mistakes/stumbles/general idiocy, as I was ambushed by the cameraman and forced to sing a savage tale of polyethylene history at the spur of the moment. It's available for free download from iTunes, split into two parts. Check it out here along with the interviews with architect Tadao Ando, musicians Mayawa Denki, toy artist Shin Tanaka, and more!

What's "Happy Holidays" in Cityspeak?

Best nerd present ever: a replica of Deckard's whisky glass from Blade Runner. Thanks mom!

15,284 km to Tokyo

On a whim, Hiroko queried Google Maps for directions from Tokyo to Washington DC. Rather than an aircraft, it advises kayaking across the Pacific, with a brief stop in Hawaii -- just like common sense would indicate. This is too awesome to not be intentional... I think? The direct water-to-highway connections would assume ownership of a vehicle akin to 007's hover-gondola from "Moonraker." Google Maps

Best Xmas Cookies 2008

The winner:

"F Xmas"

by Ally

Second place:

"Gingerbread Golem (Deactivated)"

by Hiroko

Runner up:

"Planarian"

by my own bad-ass self

Panchira

From the December 1988 issue of "Nintendo Power" magazine:

Kitsune

7:47 am in Suburban Maryland. Here's a much better shot taken by Hiroko. 

Papa ga Katte Kita

Just in time for the holiday season, this amazing collection of Seventies-vintage toy commercials advises alcoholic salarymen to curry favor with their children the Japanese way: by bribing them with Jumbo Machinders. The scenes of drunken commiseration over toys in smoky izakaya are disturbingly reminiscent of my evenings anytime Patrick is in town. My favorite moment has to be the dude transforming himself into Great Mazinger as he pees against a brick wall.

Godzilla vs Gamera vs H-Man vs the Mysterians vs...

 The National Film Center of the MOMAT (National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo) has announced a Japanese monster and science fiction film retrospective called, descriptively enough, "Monster and Science Fiction Film." They're going to be screening more than forty different Japanese sci-fi classics. They'll be screening roughly two a day from January 6 to the 22nd, 2009. The list is ambitious, mind-bending, and a little scary.