We’ve seen a real surge in interest in kendama domestically and overseas. As discussed in previous posts, the comeback of the traditional cup-and-ball Japanese toy has manifested itself as international tournaments and new “musical kendama” interactive toys. There is even a Yo-Kai Watch kendama.

The latest example of the kendama trend is Dendama, developed by participants in the KDDI Mugen Labo program and announced at an au Unlimited Future Laboratory event last August.

This electronic kendama takes the bilboquet design to the next level, featuring built-in sensors and Bluetooth interactivity with your smartphone. Using a dedicated app, two people anywhere in the world can now play kendama games against each other, or practice and track their progress. When competing against another player, it is even possible to inflict “damage” on your opponent through performing certain tricks that cause their Dendama to shake.

Dendama is being presented as a fusion of Internet of Things thinking with online gaming tournaments and darts, and the makers hope it will be a hit as a regular B2C product but also as an item for darts bars, amusement facilities, and even nursing homes.

Currently the subject of a preorder and crowdfunding campaigning on Makuake, the organizers have raised over half their ¥990,000 target with still 65 days to go.

The market for kendama is estiamted at ¥2 billion ($17.6 million), according to The Bridge. With innovations like this continuing to appear, the kendama craze is not likely to let up any time soon.

Opening March 5th, BnA hotel Koenji is “a project that turns the entire creative city of Koenji into an art hotel.”

Bed & Art Project’s new facility is self-proclaimed as the “wackiest new hotel in town” — a title many had given to the robot-staffed Henn na Hotel in Sasebo — and features rooms created by Ryuichi Ogino and Yohei Takahashi.

BnA utilizes art hotel rooms as a means to support up-and-coming Japanese artists while offering art-loving travelers the unique experience of staying in a functional work of art. BnA’s vision is a creative solution to issues hindering Japanese artists and art aficionados visiting Japan.

So far there are just two rooms but this will grow to thirty in the future. Although a hotel in name, in fact the rooms will be spread out around the area and integrated into the community, meaning that for guests the experience may actually feel closer to a home-sharing (minpaku) service like Airbnb. (BnA Project also offers two other arty vacation homes via Airbnb; one in Ikebukuro and one in Kyoto.)

Airbnb is enjoying a boom in Japan, its fastest-growing market, though also faces government regulation that would limit the home-share to a week at a time. The hotel industry has pressured the Japanese government to introduce these new restrictive guidelines, though a development like BnA hotel Koenji possibly manages to get the best of both worlds.

For now, BnA hotel Koenji has renovated a three-floor building on the north side of Koenji Station, featuring the two art rooms and also a bar, gallery and rooftop lounge.

The style of the hotel also recalls the recent trend for chic yet down-to-earth hostels we are witnessing in working-class areas of east Tokyo, such as Bunka Hostel Tokyo and Nui.

Koenji is known for its lively counterculture, full of thrift shops, art and music spaces, and trendy bars. It also hosts an alternative Awa-odori dance in the summer, inspired by the Tokushima original. It is a popular district with foreign residents and an ideal choice for travelers looking for an area of Tokyo that’s different to the likes of Shibuya, Shinjuku, Aoyama or Marunouchi.

BnA hotel Koenji is also being heralded as the first “art hotel” in Tokyo, though we would dispute this. There has long been a designer boutique hotel in Meguro, Claska, with artist-customized guest rooms, while the Park Hotel Tokyo is also pushing itself as a hotel with its roots in the art scene, complete with artist-made rooms, changing exhibits in the lobby, and events like this month’s art fair.

Nintendo is reaching back into its history for its latest release, bringing the 3DS LL handheld console out in a Super Famicom design.

The Super Famicom (marketed as Super NES outside Japan) was released in 1990 in Japan and defined gaming for a generation. The 16-bit game console had slightly different coloring and designs for different regions, but the Japanese casing was a distinctive light and dark gray, with the classic green, blue, yellow and red buttons on the controller.

Combining the dual-screen clamshell portable features of the 3DS LL with the retro classic scheme of the Super Famicom, the new 3DS LL Super Famicom Edition will open for orders in mid-April for ¥21,600 (about $190). It will be available strictly on a per-order basis, so expect to be very envious of anyone who gets their hands on one of these.

We’ve seen plenty of Famicom-inspired merchandise and products over the years, from clocks to phone cases, batteries and earphones. But we think this is the first time Nintendo have resurrected an old design in such a direct way. More of this please!

This article by Lily Crossley-Baxter first appeared on Tokyo Cheapo.

I have never met a single person who didn’t cry during that first montage of UP, and I hope I never do. Pixar has consistently managed to combine the latest technology in computer animation with expert storytelling, creating fan favorites such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, and the more recent Inside Out. With a triad of key elements — story, character and world — explored in their new exhibition, “Pixar: 30 Years of Animation”, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo featuring over 500 pieces of original artwork, it’s time to get nostalgic.

Originally shown in New York in 2005, the collection has since toured the world to celebrate their 30th anniversary and will reach Tokyo in March 2016, just days before the release of their newest film, The Good Dinosaur (rather convenient, some might say). However, cynicism aside, as it contains a number of pieces from the film’s developmental process, the exhibition is a rare opportunity to see the development of such a modern film so soon after release (even if it is Japan’s typically late release date). With their first fully computer-animated film released here in 1996 (Toy Story), this is a brilliant opportunity to see the differences in production techniques as well as the similarities across a decade of technological development. The exhibition contains hand-drawn sketches, original storyboards, paintings, color scripts and character models as well as two pieces created specially for the tour; a Toy Story zoetrope, below, (similar to the Totoro one at the Ghibli Museum) and an artscape.

So on a rainy afternoon it might just be the perfect opportunity to wander back through your childhood (or adulthood, no judgement here) and see the growth of your favorite characters and imaginary worlds, from drawing board to movie screen, with all the little changes and ideas that happened in between, and what better way to find inspiration for your next pre-payday night in?

“Pixar: 30 Years of Animation” runs at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo until May 29th. Tickets cost ¥1,500 for adults and ¥1,000 for students.

Read more on Tokyo Cheapo

The ludic Japanese Twittersphere strikes again.

Japanese Twitter users like to play tag games where they post a picture of someone (typically someone famous or currently in the news spotlight) and then other users reply with pictures that show someone else (typically an anime character) adopting a similar pose.

The fun and humor lies in the challenge of finding a good match and the incongruity of the pairings. The meme’s latest incarnation involves Democrat Party presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

It started in early March with a tag appeared on Twitter asking users to pose pictures of Deremasu (the nickname of a social game, The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls, from The Idolmaster video game and anime franchise) with those of Ms. Clinton.

The results are quite amusing and entertaining. Much of the appeal revolves around finding and sharing a likeness to a certain pose or gesture with the female 2D characters that is coincidental (we’re not suggesting Ms. Clinton is doing this by design), yet funny. While aimed at fans of the original Idolmaster franchise, even the uninitiated can enjoy the montages.

きらりークリントン

#デレマスの画像を送るとそれに近いヒラリークリントンの画像が送られてくる pic.twitter.com/rAF70Sl9it

— 銀髪推進派 (@alpaka) March 3, 2016

Heck, one Twitter user even found a way to compare Clinton with wailing former Japanese politician Ryutaro Nonomura.

While this might all seem trivial or even disrespectful, given the continuing pantomime of the Republic candidates’ debates, this kind of online parodying and playfulness is perhaps the best response to an ever more absurd media circus.

And as Asiajin rightly points out, the Democrat and Republican candidates’ campaigns are hardly covered by mainstream Japanese news media, meaning that many people’s experience of them is filtered through social media.

The most prominent response so far in Japan to the rise (and rise) of Donald Trump has been Dr NakaMats’s new invention: a weaponized wig that the wacky Japanese inventor is suggesting the Donald can lob at his enemies. Absurd, yes, but perhaps not an inappropriate retort to what is taking place right now.

See more examples of the Clinton meme on Togetter.

The award-winning “ultra-technologists” teamLab have carved out a successful niche in digital art installations, working with the likes of Gucci and even Narita Airport.

Their signature approach involves designing interactive floral experiences and family-friendly playful event spaces. There is a fine line between shtick and style, and teamLab’s projects can feel somewhat familiar after a while: the same flowers, the same moving animals. That being said, the company has also attracted considerable overseas interest and is currently showcasing its “Digital Space and Future Parks” exhibition at PACE Menlo Park, California.

Now they are branching out from brand tie-ups and art installations into weddings.

Camellia and Butterflies for Eternity is a new teamLab-curated wedding ceremony service on offer at Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo.

As the name of the plan suggests, teamLab’s plan is a digital art space full of butterflies and camellias that flutter and move when the bride and groom make their entrance and exit. The digital motifs respond to the movements of the happy couple, never making the same patterns again.

For a reasonable ¥130,000 (around $1,150), you get a special marriage vows certificate, MC, operational staff, background music and the projection equipment. Of course, the costs of the rest of the wedding party and banquet are added on top of this.

People are marrying later in Japan and, combined with the population decrease and economic downturn, conventionally exorbitant weddings are not always realistic in these post-recession days. Instead, people want something that is fresh and interesting, but nonetheless affordable. Out are luxury “white weddings” and expensive traditional Shinto shrine ceremonies; in are compact and modest wedding plans. Wedding events, though, are purely symbolic in Japan, since couples actually get married in advance at their local city office just by submitting the paperwork.

We’ve seen some great “physical ads” in Tokyo recently, from a removable block mural to an interactive sound billboard and a scratchable poster.

How about a “huggable” ad?

From March 7th to March 13th, Sanrio is organizing a series of 130 cm (4.2 ft) cuddly replicas of its character Pompompurin, wrapped around the pillars of Promenade Road in the Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line section of Shinjuku Station.

It is part of a campaign to commemorate Pompompurin’s 20th anniversary and passersby are invited to embrace the plush Pompompurin. For the uninitiated, Pompompurin is a golden retriever character fond of eating custard puddings.

The yellow dog appears in a total of 11 different poses, each of which you can cuddle and squeeze to your heart’s content.

While we’re not sure how hygienic this is, you can’t argue with the appeal of this promo, especially when it is located in the normally soulless underground passages of Shinjuku Station. Obviously aimed at kids, girls and lovers of all things kawaii, we also reckon that weary salarymen on the way to and from the office might also appreciate the “free hugs” being dispensed by these soft pillars.

Last year we reported on Gudetama, the peculiar “lazy egg” character by Sanrio that has become a range of hit products.

In a perfect synergy of trends, the curiously loveable character has joined the growing kendama craze in Japan.

Behold the Gudetama Kendama.

Endorsed by the Japan Kendama Association, this is a Gudetama-themed version of the classic cup-and-ball toy that is now gaining in popularity all over the world.

There are two designs: a regular one with Gudetama on the ball as the character appears popping out of an egg shell, and a special all-gold one.

We are seeing a wide range of exciting updates and developments on the kendama, the Japanese version of the bilboquet, from the brilliantly interactive Dendama to themed kendama like this Yo-Kai Watch kendama, and a “musical” kendama that turns a player into a DJ.

Until now there has been a relative lack of cat cafes (or their various spin-offs with dogs, owls, rabbits and more) in central areas. If you search, you can find some around Shibuya, Shinjuku and other major commercial centers, but often the largest or most popular are in slightly less built-up areas.

Most cat cafes are also fairly basic affairs with a focus on hygiene first and foremost. They are often designed to be comfortable and cute, rather than stylish. That is why this fashionable new venue is quite special.

Adding to branches in Shibuya and Ikebukuro that opened in 2015, MoCHA Harajuku opened on the fourth floor of a building in front of JR Harajuku Station on March 9th, offering a nice view over the greenery of Meiji Shrine and the top of the Omotesando boulevard.

MoCHA has around 20 cats waiting for your attention all day. Charges start as low as ¥200 for 10 minutes (with ¥350 for drinks), making this an ideal way to experience cat cafes quickly and easily. It is open from 10am to 10pm, so you can also get some kitty time in after a day out in Harajuku. You can purchase snacks to give the cats (the inhabitants of Japan’s cat cafes are seriously indulged creatures).

MoCHA also cleverly has invested in an English website, since cat cafes are now increasingly popular with foreign visitors to Japan.

Taisin has created another superb ice sphere mold. The FLX65 Sphere, Heart, Star Ice Ball Mold has three alternate 65mm molds so you can vary the shapes you make to go in your glass and keep your beverage cooler for longer.

Simply heat the mold briefly in hot water, place good-quality ice in the mold, and put on the top. It then does the rest on its own in seconds. Take off the top and you have a superior sphere, heart or star shape to give your drink that brilliant final touch. The cold-proof wooden grip on top and the ball release at the bottom of the aluminum mold also make opening the device smooth and easy.

Ever since Taisin’s original ice ball mold burst into our lives a few years ago, we have seen lots of cheap imitators on the market. But the best thing is that the mold didn’t turn into a fully fledged “trend”.

The truth is: this small manufacturer in Chiba is exactly what makes Japanese design great. Their attention to detail and quality, all while never trying to overreach themselves, is the essence of monozukuri, the Japanese art of making things. Just look at the pictures of what you can make with their range of ice ball molds to see what we mean.

In certain publications whose names we will not mention, you read a lot of navel-gazing waffle about Japanese “craftsmanship”, elevating coffee shop baristas, artisans and chefs to some pedestal they don’t claim. No, what’s so impressive here is how modest and unassuming the quality is, and how it’s for everyone — not just a select few.

Hakuhodo’s latest in its series of HACKist creative lab prototypes is Pechat, a simple button-shaped device that “lets your stuffed animals chat”.

In essence, Pechat is a yellow button that can be added to any children’s toy, transforming it into a talking, interactive character.

Co-developed with Hakuhodo’s innovation team monom (who made the iDoll and Memory Clock), Pechat is currently just a concept model and details on when it may become commercially available are currently unannounced.

The “chat speaker” button works with a dedicated app to communicate in four ways. Voice Chat converts what you say into a cute voice. Text Chat reads out what you type in a cute voice (there’s a cute theme here). Tap Chat allows you to save dialogue, songs and stories in advance to be played whenever you want them. And Auto Chat responds to what a child says to their toy.

Its other functions include a “crying detector” to measure if your child is crying and then alert your phone as well an alarm with customizable dialogue and a “smart voice change” that converts what you say into a cute voice (apparently this is different to the Voice Chat function).

HACKist also produced INUPATHY, the wearable dog emotions visualizer that we featured recently.

There has also been a mini boom in these kinds of talking toys lately in Japan, including the Robi robotic toy, Omnibot OHaNAS sheep, and Meebo kindergarten robot, plus the cuddly teddy bears Himitsu no Kuma-chan and Cocolo Bear.

There’s a joke that a meme is only truly a meme when it gets adapted for porn.

We’ve been covering the kendama boom that first emerged overseas and is now unfolding in Japan, resulting in special character-themed versions of the classic cup-and-ball toy, such as Sanrio’s Gudetama and Yo-Kai Watch.

There have also been kendama that attempt to combine the game with technology and music.

Now there is the Kentama (link NSFW). First you will spot the slight difference in spelling.

This is an adult version of the Edo-era bilboquet toy — and by adult, we don’t just meant it’s difficult enough for grown-ups to enjoy. This has been produced by an adult toys manufacturer called SSI and, while in essence just a straightforward kendama without any real added gimmicks, look closely and you will see a certain phallic change to the ken (stick) and the zara (cups).

The name is a pun: “kentama” sounds like kintama (slang for “testicles”).

SSI emphasize that the kendama is an engimono (traditional good luck charm), so perform certain tricks (i.e. land the ball in difficult positions) with their version (with cups available in five colors) to demonstrate not only your skill but also win good fortune.

If it sounds like a cheap and rather tasteless spin-off, be assured that it’s made with Japanese timber and seems to be quite a quality toy. You just might not want to play it in front of your parents.

We’ve seen a lot of themed cafes in Tokyo recently but most are franchises with established merchandise and anime lines, such as Miffy or Rilakkuma, to name just two recent examples.

Sega Networks wants to push its smartphone game Puyopuyo!! Quest (also known as PuyoQue) and is also riding the character cafe wave (again) with the PuyoQue Cafe, open from March 17th to May 15th at Sweets Paradise, Ikebukuro.

As is requisite with these promotions, the cafe features a special menu of food items and desserts designed around the characters from the iOS, Android and Kindle Fire game. For drinks, there are 27 possible different kinds of character lattes. There are also special stickers and coasters available if you order certain set meals, plus you can then play the game on your phone and get digital content exclusive to the cafe.

There is even a Puyopuyo-themed Nail Puri machine — the nail art purikura booth made by Sega — revealing that the target demographic here is female, which may surprise some outsiders who assume gaming is just for geeky boys.

This is not the first time PuyoQue has become a concept cafe pop-up. It was previously in Shibuya in late 2014 and then at other locations around the country in 2015, including Ikebukuro. Clearly this is a marketing format that works, for both long-standing character brands and a free-to-play RPG video game that only launched in 2013.

The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.

LP Hartley wrote those words as the opening of The Go-Between, a very English novel about very English themes.

But the message is universal and relevant to Japan today, where the gods and folk rituals are slowly re-emerging.

In mid-February, Charles Fréger opened “Yôkaïnoshima” at Le Forum, the gallery inside the Maison Hermes Ginza store. The French photographer, known for his work documenting rituals and festivals around the world, shot villagers in 60 locations across Japan dressed in costumes representing yokai, the supernatural beings that inhabit Japanese folklore (and now have a lucrative second life in anime, manga and video games). The free exhibition runs until May 15th.

Charles Fréger, “Namahage”, Ashizawa, Oga, Akita Prefecture, Yôkaïnoshima series, 2013-2015

Photographer Yusuke Nishimura has been training his lens on practitioners of rural folk performances and festival dances for the past three years. After successfully financing his project through a crowdfunding campaign, the results have become a remarkable 328-page photography book, The Folk, recently published by Little More Books.

Ironically, it was a folk performance in Meiji Shrine, the Shinto shrine linked to the imperial family and located in Harajuku in the heart of Tokyo, that transformed him and set him on his quest into the unknown.

The “audience” for these performances is the kami themselves. In ancient times, it was quite common for people to be killed by natural disasters — if a river overflowed or the area went too long without rain. For the people who had to live in that environment, it must have been easy to see kami lurking everywhere behind nature, and the experience of those disasters became deeply connected to people’s spiritual faith. Their fear of nature nurtured a sense of beauty — but also a profound terror of what it could do.

Nishimura’s series is also featured in a tie-in exhibition at the IMA Concept Store in Roppongi until April 2nd. Entry is free.

Yusuke Nishimura’s portrait of a Heron Dance from Tsuwano Yasaka Shrine, Shimane Prefecture

These two events join a series of related developments that indicate renewed interest in Japanese folklore.

In 2013, the documentary film Ubusuna was released. Directed by Miles Nagaoka and made by an international team, the film explores Japan’s forest, mountain and coastal communities, from Shikoku to Tohoku to Okinawa.

Ubusuna is a word with Shinto roots. It means the land where people were born and the kami (gods) that watch over them and their home. With Mt. Fuji’s recent and much-trumpeted recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, there is perhaps no better time for us to put aside tourist marketing slogans and nationalistic pride, and truly consider the future of Japan’s mountains and the communities that still reside there.

In 2014, 21 21 Design Sight held a popular exhibition about rice culture in Japan.

Screened at the exhibition was Hakusho: The Story of Rice, a documentary by Yu Yamanaka that explored ways that rice continues to resonate with Japanese people today. It included a rice farmer in Chiba and a sake brewer, but most interesting in this context was the footage of rice deity (Tano Kami) dances in Kyushu, and also the remarkable ritual in Ishikawa’s Noto Peninsula of Aenokoto, where the Tano Kami is welcomed into the home once a year and given a bath and a meal.

There has also been a rediscovery of the work of folklore researcher Tsuneichi Miyamoto in recent years, including a translation of his landmark The Forgotten Japanese into English.

More generally, some have noted (or at least, anticipated) an increase in pilgrimages and spirituality since the 2011 Tohoku disaster, alongside the unprecedented 14 million who visited the newly rebuilt Ise Shrine in 2014.

Maker culture spaces, fab labs and hackerspaces have been springing up all over Tokyo in recent years, offering designers (both established professionals and aspiring amateurs) the chance to share ideas and skills, either through organized workshops or by dint of working in the same physical environment.

It has intersected with the rise in 3D printing options and digital fabrication services in the city, and also connects with the Japanese culture of monozukuri — “making things” — that runs deep through its craft and artistic traditions.

Where did it all start? FabLab Japan launched in 2010, inspired by MIT professor Neil Gershenfeld’s concept of a “fabrication revolution”. FabLab Japan has since opened numerous spaces around the country, and was also involved with developing the first FabCafe in Shibuya.

FabCafe Tokyo opened in March 2012 and quickly attracted attention for its laser-cutting facilities, design contests, and even chocolate face replica events! It has become a fulcrum for maker culture in Tokyo. Its owner, the web agency Loftwork, has since opened up branches in Thailand, Spain, France and elsewhere in Japan.

In recent developments, Makers’ Base has moved from its home in Meguro to upgraded digs within Tokyo Metropolitan University (it also has a space in Sapporo). It offers facilities for ceramics, textiles, woodwork, metalwork, and digital.

Lowp is a new coworking and maker space in Ichigaya (the fab lab and maker culture trend neatly dovetails with the coworking boom in Tokyo right now), offering laser-cutting and 3D printing, and metal and woodwork facilites. This being Japan, food and drink is also vital to these spaces — hence FabCafe is also, well, a cafe — and Lowp has a kitchen that can be rented. Joseph Tame, the slightly wacky innovator, was showing off his gadgets at the Lowp opening, appropriately enough for someone who has been a visible player in the evolving maker space movement in Tokyo.

There are numerous other examples, such as the 3D printing space Create Me in Akihabara, coromoza (a “fashion laboratory” for textiles in Harajuku), HappyPrinters Harajuku, and the Protyping Room at Ikejiri Institute of Design.

3331 Arts Chiyoda is a former school near Akihabara housing art exhibitions, coworking spaces, galleries, shops and also the Handazuke Cafe that offers the free use of tools so people can build their own gadgets.

Online retail giant DMM is also getting in on the act with its Akihabara maker space, run as part of its overall DMM.make 3D printing services.

Outside of Tokyo, the Kamakon Valley set, pioneered by Kayac Inc., is also trying to develop its own style of hackerspaces and maker hubs for the IT industry. The Zen Hack weekend in 2014 saw a hackathon take place in a Buddhist temple, complete with healthy meals and meditation in between the programming and brainstorming.

The strong sense of community these spaces foment, not to mention the skills and new creative energies they help steer, have been recognized by public bodies. Arts Council Tokyo sponsors a platform called Tokyo Fabbers to bring together these various maker culture spaces.

Japanese homes are not the largest of places so any appliance that combines more than one function is going to be popular.

Sharp’s Plasmacluster Mosquito Catcher Air Purifier Katori Kuusei does just that. It cleanses the air using Sharp’s patented Plasmacluster ion technology but also catches mosquitoes, which will prove very handy in the humid summer months when the pesky insects are always sneaking into people’s residences.

It doesn’t use insecticide or chemicals, so you can have it on while you sleep without being bothered by smells. Mosquitoes are attracted by the sleek black color and UV light, but then will be trapped by adhesive pads inside.

Sharp has made a suitably “cute” video to promote their product, which almost makes you forget that you are ultimately killing the mosquitoes.

The name is a reference to katori senko, the mosquito coils whose sweet smell when they are lit is a familiar part of summer life in Japan. The most famous mosquito coils are made by Kincho Uzumaki.

Sharp is hoping to sell 3,000 units of the Katori Kuusei a month and it is available for overseas orders from Japan Trend Shop.

What were the lyrics to that song? Know this in real time with the Lyric Speaker, which displays the lyrics to songs it plays through a neat interface in the speaker itself.

The lyrics are shown automatically in beautiful motion graphics, in sync with the actual song you are playing through your mobile device. The speaker can do this by connecting with a cloud database called PetitLyrics to generate the lyrics and also graphics that match the mood and structure of the song. For example, it displays softer graphics for mellow tracks and powerful graphics for more up-beat numbers.

The developers, SIX Inc., call this Lyric Sunc Technology and claim it is the first of its kind in the world.

The speaker is part of a line of recent interesting Internet of Things devices that are set to transform the way we live.

“Amid the rapid digitization of the music industry, not many people will think much about the lyrics booklet that came with the cover sleeve of a physical CD or the purpose it served,” says Jin Saito, Creative Director of SIX. “The Lyric Speaker is an Internet of Things speaker that brings back the utility of a lyrics booklet but takes it to the next level using technology and stunning visuals.”

The speaker was first announced in 2014 but last year made a stir at SXSW (South by Southwest), which is fast becoming the event of choice for globally minded Japanese agencies to showcase their IoT prototypes and build buzz.

After becoming the first Japanese company to win a Best Bootstrap Company award at the 2015 SXSW Accelerator, SIX Inc. has now launched the Lyric Speaker commercially.

Pre-orders start in June, with deliveries in Japan set for September. The Lyric Speaker will then be available from Isetan department stores around the country.

Musician and fashion guru Hiroshi Fujiwara opened a new concept store, The Park-Ing Ginza, in an underground parking lot on March 24th.

The parking lot is located underneath the Sony Building at the Ginza-Sukiyabashi intersection on the edge of Ginza. The new store can be found on the basement third and fourth floors, and features select boutiques from Nike, Denim By, Vanquish, and more.

It also features Café de Ropé, recreating the popular Omotesando open-air coffee shop that was a landmark of Harajuku culture. Originally opened in 1972, Café de Ropé was incidentally the first place in Japan to serve Perrier. (This isn’t the first time the cafe has been resurrected; it also reappeared as a summer venue in Hayama in 2009 and then permanently in a mall in Chiba, of all places, in 2013.)

Not surprisingly given Fujiwara’s musical pedigree, there is also a tony record store among the apparel in the bowels of Ginza.

The Park-Ing Ginza is Fujiwara’s latest experiment in high-concept retail following The Pool Aoyama, which closed on March 22nd after two years.

A word of warning: The Park-ing Ginza has an ID-check policy, so you will need some official form of photo ID to make a purchase.

All images via FashionSnap

Namco opens VR Zone Project i Can on April 15th in Diver City Tokyo Plaza, Odaiba, as a virtual reality technology entertainment complex.

It will run until mid-October, offering head-mounted virtual reality experiences. Reservations are required (you can make them online from April 8th) and you need to be 13 or over to try the VR games on offer. It’s free to go in and watch, but trying the VR costs between ¥700 and ¥1,000 per session.

There are six types of VR experience available, including rescuing a cat from a tall building, piloting a giant robot, driving a motorsports car or a Yamanote Line train, and an extreme skiing “rodeo”.

Following the controversy over the Sony’s PlayStation VR (Project Morpheus) HMD launch in late 2014, consumer virtual reality took a bit of a hit in Japan, but the gaming industry is determined to show it is not just for geeks and can have commercial implications for entertainment.

For VR Zone Project i Can, Bandai Namco Entertainment has developed its own software. Right now, though, the buzz is all about the Oculus Rift system. It got a slightly dubious plug on Japanese morning TV recently when Rei Kikukawa found the experience so terrifying it made her cry live on camera. Will there be tears in Odaiba at the Namco venue?

Which Japanese fashion model do you look like?

That’s the tempting question asked by Dare Who?, a website that allows you to upload your portrait and then let it analyze and calculate your closest match.

The ego-stroking website is available until April 22nd.

Dare Who? (that’s “da-re”, which means “who” in Japanese) is hosted by Fashion Hack Tokyo after the creators were awarded top prize by the contest. The software is FaceU, a facial recognition system developed by docomo.

It works with four magazine partners (25ans, CanCam, MORE and ViVI), and features eight popular fashion models from those magazines, including Elaiza Ikeda, Mizuki Yamamoto, Shiori Sato, Yui Sakuma, and Arisa Yagi.

This type of digital “beauty analysis” tool can be used effectively as a promotional tool.

Pola Apex did something similar in 2014 with posters and video panels around Tokyo, analyzing a face on a radar chart. The strikingly distorted results were very eye-cathing and, considering that they were advertising a cosmetics brands, also raised interesting questions about how we define beauty.

In Japan, fashion models are contracted to certain magazines and readers develop a strong attachment to them to the extent of purchasing books of their “essays” and following their blogs and social media accounts avidly. The intimate relationship between female fans and fashion models is one of the reasons for the success of Tokyo Girls Collection, the fashion show and retail event that is based on attracting young female consumers to the capital to see their favorite models in person.