This photo montage of a French bulldog and his little boy owner friend will definitely fulfill your cuteness quota for the day.

via Buzzfeed

Kezuroukai (a play on words meaning “let’s shave, shall we?” and “Wood Planing Competition”) is held every year in a different region of Japan. Wood shaving enthusiasts from all over the country gather in an effort to beat the next guy in getting the thinnest wood shavings possible. I imagine these are some of the best artisans and craftspeople in the world. In some cases they are able to get the wood down to 9 microns thick — according to Kottke that is one-thousandth of a millimeter, less than 1/10th of the thickness of a piece of human hair.

This is totally unrelated but in the random competition category, it reminds me of extreme ironing.

(Thanks, Sheel!)

Check out this crazy intricate maze created by an anonymous Japanese man – actually, a janitor who happens to be the father of a Twitter user who casually posted a photo on her feed one day. He had drawn it purely for fun nearly 30 years ago, over the course of seven years. Can you imagine? This is the kind of secret genius obsessive talent that I think a lot of Japanese people possess, but don’t ever imagine could warrant global fame or a career. Had he been of a different generation or geography, he may have chosen a career path as a graphic designer instead.

via Spoon and Tamago

Of all the crazy pampering shenanigans that Japanese pet owners can indulge in, a full body aloe extract mud mask is definitely the strangest. I found this along Komazawa Dori in the Ebisu-Daikanyama neighborhood today.

More animal posts here.

I’m excited to hear about the opening of MUJI USA’s flagship store in San Francisco. During Reverse Tofu in October, I had the incredible opportunity of talking to Mr. MUJI himself — the original designer for some of MUJI’s staple products. (Pic below)

Contrary to its competitor Uniqlo, which also opened up shop in SF a couple months ago, MUJI has a strong philosophy of no branding + no advertising — of course, this is a tremendous challenge when entering a new market, especially one that is so ad-driven. But hey. MUJI stuff is awesome. I use their notebooks and business card holders and headbands every single day. And it has a tremendous philosophy rooted in simplicity, efficiency, and good design.

The December issue of Wired has an article about Japanese humor and the painfully hilarious batsu game culture.

Much has been written about Japan’s gross national cool—the worldwide demand for the country’s fashion, cuisine, anime, manga, videogames, and consumer electronics. But less attention has been paid to the country’s gross national gross—unscripted TV shows focused on imaginatively disgusting and cruel physical challenges—even though they’re just as popular and influential.

You might remember that way back in the day I posted about Nasubi, the guy who was stuck in a tiny apartment for over a year writing letters to sweepstakes in the hopes of putting some clothes on his back and maybe feed himself something more than uncooked rice. I also taught you how to do the kancho (very important if you want to prove your know-how in Japanese culture.) And you can always tell a real Japanese person from a fake one by whether they think this Shimura Ken Thriller parody is ridiculous or funny. (A real Japanese person would think both, of course, and the two are never mutually exclusive.)

The kicker of the Wired article really takes home the idea that Japanese and American humor are truly very different:

Yoshimoto CEO Osaki is cautiously optimistic. “It might take a thousand years for us to reach Hollywood, but I think we have a shot at it,” he says as he puffs on a Lucky Strike. But he’s not betting on Louis CK and Sarah Silverman performing batsu game challenges. And he isn’t sure that different humor styles always mix. “I personally don’t find American stand-up that funny,” Osaki says. “Maybe it’s lost in translation.”

Japanese Comedy: So Funny, It Hurts [Wired]

Hello, future of sticker pictures! From November 24-January 14, a pop-up photo booth is opening up in Omotesando that uses a 3D scanner and printer to make tiny replicas of people. Visitors have three size options: a small figurine is 10cm tall and weighs about 20g; medium = 15cm, 50g; and a large = 20cm, 200g.

Omote 3D Shashinkan

Is this a hard core version of trust falls? How do they get out?

Thanks, Joe!

Shing02 just sent me this hilarious voice over of Michael Jackson’s Beat It video of an insomniac man with an Osaka accent counting sheep and stressing out because he can’t sleep before his piano recital. Wow.

Question: is this only funny to people who understand Japanese or is it funny period?

In 2009 I had the great pleasure of interviewing and becoming friends with Toastie, a lovely lady who grew up in Australia and now performs all over the world as the oh-so-wonderfully-kooky Toast Girl.

Here is a gorgeous video of her moonlighting as her alter ego Baguette Bardot against a Parisian backdrop. It has over 2 million views on YouTube! On some nights, you can find Toastie bartending in Golden Gai, an amazing clandestine bar district.

Oh and make sure you check out the Studio360 show featuring Toastie, produced by yours truly, in 2009.

Every Japanese kid at some point in their lives has to do radio calisthenics exercises in the morning. Even though I didn’t go to a Japanese school, I stumbled upon this strange ritual at a local swimming school that my mom took me to for a few months in grade school.

I think this routine should be secret code for how to tell if someone is Japanese. You know, like a fraternity hand shake. I’ve also seen old Chinese people do a similar exercise routine early in the morning in parks all over San Francisco but cannot confirm that it’s the exact same thing. Anyone?

This weekend I had the pleasure of meeting and having a long sun-soaked breakfast with rapper Shing02, who grew up all over the world — Berkeley, Tanzania, Japan — and now lives in LA. He’s super famous for tracks he created with famous DJs like Nujabes and was part of the up-and-coming hip hop movement on the East Bay in the 90s. Understated, thoughtful, a true lyricist who can connect nodes of thought and makes cool analogies with words.

He recently made this film called then-n-now, watch!

Loved this piece, called Banzai Corner, at the Benesse House Museum on Naoshima.

In 2002, Hiroshi Sugimoto decorated Go’o Shrine on Naoshima with an optical glass staircase that leads to a subterranean stone chamber. It’s now a permanent part of the Art House Project, an amazing art project on Naoshima that walks you through a small traditional Japanese village with several obscure buildings that have stunning contemporary experiential art pieces hidden in them. The most dramatic one was James Turrell’s Minamidera — a spiritual worship place transformed into a seemingly pitch black room that slowly over time metamorphoses into one of his signature empty rectangular box meditative spaces.

Go’o Shrine for Art House Project

Teru teru bozu are little tissue paper monks that Japanese people hang outside their windows when they don’t want it to rain the next day.

I’m sitting here in Naoshima with Florian, one of the photographers for Gakko Project, and loving this photo he took on a Tokyo subway.