Shibori Japanese Tye-Dye

Grok Headline matches for Shibori Japanese Tye-Dye

Japanese Hostages Safe in Iraq -
Japanese Media (Reuters)

Japanese Hostages Safe in Iraq -
Japanese Media (Reuters) 04/11/2004 12:20 AM
Reuters - Three Japanese civilians kidnapped in Iraq were safe near Falluja on Sunday, Japanese TV said. Government officials could not confirm the report.

Japanese Hostages Safe in Iraq -
Japanese Media

Japanese Hostages Safe in Iraq -
Japanese Media 04/11/2004 06:50 AM
Reuters via Wired News Apr 11 2004 10:50AM GMT

No sex please -- we're Japanese

No sex please -- we're Japanese 06/04/2004 10:46 AM
USA Today story on statistics published in a popular Japanese news magazine that point to an acute shagging deficiency throughout the country.

Only in Japan would a popular weekly newsmagazine deem it necessary to exhort the nation's youth to abstain from sexual abstinence: "Young people, don't hate sex," AERA magazine pleaded last month in a report detailing a precarious drop in sales of condoms and in business at Japan's rent-by-the-hour "love hotels."

More and more Japanese men and women are finding relationships too messy, tiring and potentially humiliating to bother with anymore. "They don't want a complicated life," says Sakai, who has written a controversial bestseller, Cry of the Losing Dogs, on the plight of unmarried Japanese thirtysomething women like herself.(...)

AERA reports that condom shipments are down 40% since 1993 (probably in part because Japan finally legalized birth-control pills in 1999) and love-hotel check-ins are off at least 20% over the past five years. What's more, an increasing number of those visiting love hotels aren't there for romance, AERA says; they've found that love hotels offer the cheapest access to karaoke machines and video games.

Link. Hope this has nothing to do with the butter dog trend recently reported by Fleshbot. Or, god forbid, her .(Thanks, Invisible Cowgirl).

I was suspected of being a Japanese spy

I was suspected of being a Japanese spy 06/10/2004 04:57 AM

Read Les Earnest's hillarious story about how his secret decoder ring got FBI on his tail when he was 12 years old.  That was in 1943 but it shows what can happen when paranoia grips a nation.  It could be now if you are related in anyway to the Middle East. [via Gaget opia via Espen Adersen].

What is Technorati (in Japanese)

What is Technorati (in Japanese) 12/22/2004 01:12 AM
Masahiko Satoh posts an extensive explanation of Technorati in Japanese for folks in Japan trying to understand better what the service does, and how it works. Thanks Masahiko!...

Those Crazy Japanese...

Those Crazy Japanese... 01/06/2005 10:19 PM

You want some iMac fingernails?

English to Japanese, Japanese to English
PDA

English to Japanese, Japanese to English
PDA 03/06/2004 01:54 AM
I know what I am buying as soon as I am back in Japan. e-Navi is a new PDA that...

Japanese for Nerds (I)

Japanese for Nerds (I) 03/06/2004 01:55 AM
Japanese is the perfect language for nerds. There are just a bunch of standard interfaces to learn, which you string together like so many nested functor objects and voil�: fully-formed correct Japanese sentences!

Japanese Engrish

Japanese Engrish 12/07/2003 04:57 AM
Japenese products with hilarious Engrish names .. .. This Engrish site takes the cake! .. rather amusingtranslations .. Japanese-english .. Engrish dot com .. *focroflmao* .. Engrish! .. C

engrish.com
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Unicode-Japanese-0.22

Unicode-Japanese-0.22 05/31/2004 05:39 AM

Japanese Ice Cream

Japanese Ice Cream 07/07/2004 05:48 PM
OK, here's one of the reasons I love Japan: The way they have no inhibitions about what might go together with something else. How about Spinach Ice Cream? Or Seaweed Ice Cream? Or how about the Raw Horse Meat Ice Cream ("with chunks!")?

The Wackier World of Japanese Ice Cream

(Via Boing Boing. Of course, it's incredibly lame to refer to Boing Boing, because everybody reads it already, but... well. I just find this one interesting. :-)

Folksonomies in Japanese

Folksonomies in Japanese 02/01/2005 08:41 PM
OK, I need some help from people who speak Japanese. This post is about folksonomies (tagging), and how it might be really hard in Japanese. This is mostly speculation at this point, please comment or email me if you speak Japanese. On the Sigia-L list, Fiona Bradley writes: "I don't know Cantonese, ...

Japanese to tag schoolkids

Japanese to tag schoolkids 07/09/2004 11:39 AM
My first RFID

Peculiar Japanese

Peculiar Japanese 12/19/2004 03:06 PM

I just got back to Japan after a few weeks abroad. It's the longest trip away from Japan that I've taken in awhile. When I was in the waiting area before boarding the plane, which was mostly Japanese, I noticed that the Japanese people seemed peculiar. I remember feeling this in the past after long trips. It's like suddenly I'm aware of weird Japanese body language, fashion, behaviors and facial expressions. It made me self-conscious too. I'm sure this is a pretty common phenomenon, but it was odd because it was disproportionately stronger compared to a one week trip away. Maybe it's because I was in Paris, South Africa, San Francisco and Boston before returning and the variety of cultures scrambled my cultural blinders. It was also strange reading the International Herald Tribune on China's anger over recent statements by Japanese about ramping up their military while watching the Japanese news in the plane talk about the same thing from their perspective. It was like having two cultural identities coexisting in my head. Somewhere over the arctic, both cultures seemed mighty peculiar.

Comment - TrackBack

Japanese numbers

Japanese numbers 06/17/2005 04:25 PM
Joi runs the startling results of a survey of Japanese Internet usage. Some highlights: 36.2% of homes have broadband. 72.5% have heard of blogs, about double last year., 25% of women in their teens and 20's have blogs. (!) Wow....

Unicode-Japanese-0.21

Unicode-Japanese-0.21 05/26/2004 05:48 AM

Unicode-Japanese-0.19

Unicode-Japanese-0.19 01/19/2004 05:05 AM

Japanese videophone

Japanese videophone 03/13/2003 12:53 PM

Amazing footage over at TokyoDV of the unreleased FOMA P2102V video cellphone. With the screen folded sideways it looks almost like a very small MiniDV camcorder.
Watch

those crazy japanese

those crazy japanese 09/13/2004 05:01 AM
The OS Girls.

Japanese popstar van-art

Japanese popstar van-art 07/26/2004 01:59 AM
This is a stunning gallery of fan-car art inspired by Japanese pop-star Ayumi Hamasaki. Link, Link to lots more Ayumi fan art (via MeFi)

Japanese fashion

Japanese fashion 08/18/2004 06:16 PM

Xeni @ Boing Boing

What are the cool kids in Harajuku wearing?

Glad you asked. Link to an online photo gallery with street snapshots from Harajuku station in Tokyo. (Thanks, Todd!)

Pete sent me this picture. Marc, were you in Harajuku recently?

Comment - TrackBack

Japanese Spy Satellites No Go

Japanese Spy Satellites No Go 12/02/2003 01:16 AM
A rocket carrying two spy satellites meant to keep an eye on North Korea malfunctions following liftoff, failing to gain sufficient height and speed to reach orbit. Japan's space agency, JAXA, destroys the rocket.

Japanese PM set for N Korea talks

Japanese PM set for N Korea talks 05/21/2004 05:16 PM
Junichiro Koizumi is under strong domestic pressure for results as he leaves for a summit with Kim Jong-il.

Japanese for the Western Brain

Japanese for the Western Brain 05/19/2004 01:17 PM
just for future reference

DateTime-Calendar-Japanese-Era-0.03

DateTime-Calendar-Japanese-Era-0.03 01/23/2004 05:26 PM

Foreigners and Japanese customs

Foreigners and Japanese customs 04/09/2004 03:56 PM

A lot of people ask me about Japanese customs. They learn the formal way to hand business cards, they bow deeply when they meet Japanese and they call me "Ito-san." Stop that. It's silly. To some Japanese, the awkward foreigners trying to please their hosts by acting Japanese may look cute, but more likely than not, you'll get a A for effort but you'll be forever the silly foreigner in their minds. It's only the extremely intolerant xenophobe who would really want a foreigner to really act Japanese and you don't want to be hanging out with those anyway. Keep an eye out for indicators of discomfort but bring the flair of your own culture with you.

Rather than trying to act Japanese, I suggest that people visiting Japan be sensitive and aware of the nuances in the interactions. It is more about timing, loudness, space and smiles than it is about how your hold your business card or calling people "Ito-san." When in doubt, shut up and listen. When smiled at, smile back. If you're freaking someone out, back off instead of continuing your interrogation. All of which I believe is not unique to being a foreigner in Japan. The more important Japan specific social behaviors involve cleanliness like taking off your shoes in homes and washing your body before and not taking your towel when entering the bath and not being stinky.

Caveat: If you're meeting someone for the first time, in a very formal setting, and you only have one shot, doing the step-by-step from the "How to Impress Japanese" book is probably a good idea. My comments above apply mostly to normal social situations.

UPDATE: I think many people were offended by this post. ;-) Please read the comments for an interesting discussion.

Google Suggest in Japanese

Google Suggest in Japanese 03/14/2005 04:46 PM
Google Labs is now pointing to a Japanese version of Google Suggest....

DateTime-Calendar-Japanese-0.02

DateTime-Calendar-Japanese-0.02 01/24/2004 06:11 PM

Japanese Robot Supermodel

Japanese Robot Supermodel 03/14/2005 06:03 PM
Okay, don't get too excited, this isn't quite as life-like as you imagined when you saw the headline. Roland Piquepaille sent us this news on Japanese robotics, "A Japanese designer has developed a mannequin robot, Palette, which can adapt its movements to the shoppers passing in front of it, according to an article from Agence France-Presse (AFP), "Striking a robotic pose". Using motion-capture technology, Palette will be able to act as a supermodel. And with its specialized sensors and software, it also will be able to identify the sex and age of shoppers before transmitting them to store owners for marketing purposes. The price has not been set yet, but Palette should go on sale in 2005 in two versions: a body without legs to showcase clothings, and a torso model for jewelry." See Roland's blog for more details and a photo of Palette, a robot which intentionally has no face. Another photo is available in a recent CNET news article.

You don't have to be Japanese to enjoy
this... you have to be high

You don't have to be Japanese to enjoy
this... you have to be high 02/12/2004 08:45 AM
animation .. Japanese .. 2chdaiou .. J-flash

512kb.net/2chdaiou.swf
track this site | 6 links

DateTime-Format-Japanese-0.01

DateTime-Format-Japanese-0.01 02/13/2004 09:27 AM

Japanese iCommons licenses available
now!

Japanese iCommons licenses available
now! 03/06/2004 01:53 AM

I am very happy to announce that our Japanese-law and -language licenses are now available for use from our site. Just select "Jurisdiction: Japan" when choosing a license, and the site will point you to the right document. For those with browsers set to English, the Commons Deed will appear in English. For those with broswers set to Japanese, in Japanese. And the u nderlying legal code is in Japanese.

This is a major milestone for Creative Commons, and I'd like to extend a special thank you to GLOCOM for driving iCommons Japan, to Yuko Noguchi and Emi Wakatsuki for their extraordinary efforts, and to Machina for her keen insights at various points in the drafting process.

Japanese air conditioner photos

Japanese air conditioner photos 03/19/2005 03:03 AM
David Pescovitz: Over at Underbelly, John Alderman created a slideshow of photographs by Huschang Pourian, a designer living in Tokyo. Pourian is exhibiting his photographs of air conditioners at a gallery in the Gaienmae neighborhood.

I realised that even though there are a lot of earthquakes on this island (of Japan), traditional house-building seemed to avoid using diagonals which would strengthen the structures. Based on the inner unit of tatami mats, everything was following the right angle and parallel lines – Japanese order for body and soul. But I also found elements like tubes and wires destroying this order, going through walls, spreading chaos and confusion. Connected to these were white boxes with fans inside. I suddenly fell in love (visually) with these air conditioners and started chasing them....

But air conditioners are not just beautiful. Beside the fact that they make our lives much more comfortable, they also have a dark side. Their high energy consumption causes the well-known “Heat Island Effect". Tokyo is especially affected by this.

Link

Japanese to Be Next Space Tourist

Japanese to Be Next Space Tourist 05/19/2004 04:42 AM
The company responsible for putting millionaires Dennis Tito and Mark Shuttlesworth into space says the next space tourist will be a 'prominent Japanese figure.' By Amit Asaravala.

FSS: Japanese Garden Bridge

FSS: Japanese Garden Bridge 02/01/2005 09:44 PM
Friday Slide Scan #2 is from the late Eighties; a reflected bridge in Vancouver’s Nitobe Memorial Garden...

Japanese vending-machines

Japanese vending-machines 05/05/2004 12:52 PM
Great page with photos and notes on vending machines that can be found in and around Tokyo. Link (Thanks, Infospigot!)

Damn you Japanese politicians!

Damn you Japanese politicians! 05/08/2004 07:53 AM

I rarely say "fuck" on my blog, but "Fuck you Japanese politicians!" (Lucky the FCC doesn't control my blog... yet.) I've paid about 1/2 of all of my life earnings in tax to the Japanese government and have paid my premiums to the national pension system even though studies that I worked on at the Association of Corporate Executives showed that I would most likely not benefit from these pensions. Now it turns out many Japanese politicians don't pay their national pension premiums. Actually, a third of the cabinet members haven't paid their pension premiums. The "Vice President" of Japan, Yasuo Fukuda just resigned for not paying his premiums. This is all amid a move by the government to increase premiums and lower pay-outs. The study we did showed that unless you were about retirement age today, would would most likely receive "0" from the pension system.

What's worse is that they use strong arm tactics like using the agricultural union (which hires retired bureaucrats and takes a commission) and other semi-public organizations to collect premiums from average citizens.

This is totally disgusting and I really wonder why I live and pay taxes in such a corrupt country.

Sorry I don't have links and references. This is a spur of the moment emotional post based on newspapers and radio that I skimmed today while I was trying to relax.

Japanese hostages 'freed'

Japanese hostages 'freed' 04/15/2004 07:34 AM
Three Japanese civilians taken hostage in Iraq last week are reported to have been freed unharmed.

Japanese get first mobile wallets

Japanese get first mobile wallets 08/10/2004 04:56 AM
Japan's mobile network, NTT DoCoMo, has launched a service that turns mobiles into wallets.
Grok Description matches for Shibori Japanese Tye-Dye
GrokA matches for Shibori Japanese Tye-Dye

Shibori Japanese Tye-Dye

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