If It's Hip, It's Here (Archives): japanese

Showing posts with label japanese. Show all posts

Modern Tech Meets Traditional Japanese Gold-Leafing in these USB Flash Drives.

With most new fangled technology gadgets being made of silicon, titanium or polypropylene, it's a refreshing change to come across something useful that harkens back to tradition.

Famous Japanese kinpaku manufacturer Hakuichi, who is known for their gold-leafing of several types of products and edibles, enters the computer peripheral world with these portable USB drives decorated with high-quality gold leaf designs, called hakue (or gold leaf pictures).

Chrysanthemums to birds to Mount Fuji adorn the front of these 4GB USB thumb drives or flash drives. While they are perfect for storing your data they bring an element of traditional Japanese hand-leafed gold design to the table.

The Hakue portable USB drives feature ten different distinctly Japanese designs:

Akafuji (Mt Fuji at dawn)
Fūjin Raijin (God of Wind and God of Thunder)
Houou (East Asian phoenix)
Kiku to Ryūsui (Chrysanthemums in water)
Kingyo (Goldfish)
Kouyo (Autumn leaves)
Nakiryu (Temple dragon)
Sakura Fubuki (Cherry blossoms)
Temari (Temari hand balls)
Tsuki to Usagi (Moon and rabbit)

Please note that this product is manufactured after receipt of order; as such, orders for this product cannot be cancelled. Additionally, the one-year hardware warranty only covers the USB solid state drive, not the design on the outside.

In Japan you can buy them directly from Hakuichi here.

In the US, you can buy them here for $198.28 USD

Drill Inc. Creates Xylophone, A Commercial For The Touch Wood Mobile Phone

A lovely and inventive three minute commercial, Xylophone, for a new wooden encased phone, the Touch Wood SH 08C from Docomo of Japan.

Japanese agency Drill Inc. (the same agency responsible for the website design of the Epos 100 artist Visa credit cards) and creative director Morihiro Harano hand crafted a giant wooden xylophone in the woods of Kyushu, Japan. As one little wooden ball rolls down the giant microphone, it plays Bach’s Cantata 147. The agency claims that no artificial music was used.

A joint project with Sharp, Olympus and Docomo, the phone is beautifully designed, as is the packaging

as well as the wooden charging unit by More Trees:

Be sure to see "the making of' the commercial here.

Here's a dedicated microsite for owners, the phone and accessories.

You can shop for the Touch wood Phone and the More trees charger here

A Mountain of Gold, Literally. Ginza Tanaka Creates Solid Gold Mt. Fuji

Made of 3 kg (6.6 lbs) of gold, the 6 cm (2.3 inch) high reproduction of Japan's sacred dormant volcano was made by jewelers Tanaka Kikinzoku of Ginza Tanaka and put on display on Tuesday, the day before it goes on sale in Tokyo.

And despite the steep price tag, which comes as Japan's economy tries to stave off another slide into recession, the upmarket jeweler believes there will be buyers.

"We tried to make something that can be enjoyed as an art work as well as a valuable asset with this golden Mount Fuji. It is also a subject that has a special meaning to Japanese people," Naoto Mizuki, general manager of the Ginza-based company told Reuters.

Mount Fuji (above) at 3,776 meters (12,388 ft) is Japan's highest mountain. It is believed to be sacred and is seen as a symbol of good luck, especially for the New Year period.

Mizuki said he believed the gold mountain would also hold a special appeal for investors looking to put their money into safe-haven commodities after plunges on the stock market and in real estate.

"The price of gold is rising dramatically, and the economic crisis forces capital to move from paper assets, which are losing their charm, to material assets," Mizuki said.

Gold prices hit a record high of $1,226.10 per ounce earlier this month.

Mizuki said the design costs of the replica were kept down to about 15 percent of total costs -- a marginal amount compared to the usual 50 percent designers' fees -- to increase the product's investment appeal.

Tanaka Kikinzoku has two Mount Fuji's in stock and more will be made as orders are received.

above: Ayako Kikuchi, a public relations officer of precious metals and jewelry shop Ginza Tanaka shows off the company's gold handiwork of Mount Fuji during its press preview in a Tokyo hotel on December 15, 2009.

Ginza Tanaka will sell the 22-centimetre wide and 6-centimetre-high 3-kilogram gold Mount Fuji model from December 16 this year with the price of 11.73 million yen ($132 000 USD) with the gold price currently at 3,400 yen per gram. AFP PHOTO / TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA

images via Ginza Tanaka and Akihabara news
info via Reuters and brought to my attention via Bornrich

Pure Gold Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Ginza Tanaka jewelers make many wild things in all gold from bathing suits to pagodas. And last month launched a sold gold Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in in celebration of the release of the “Snow White Diamond Collection” in Blu-ray this month.

The pure gold “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” figurines took for 15 artisans, around 1.6 kg. pure gold and 6 months to sculpt this precious piece which already ranks as first of its kind in the World. Worth 30 million yen, it is not for sale, but is to be displayed in Ginza Tanaka headquarters and has been scheduled to travel to Nagoya, Sendai and Fukuoka branches of Tanaka until December 25 of this year.

Snoopy Dons Designer Duds For Japan's Fashion Week, But It's Not The First Time.

above: The CHANEL Snoopy and Belle at the 2004 Snoopy In Fashion show in Japan

For Tokyo Fashion Week and Snoopy's 60th Birthday year, designers displayed the plush pup clad in couture.

Snoopy will celebrate its 60th anniversary next year, 2010, and as a kick-off event to celebrate the anniversary, original costume designs for Snoopy by Japan Fashion Week participating designer, G.V.G.V. and global brands such as Chanel, Hermes, Balenciaga DVF, Givenchy, Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Paul Gaultier and Chloé were exhibited at Time & Style, Galleria 3F in Tokyo Midtown from October 22nd to 29th. The event was cosponsored by the Design Association NPO, United Media K.K.

Bloggers, facebookers, twitterers and online mags are going crazy sharing the images of CHANEL and Hermes-clad Snoopy, but this isn't new news, or even new designs. Apparently, Snoopy doesn't wear things just once.

above: the 2004 Snoopy In Fashion show in Japan

What most people don't realize is these outfits for the beloved Peanuts® comics dog, Snoopy, and his sister, Belle, aren't new. In 2004 there was a large Snoopy In Fashion show in Japan where the CHANEL Snoopy and tons of others appeared. Even multiple books were published of the event, but are no longer in print.

While most bloggers got their five images of Snoopy and his sister Belle clad in luxe fashion, from the post WWD, they only had five. Here's more of them for you from this year's Japan fashion Week along with a bunch from the 2004 Snoopy In Fashion show (courtesy of webshots member kathysui).

The Snoopy in Fashion show then traveled all over sponsored by Met Life and appeared at the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in NY in 2007.

Resurrected for Japan Fashion Week, here are some of the ones shown in Tokyo:

G.V.G.V.:

Balenciaga:

Hermes:

Chloé:

Karl Lagerfeld:

Givenchy:

Diane von Furstenberg:

Jean-Paul Gaultier:

above photos courtesy of Yukie Kasuga and beatrice

Now a look at 17 more Snoopy fashions from Marimekko to Missoni taken at the 2004 Snoopy In Fashion Show by Kathysiu (photos altered for better visibility):

Andrea Kim: