(Thanks, TokyoMango)

The McG, Takashi Murakami and Kirsten Dunst collaboration video has finally surfaced online. I found it through Trends In Japan, check it out (if only to check out Kirsten Dunst, I’ve had a crush on her since forever).

The creative video sharing website, Vimeo compiled a list of their favourite user creations from last year, some of them are absolutely gorgeous. Below are some of my favourites.

Much like the iPhone, I wasn’t quite convinced with Apple’s first attempt although I would still have described it as a ‘game-changer‘. It wasn’t until subsequent iterations and more importantly the App Store that the iPhone really blossomed. Similarly then, although I’m not convinced by the iPad, the promise of unique applications with innovative interfaces certainly appeals to me.

One such application is Panelfly, a digital comic book reader, I’ve already succumbed to reading comic books using my computer but have always found this to be a clunky half-measure interface. I have acquired the seminal Manga series Akira. I love the movie but have been told several times that the original comic book source material expands and clarifies some of the sketchier moments of the film. An iPad running this software to read Akira seems like an awesome way to get through the thousands of pages it spans.

Before I leave you, I’ll leave you some recommendations based on what I’ve enjoyed, Katsuhiro Otomo’s earlier work on Domu is fantastic as is Monster by Naoki Urusawa. I thought Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata was awesome along with The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman and finally if you haven’t already The Watchmen by Alan Moore which Time includes in it’s list of 100 greatest works of fiction ever created.

Akira belongs in my list of top ten films of all time, straddling somewhere near the very precipice, it’s certainly my favourite animation ever created. A lot of people have been inspired by Akira and one fan in particular hopes to set up an exhibition to honour some of the pain staking work to create the film. Watch his video below and sponsor him if you can afford it!

You may vaguely remember me talking about the news that Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood, was soon to be turned into a film by Tran Anh Hung.

Since then not much has been heard about the production until now, with Wildgrounds coming to the rescue with some stills from the set.

Visually, Hung seems to have captured the right mood of the time and place of the story, although having never seen any of his previous work I’ve no idea about how good a film maker he is however the consensus generally is positive. I’ll use this as motivation to check out one of his earlier films. Check out the rest of the photos below.

Are you excited, if you haven’t already make sure you read the book first. It reminded me a lot of one of my favourite books of all time, The Catcher In The Rye.

Love Exposure is the latest film by Sion Sono, it caught my attention as it has received quite a lot of praise and won prizes at the Berlin Film Festival. Twitchfilm called it the best film of the year. It’s been released in the UK by Third Window Films.

So onto the film, it runs for almost four hours and it took me two sittings to get through it, it starts off fairly strong but it’s not too soon before it turns frankly ridiculous. Perhaps it’s a sign of my age but where once I found the quirkiness of Japanese films entertaining they’ve quickly lost their appeal. This isn’t to say it’s a terrible film, it’s not bad and brings up some interesting thoughts about love and religion but the second half quickly slips into a drag leading to a very unlikely and unconvincing conclusion.

I would say it’s probably worth watching if you’re a fan of Japanese films and it has an excellent soundtrack but otherwise you’re not missing anything if you skip this.

Holding some reserve knowing how outlandish the hype for new Apple announcements can be. I found myself feeling rather indifferent about their latest product the iPad. Typing that feels dumb but I’m sure it’ll quickly find its place in the cultural lexicon in the same vain as the Nintendo Wii.

The only thing I can take away to be somewhat excited about is the prospect of it’s use as an eBook Reader. I know Amazon has had it’s flagship Kindle product employing the use of e-ink which is less straining than a typical computer display but until they can improve the technology to incorporate colour and a faster refresh rate and resolution, I don’t think I’ll quite be sold. It’d be interesting to see how magazines might innovate to take advantage of this new product.

The popularity of the Japan Centre in London’s Piccadilly has meant that they have expanded into a new location on Regent Street for their Food & Deli Hall.

I hadn’t had a chance to visit the new premises until this weekend and had planned to take a few photos and whilst I did pack my Camera with me for the weekend I stupidly left it at home when out on Saturday.

So I’ve ‘borrowed’ these photos from Flickr, so take a look there for more photos (taken by people that aren’t me).

The nice thing about the Japan Centre is that it’s pretty popular with Japanese people which isn’t really a surprise but you get the indication that what’s on offer must be fairly authentic to bring in the custom of Japanese natives.

In fact my Japanese flat mate in Sheffield frequently employs the Japan Centre online store when ordering groceries for himself. If you’ve got any interest in Japan, the Japan Centre serves well to cater to your curiosities.

When I visited Tokyo, my good friend Darren informed me about this curious little character called ‘Gloomy Bear‘, a quick trip to Kiddyland lead me to the purchase of a number of Gloomy Bear related items. I had a really neat keyring but have lost is since then, luckily for me it looks like you can pick them up at the Kidrobot online store. So that’s what I’ll be doing.