I finally started reading Arcade Mania after it had been sitting on my book shelf for a few months, of particular fascination for me was the section about Print Club, Purinto Kurabu or Puri Kura for short. Tremendously popular in Japan, these photo sticker booths allow for photos to be digitally customised and then printed out to be collected into albums. Out of curiosity I wondered whether or not I might find such a machine in London.

Luckily for me, I wasn’t disappointed. A few searches on Google led me to the information that there was a store in Chinatown that possessed a few machines including a natively Japanese machine. After acquiring this information my next dilemma was finding someone to join me in my flight of fancy.

I didn’t have to wait for long before my desire to find someone coincided with a trip to London by a few friends from my University who were here to see Gackt in concert. Fortunately when broaching the idea to them, they were unanimously excited about joining my search.

I found the address I had written down earlier for the Chinatown Market store on Charing Cross, there was a small photo sticker booth downstairs but I remembered some advice about heading up the escalator to the booths upstairs. There we were told that the most popular machine was unsurprisingly the most expensive at £12 for a shoot. Since there were five of us however this wasn’t particularly expensive after sharing the costs.

The attendant explained how the booth worked, that it would count down before taking a photo and at the end of the session it would let us choose our favourites and that we were then to head over to the back of the machine to add our individual digital flourishes before printing out our pictures.

It turned out to be a whole lot more fun that I had expected it to be and highly recommend visiting if you’re vaguely interested and are in London any time soon. Anyway that’s all for now folks!

If this blog was a child, I’m fairly sure that it’d have been taken away by the social services already. At which point I might try and argue that my lacklustre commitment was a result of a smorgasbord of examinations, graduation, interviews and employment. Alas, probably to no avail!

Rather than smother you with a recount of all that has transpired, I’ll point you towards the future, specifically the Hyper Japan London 2010 at The Old Truman Brewery.

…your chance to shop, eat, watch, experience and connect with everything that’s fresh, fun and world-first about Japan. Make sure you’re there when the world’s hottest pop culture hits London with a bang.

Hyper Japan is twinned with the Eat Japan food festival, so one ticket will get you entry to both shows!

PinkTentacle presents a collection of paintings by the Japanese surrealist Tetsuya Ishida (1973-2005) exploring some of the darker aspects of modern life.

(Thanks, PinkTentacle!)

How To Destroy Angels is the side project of Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor’s collaboration with his wife Mariqueen Maandig. Following in the footsteps of Radiohead’s experiment with a ‘pay-what-you-want‘ pricing policy, Trent Reznor has enamoured major props from me for really embracing the digital music revolution.

There has been a huge shift in the way music is now discovered and delivered and after what seems like an eternity, it finally seems that the major record companies are slowly starting to adapt to this change by dropping Digital Rights Management (DRM) from their songs and by partnering with services like Spotify, Grooveshark and the upcoming Rdio.

The recording industry has to employ new business models, they should look towards artists like Trent Reznor who along with offering his latest E.P. for free also offers exclusive limited edition extras for those who want to support his music financially. When fans of music are treated as such and not criminals, I’m much more willing to support the cause. So go and listen to the record and if you like it, consider buying something from the store. Also while you’re at it, maybe support another musician struggling to finance her European tour.

I thought this was a really sweet marriage proposal flashmob at Washing Square Park in New York. Although, I’m not sure if I should shake his hand or shake my fist in the air for raising the bar for dudes everywhere!

Flashmob – A group of people who appear from out of nowhere, to perfom predetermined actions, designed to amuse and confuse surrounding people. The group performs these actions for a short amount of time before quickly dispersing. Flash mobs are often organised through email and/or newsgroup postings. — Urban Dictionary

Since the demise of the 1UP Yours podcast — what with everyone leaving the show — I’ve followed Garnett Lee to his new home at Shacknews. His latest podcast, Weekend Confirmed includes a section for fans to promote their music.

One such band are the heavy metal group Haunted Shores, I’m not a metal fan by any means but this is a superb cover of the Final Fantasy theme song, check it out below!

China is frequently reknowned for it’s cheap luxury knock-offs, Shirtflag aims to change that perception. Hailing from Shanghai, the fashion brand have remixed Mao-era propaganda art with modern cultural icons to create some inspiring designs. There was news that they were planning to open a store in London but that hasn’t seemed to have transpired, not to fret, with the wonders of the internetz you can order online!

I came across an article on Wired about the trend of Japanese municipalities to decorate their manhole covers. Photographer, Remo Camerota has compiled his collection of these covers into a book. I think I may have lost the plot as I’m posting a story about man hole covers…

(Click an image for a larger view!)

A short documentary by the BBC about a city relatively unknown outside of China, I find these sorts of things really fascinating. You can watch it on iPlayer or below if you live outside of the United Kingdom.

In the last decade Chongqing in South West China has mushroomed into the biggest metropolis in the world. John Simpson reports from a city with a larger population than Canada, where a massive campaign against organised crime and corruption is underway.

(Thanks, Danny Choo)