Tag Archives: fun link friday

Fun Link Friday: Gokaku Iyokan

Posted on January 31, 2014 by LM

Farmers in Yawatahama-shi (八幡浜市), Ehime prefecture, spent 5 years developing these pentagonal iyokan, a (delicious) type of citrus fruit native to Yamaguchi prefecture. The name “gokaku iyokan” is a pun on the word for pentagram (gokaku, 五角) and “passing” an exam (gôkaku, … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, fun links | Tagged Ehime, 若手農家, food, fruit, fun link friday, gokaku iyokan, Japan, 合格イヨカン, 五角 | 1 Comment

Fun Link Friday: Biei’s Blue Pond

Posted on January 24, 2014 by LM

This wintry scene is brought to you by Spoon & Tamago, who featured some of Kent Shiraishi’s photos of the blue pond in Biei (美瑛), Hokkaido. The water contains a high degree of aluminum hydroxide, which is why it appears … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, fun links | Tagged Biei, Blue Pond, fun link, fun link friday, Hokkaido, Kent Shiraishi, photography, spoon & tamago | 2 Comments

Fun Link(s) Friday: Ozu and Tokyo Story

Posted on January 17, 2014 by LM

BBC Radio’s Night Waves aired a show on Ozu’s Tokyo Story (東京物語), which was voted #1 (the best film of all time) in the British Film Institute’s 2012 Sight & Sound Directors Top Ten, beating out Citizen Kane.* On the 60th anniversary of the … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, fun links | Tagged BBC, BFI, British Film Institute, film, film studies, fun link friday, Japanese film, Night Waves, Ozu, Ozu Yasujirô, Sight & Sound, Tokyo Story, 東京物語 | 3 Comments

Fun Link Friday: Disaster-Response Robots

Posted on January 7, 2014 by LM

For some not-so-giant Japanese robots, check out Schaft Inc.’s winner of the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Trials 2013. (Schaft is a Japanese company recently purchased by Google). For a short overview, check out ABC’s coverage, and for a closer look … Continue reading →

Posted in fun links | Tagged DARPA, disaster relief, engineering, fun link friday, fun llink, google, robot, robotics, Schaft | Leave a comment

Fun Link Friday: The Stray Cats of Kyoto

Posted on January 3, 2014 by LM

I’m rolling my eyes a bit at the title of this piece, but the photos are a great new lens through which to explore Kyoto. Katayama has taken thousands of pictures of the legendary ancient city that once was the … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, fun links | Tagged cats, fun link, fun link friday, Japan, Kyoto, photography, Yutaka Katayama | Leave a comment

Fun Link Friday: 2013 Kanji and Words of the Year

Posted on December 20, 2013 by LM

On Dec. 12, the Japanese Kanji Proficiency Society (日本漢字能力検定協会) announced the “Kanji of the Year” for 2013: 輪（りん、わ) [ring] in honor of Tokyo winning the bid for the 2020 Olympics as well as the teamwork by the delegation to win … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, fun links | Tagged 2013, お・も・て・な・し, じぇじぇじぇ, 輪, fun link friday, kanji of the year, words of the year, 倍返し, 新語・流行語大賞, 今でしょ | 4 Comments

Fun Link Friday: Noramoji

Posted on December 13, 2013 by LM

Today’s funk link is Noramoji, a new design project to preserve store-front fonts in Japan. Johnny writes on Spoon & Tamago‘s coverage of the project, These Japanese fonts won’t be found in textbooks or typography journals. You have to go … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, fun links | Tagged culture, Design, font, fun link, fun link friday, Japan, Japanese, japanese fonts, Noramoji, spoon & tamago, typography, writing | Leave a comment

Fun Link Friday: Restoring a Sake Merchant’s Edo-Period Home

Posted on November 22, 2013 by LM

In this Fun Link Friday, meet Austin and Sachiko Moore, a couple who have restored much of their Edo-period home in Hino (日野), Shiga pref., and are helping to restore other historic homes in the area. Mr. Moore’s pursuit of authenticity … Continue reading →

Posted in fun links | Tagged architecture, Edo period, fun link, fun link friday, Hino, historical preservation, home restoration, Japan, merchants, Shiga | Leave a comment

Fun Link Friday: A Dance of Brush and Ink: Tomoko Kawao at TEDxKyoto 2013

Posted on November 15, 2013 by LM

Today’s Fun Link is one of the TEDxKyoto 2013 events, A Dance of Brush and Ink with Tomoko Kawao. A Dance of Brush and Ink: Tomoko Kawao at TEDxKyoto 2013. In the hands of calligraphy artist Tomoko Kawao, the brush … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, fun links | Tagged calligraphy, fun link friday, shodo, TED talks, TEDxKyoto2013, Tomoko Kawao, 書道 | Leave a comment

Fun Link Friday: Misao and Fukumaru

Posted on November 8, 2013 by LM

Via itsmikolmota via Demilked. Today’s fun link is the galleries of photographer Miyoko Ihara’s Misao and Fukumaru series. Miyoko Ihara graduated from the Nippon Photography Institute in 2002. Around that time, she began photographing her grandmother, Misao, in order to document … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, fun links | Tagged cat, Fukumaru, fun link friday, Japan, Misao, Miyoko Ihara, photography | Leave a comment