Remember Gunkanjima? The little rock in the ocean, off the coast of Nagasaki, that once saw duty as a coal mining town? No? Well, you can review the original post from way back when here, and perhaps you might want to take a look at the wikipedia entry here. It’s a beautiful, haunting place, a testament to how we interact with our environment and what happens when we just stop.

It would look really, really good filled with zombies.

Something more grounded in reality, and a lot more moving than that suggestion can be found below - a video taken when someone who grew up on the island in its heyday goes back to see the ruins. Stunning, moving and fascinating.

via videosift.com

Once upon a time, there was a world where you couldn’t buy a piece of plastic that had a microchip embedded in it. In this world before IC cards, you had to allow yourself enough time to buy a ticket when you went to the train station.

Seriously, who has time for that? No-one, that’s who. So some bright spark came up with the precursor to the IC card - commuter passes. Pieces of plastic, it is true, but flexible! Bendy! No microchip! And best of all, they came in all manner of varieties. With pretty designs.

Sadly, the convenience of the IC card behemoths, Suica & Passmo, means the end of these commuter passes - it’ll all be over come the 14th of March. Which is a shame, as I’d just started collecting them.

Here’s a little gallery of the ones I’ve gathered to date.

Slideshow

A kirin - or qilin - is a mythical beast, orginally from China, who brings luck and prosperity wherever it goes. Somewhere along its colourful path through history, it managed to get itself confused with the giraffe, in case anyone was wondering about the modern meaning of the Japanese word. Interestingly, Kirin brewery like to play for both teams; their Kirin Lemon brand of lemonade features a lemon with a giraffe’s head as its character. The qilin shows up on the product I myself am most acquainted with - the various beers that Kirin are probably most famous for.

What then is this secret of which I speak?

Next time you’re out and you see Kirin’s qilin logo, have a closer look. For the beast bears three tattoos upon its back, spelling out its name: there’s a キ(ki), a リ(ri)　and a ン(n). Now, the only one that’s easy to find is the first one - it’s nestled just behind the qilin’s ear. The other two? Well, I did a rough approximation and I’m not even sure I got them right. Hard to tell on a low pixel shot like this -

You’ll just have to check yourself - before you sink the third one.

The BBC have got around to writing about internet cafes in Japan (link) referring to them as “the latest craze occupying Japan’s urban young.” Hmmm. Let’s set aside the fact that the old manga kissaten were already pretty well established when I got here five years ago, and instead travel back in time to just one year ago, right here at sushimatic.

In a post entitled ‘Calm Down’, I took a look at a Scotsman article about manga kissaten that was very froth at the mouth on the whole topic of these accursed internet pods.

Interestingly, the Scotsman article is still online should you wish to see how up to the minute and with it the BBC really are.

Link.

The BBC article really doesn’t seem to have much to say except “I went to an internet cafe. w00t. It was teh r0xx0r. LOLZ!!11″

If you know nothing about learning to drive in Japan, then I’ll have to warn you in advance that this picture is indeed of a standard driving school in Japan. Its the one down the road from me, seen in Google maps. And yes, you have to attend a driving school before you get a driving licence.

It really doesn’t look this insane from the ground. Honestly.

You can also see the original via Google Maps here.

I went to a great exhibition last Friday, taking in some really cool artwork that was used to promote plastic models in Japan in the last century. There were a lot of war machines, racing cars, motorbikes, monsters, superheroes, mecha and even some Gerry Anderson. Parts of the exhibition were very meta - art of things that really existed in scenes that never did used to sell something that will then be rebuilt and used to reenact further scenes that never existed. The artwork from the sixties in particular seemed to be very much in the vein of Moah! Moah!

Peruse, if you will, this dazzling scene -

You may notice that the artist finally ran out of things to add, and was probably a little bit upset when he realized there weren’t any guns left to paint going off.

Other parts of the exhibition were just plain cool; I discovered some hidden gems.

Take this guy -

His name is Diamond Eye, and he fights mythical beasts disguised as humans in the manner that Japanese superheroes have been fighting mythical beasts since the concept first appeared: he uses some kind of voodoo and transforms. He also has a Honda motorcycle, like any self-respecting, patriotic Japanese superhero, and a couple of snazzy weapons, as I learned from Japan Hero -

His sole weapon of choice is his [Diamond] Stick, a sword-like weapon, which he carries constantly in hand. In addition to using it as a stabbing and slashing weapon, from the base of its handle Diamond Eye can fire his “Noble Punch” special attack. His “Noble Punch” attack is a beam ray attack of incredible power that can stun and immobilize his enemies.

Sweet.

My favourite piece of art was probably this one -

- which turns out to be from a series named 戦闘メカ　ザブンぐル - Sentou Mecha Zabunguru, which turns up in Wikipedia as Combat Mecha Xabungle, putting me in mind of an anime starring Mike Patton. I’ve never seen or heard of the series before, but this picture is just so beautifully rendered, yet utterly mad - giant mecha on skis?!!!!!111 - its hard not to love it.

You have until the 20th May to pick your own fave, at the Shizuoka Prefectural Art Museum (Link to their website, which is shocking looking, as is the custom with all government websites across the globe.)