A new trend is emerging in Harajuku, a neighborhood where you can frequently find many of the urban tribes in Tokyo. The new trend is brought by a new urban tribe auto denominated: “skirt men” (スカート男子). There are still not many men wearing skirts but there are already two shops specialized in skirts for men. In this video that I recorded directly from a TV report a “skirt men” (スカート男子) goes into a shop where he finds many skirts specially designed for men.
Photos by Nakazakityo
Motoi Yamamoto is a Japanese artist that uses salt as the main material to create his artworks. In Asia, salt is a symbol of purification; for example, in Japan small plates with salt are usually placed at the entrance of restaurants to protect them against evil spirits. Salt is also used in Shintoist rituals and to purify the ring before sumo combats. One of the most interesting things that Motoi Yamamoto does are super-intricate labyrinths using only salt. It is impressive how much patience, dedication and attention to detail he possesses.
In this videos you can appreciate the process that Motoi Yamamoto follows to create his salt labyrinths.
These last two photos are from another artwork by Motoi; he “creates leaves using salt”.
Sources: Pjorge Google Reader, more photos, Motoi’s official website.
Some of his labyrinths will be shown in the Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa , from the end of April until the end of August.
Do you think that Sanyo’s only business is to build electronic devices? They also build houses! It still surprises me how many different things can big Japanese corporations do. Did you know that Sony sells life insurances or that Mitsubishi apart from cars also sells pencils? Is it better to diversify so much or is it better to focus in the main business line? Many Japanese companies decide to expand into a complete different sector inside the country before deciding to go abroad; just the opposite of what American companies do, that even being small what they first do is to expand internationally.
The sign says that, once finished, the house will be ecologic and secure.
