The 13th Venice Biennale Architecture Golden Lion goes to Japanese Pavilion. Toyo Ito curated the pavilion with Kumiko Inui, Sou Fujimoto, Akihisa Hirata and Naoya Hatakeyama. This is the second time for Japan to receive the award since the exhibition Arata Isozaki curated in 1996.

The theme of the pavilion was, "Architecture, possible here?", and they designed  "House for All" which is a community place for Tsunami victims. (completion expected in October) Japan Pavilion introduced the process with such as models and photos.

photo via mainichi.jp

Casa's first issue of the year cover photo is House na by Sou Fujimoto. Look at this complete transparent glass house!   Sou Fujimoto says "In one way the house is like a single space, but each room is also a tiny space of its own. The clients said they wanted to live like nomads within... View full entry

Exhibition "You make the Rule" by Japanese rising star Architect Makoto Tanijiri is currently running at Design Center OZONE in Tokyo. By creating windows, tables and so on in this huge Styrofoam box, he re-creates "Home". Tanijiri says, " What is table? What is Shelves? This is an exhibition to... View full entry

The Japanese product designer Sori Yanagi died at the age of 96 on Christmas day,2011. He had received a gold medal at the 1957 Milan Triennale for his Butterfly Stool and White Porcelain Teapot. In 1954, Yanagi designed the famous Butterfly Stool, which consists of two curved-shaped plywood... View full entry

Automata is self-automated machines which were invented in Western Europe in 18th century as toys, religious idols, or tools. Here, I introduce this Japanese Automata Artist Mr.Kazuaki Harada. Uber precise craftsmanship and all of his works are tremendously  witty.   Matryoshka (click... View full entry

The starbucks designed by Kengo Kuma will be opening on December 16, 2011 in Fukuoka, Japan. This will be the very first Starbucks Coffee which is on the historical entrance path to a shrine. (Dazaifu Tenman-gu Shrine)... View full entry

Tokyo Sky Tree grand opening day is May, 2013. As many of you already know, this is the tallest free-standing tower in the world! The Tokyo Sky Tree employs Japanese cutting-edge technology in reproducing the traditional architectural know-how of the "Shimbashira-Seishin" (Center Column Vibration... View full entry

Japanese electrical appliances have to be functional and beautiful at the same time. Amadana, plusminus zero, Doshisha, and MUJI are creating designy electrical appliances a lot. I introduce you their humidifier here.  It's not typical blue body or animal shaped humidifier you can find at... View full entry

sorry, I can not resist posting about it...  if you have been to Japan at least once (or Koraku, Los Angeles Downtown), you had noticed the fake wax food samples at restaurants, right?   And, also have you noticed that Japanese LOVE to decorate their cell phones? Although you can even... View full entry

The education ministry plans to invite 150 foreign university students who are interested in studying in Japan to join free "trial study trips" to this nation.  According to the source, after 3.11 incident, 600 students cancelled their plan studying in Japan. It might be a chance for those... View full entry

  Toyo Ito Museum of Architecture just opened in July 2011, Imabari-shi, Ehime. This is the very first architecture only museum in Japan. This museum is consisted of two buildings: "Silver Hut" and "Steel Hut".  Steel Hut houses Toyo Ito's original architectural works, and Silver Hut is... View full entry

Do you love food and movies? Then this is the best event for you. The 2nd Tokyo Food Lovers Film Festival is currently running in Tokyo. They are playing 17 "delicious films" from all over the world, which have really memorable food scenes. For example, "Kramer vs Kramer". What food? Of course... View full entry

Fireworks(Sparklers) are Japanese Summer tradition. Young and old, men and women everyone loves fireworks(sparklers) in summer. Not only big fireworks event, but at home we light sparklers. Every time I think of sparklers, I got the flashbacks of an end of summer.  It makes me so... View full entry

Nekomimi (猫耳） means Cat ears. New from Neurowear: Wearable cat ears that react to human brainwaves, perking up and wiggling around in tune with the wearer’s current emotional state. Is this creepy or what?  ... View full entry

Ryuichi Sakamoto wears Nekomimi (By the way, his T-shirts are cool! It says "テクノ" (Techno). Sure he is the first guy who brought techno music to Japan in 70')

As you may already know, we Japanese love everything tiny.  Tiny car, tiny phone, tiny purse, tiny boo... :) anyway,  specially in old town Kyoto, there are still lots of this kind of style houses called Unagino Nedoko (うなぎの寝床）, means... View full entry

Sample is a product line which is the result of Sukoshi ii koto (少しいいこと）,  doing "a little good thing". Sukoshi ii koto could be anything, for example using recycled materials, donation, or supporting traditional crafts or local manufactures... View full entry

This is the Japanese craftsmanship. これぞ日本の職人技 View full entry

Karuizawa Senju Museum in Karuizawa, Japan will open October 10, 2011.  (Designed by Ryue Nishizawa)... View full entry