Matt Alt's Blog, page 3
December 12, 2012
Christmas on Monster Island
Updated for 2012! It's that time of year again... When Godzilla-shaped Christmas trees start to appear! Here's a round-up of a few from the last few years.
Godzilla in Shinjuku.... Just kidding! It's actually only a little bigger than human-sized. You can spot this one most years among the Christmas illuminaton behind Takashimaya Times Square.
This pic of a smoke-breathing 'zilla-tree has been popping up a lot over the last few days, but the tree hasn't actually been sighted since its appear...
December 5, 2012
Kanzen Henkei
"Kanzen Henkei" means "perfectly transforming" in Japanese. It was a buzzword of the Eighties toy world. Now it's back again, because robot builder Kenji Ishida has succeeded in creating the world's first perfectly transforming remote-controlled car.
I interviewed him at Maker Faire Tokyo 2012 - check out both the text and the video at the Yattar Japan website!
November 26, 2012
Yokai Attack Hong Kong!
Attention Hong Kong readers! I will be presenting about yokai in both English and Japanese (with Cantonese simultaneous intepretation) at the Japan Media Arts Festival in Hong Kong on December 8, 2012. It's being held at Taikoo Plaza. For more details, check out the official website. See you in Hong Kong!
November 9, 2012
Ghost Army
Tuttle's Language Omnivore blog is raffling off a free copy of "Yurei Attack! The Japanese Ghost Survival Guide." It's only happening this Friday -enter here to win!
October 5, 2012
MBA? CPA? LOL!
There are many words one can use to describe tax law. "Adorable" is generally not one of them.
Hot on the heels of the totally kawaii catastrophic insurance coverage we used for our house came this pamphlet from the Japanese government. Entitled "Tax System for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises," it describes tax laws applying to small companies such as the one Hiroko and I run.
Featuring the adventures of Professor Kyoko and the "Taxhound," it consists of 78 pages of the dense, unreadable...
October 1, 2012
September 27, 2012
Yurei Cattack
Before you die, you see... Hello Kitty dressed up like Sadako from "The Ring." This is one of those pre-apocalyptic, now-you've-seen-everything mash-ups of the sort that can only come frommarketing for a super-retarded-looking remake of a classic film, where (spoiler alert) Sadako doesn't come out of the TV, SHE COMES OUT OF THE INTERNET wait OMG agsaghhhhhh help . .
September 25, 2012
Kawaii Catastrophe
Kawaii. The aesthetic of Japanese cute. You love it or hate it, but you can't escape it, as Hiroko and I learned when renewing the insurance on our house. Japan being Japan, the pamphlet that explains the different levels of coverage features helpful super deformed illustrations of the catastrophes that can befall homeowners. We aren't insuring our house through Playskool. One of Japan's biggest banks gave this to us.
Noooo!
Double noooo! Yes, you can get earthquake coverage in Japan.
Tr...
September 23, 2012
Showa Gamer
In this room, 2012 is 1992.
My pal Andy has constructed the ultimate shrine to Showa-era (1980s and early 90s) gaming in his spare bedroom, where nothing made after 1995 is allowed inside (ignore that iPhone) and the blips of 8- and 16-bit soundtracks fill the air. Complete with tube TV (a surprisingly difficult to find commodity in this day and age) tatami mats, and cartridges by the bagload. The only concession to modern technology are custom-made AV cables for top-notch video quality. Cur...
