Awesome Japan

We’ve never heard of the song Bling Bang Bang Born, but it sounds pretty amazing played on this 27-note street organ. Like a player piano, this music-making machine reads notes from a roll of paper, but it plays them on pipes like a calliope. Yuki Kojima has filled his YouTube channel with covers, including Thunderstruck, The Entertainer, and the Nyan Cat theme.

Tortilla chips are Mexican food, so it’s a little strange to see a Japanese factory cranking out chips by the millions. Process X visited Koikeya to see how they turn corn kernels into deliciously crunchy snack foods. After boiling corn, machines mash it up into a doughy paste, cut that into triangles, bake and fry those before adding seasonings and packaging.

We’re so used to seeing crisp, 4K video these days that we almost forgot how much character analog film can bring to moving pictures. illkoncept brought a vintage Bolex H16 Rex-5 16mm camera to Tokyo and Osaka and captured this amazing footage of Japanese nightlife that’s far more compelling than most things we’ve seen shot on modern equipment.

It’s all ball bearings nowadays. Given the ubiquity of these smooth-spinning widgets, it’s interesting to see how they’re made. Process X takes us inside the JTEKT Corporation, Japan’s highest-volume ball bearing factory. Watching millions of steel spheres rolling their way through the automated production line is reason enough to hit play. Turn captions on.

A traditional Japanese Higonokami knife has a permanently riveted hinge. These larger Higonokami knives have a removable screw hinge, which makes them easier to maintain and provides a secure locking mechanism. Each knife is made by alphakogyo with a handcrafted VG10 steel blade. They also sell smaller knives with a classic hinge design.

Bring the flavors of Tokyo home with Maori Murota’s wonderful cookbook, Tokyo Cult Recipes. It’s packed with more than 100 recipes for Japanese dishes inspired by local restaurants and home cooking. You’ll learn to cook gyoza, ramen, tonkatsu, miso soup, and more. It’s even got sweet treats like mochi and yuzu sorbet.

This distinctive bucket hat comes from Tokyo’s Anonymous Ism. It’s made from a patchwork of lightweight cotton chambray in shades of light blue and grey. White contrast stitching makes the patches stand out, and its sturdy brim is densely stitched and has taped seams.

Feeling stressed and uneasy? Have we got the video for you. This unexpectedly relaxing video from newdustthings delivers on its promise by combining footage of capybaras lounging in a Japanese zoo, accompanied by a chill vaporwave playlist. It’s the next best thing to hitting the spa.

Yokoyama Reimei has been making Japanese archery bows for more than a century. Their artisans use traditional woodworking techniques to craft 6.5-foot tall bows from burnt bamboo and a wax tree core. They shape each bow by hand (and foot) by bending the wood with rope and bamboo wedges. Process X provides a close-up look at their workshop.

Japan Crate hand picks the trendiest treats from Japan and boxes up a different variety of tasty goodies each month for mailings. Filled with colorfully-wrapped individual servings, it’s a party in a box, often including brands like Lotte, Calbee, Kit-Kat, and Crunchyroll in unusual flavors not found stateside. Sold in 1-, 3-, 6- and 12-month subscriptions.

The Japanese-made Master-Piece carabiner keychain clips securely to your belt loop or bag using a custom-made steel and brass clip. Its key loop and split rings are made from brass, and attached to the carabiner with a vegetable-tanned leather strap. Available with beige or chocolate leather.

We’re always fascinated by the ways different products get manufactured. In this video from Process X, we take a tour of a factory in Japan that cranks out plastic balls for kids to play with. While the start of the video makes it look like they’re making cake mix, we can assure you that PVC isn’t edible.

This unique modular stamp from Japan’ Shachihata makes it easy to make perfectly aligned calendars for any month. Its individual numbers and days of the week can be snapped together to stamp custom calendars onto paper. Arrange its digits vertically to make numbered lists. Available with English or Japanese day headers.

We never really thought about it before, but some hammers are made with other hammers. This video from Process X takes us inside a small tool factory in Japan to see how a skilled blacksmith makes various traditional hammer heads by forging steel and shaping each one using a pneumatic power hammer and hand tools.

Enjoy every sip of your whiskey in style with this beautiful drinking glass, featuring a design inspired by a comet orbiting the Sun. Each is handcrafted using traditional Japanese techniques, creating a textured surface with an irregular but polished edge. Holds 380 ml. or 12.8 oz., and comes packaged in a wooden container.

Momotaro’s Syutsujin denim jacket is made in Japan from soft, hand-harvested Zimbabwe cotton, rope-dyed in a deep indigo blue. Its stitching and striped arm have a military look, and its name translates roughly to “go to the front of the battlefield.”