Awesome Japan

Daihei Shibata created a series of visual illusions for the Japanese TV program Design Ah!, in which each scene starts off with an ordinary premise, but its outcome is very different than what you might expect. Catch the first two videos here.

Video technician Denis Shiryaev of Neural Love took some early 20th century film footage from Tokyo, Japan, and processed it to increase its resolution and frame rate, repair damage, and add colorization. The result is sort of a living postcard of the time and place. The ambient sounds were previously added by Guy Jones.

For fans of the work of Studio Ghibli, their museum in Japan is one of the most elusive and desired places to visit. With travel limited these days, they decided to post a series of videos which show off of the museum, including murals, stained glass, drawings, and exhibits of the celebrated animation studio’s history.

Japan has distilled shōchū for 500 years, with iichiko setting the gold standard, but iichiko Saiten is a new kind of higher proof shōchū made specifically for mixology. Co-created with U.S. bartenders, the clear, pot-distilled spirit is rich in citrus, melon, and pepper notes, derived from two-row barley and fermented koji.

“Be aware to trim your nose hairs, cause they could put up a fight!” Japan’s state of emergency has been lifted after their initial bout with COVID-19. To both cautiously celebrate, and to remind people to be diligent, disinfectant company SMV Japan released this silly animated music video. Japanese version here.

Japanese electro-punk group Electronicos Fantasticos is known for making music with unusual instruments. In this clip, musician Ei Wada shows off an electronic guitar known as the “CRTelecaster” that uses feedback created from the screen of an old CRT television set to produce sounds. More CRT goodness here.

After a beautiful woman drops her handkerchief, mountain bike trials rider Tomomi Nishikubo heads off on a rather circuitous route to find her in this amusing freestyle action video shot around Tokyo. We loved the bits of humor scattered throughout, especially the pit stop scene.

Sushi Ramen Rick is a tough guy, like it really rough guy. At least that’s what we got out of his goofy cover version of Billie Eilish’s hit that he made primarily using sounds produced by smacking himself about, and a weird musical instrument that looks like something from a Blue Man Group x Dr. Seuss collaboration.

Japan loves their KitKat bars. They make them in all kinds of flavors, like green tea, melon/mascarpone, strawberry, and many more. Now taste some of these unusual variants here in the states with this pack of 21 mini bars, all imported from Japan. Amazon also has all kinds of other flavors if you’re feeling adventurous.

Senko Hanabi fireworks are a traditional Japanese form of pyrotechnics that uses only a tiny bit of combustible powder to get started, then transforms through various stages to produce a sparkler effect. NightHawkInLight scored a rare lesson on how to make them at the Tsutsui Tokimasa fireworks company. Money shot at 14:18.

MTB master Brandon Semenuk takes us on a thrilling ride through the woods of Hakuba Valley, Japan in this clip from Red Bull and Revel Co.’s Light Speed. Watch in awe as Semenuk pulls some epic powerslides, flips, and tricks, as the beautiful and exotic scenery rushes by.

Artist Keisuke Teshima demonstrates his technique for painting beautiful and dramatic images of dragons using sumi-e brushes. What really makes them special is how he uses a large brush loaded with multiple shades to create their bodies with a single stroke.

Automotive and mobility company Toyota plans on establishing a 175-acre site at the foot of Japan’s Mt. Fuji to build a prototype city of the future. The location, known as “Woven City” will serve as a real world testbed for tech including autonomy, robotics, personal mobility, smart homes, alternative energy, and AI, among others.

This pedal-assisted electric three-wheeler from japanese company Envision is perfect for jobs where you need to carry lots of gear. Its mid-section storage area provides a balanced ride, and its front independent suspension leans into turns. It can carry up to 60 kg (~132 lb) of cargo, and has a range up to 150km (~93 mi) in its Eco mode.

Explorer Legend of Micah takes a trip to one of the creepier locations we’ve seen in a while – an abandoned Wild West theme park in Japan. The place is littered with relics of a fake western town, an old 1980s arcade, and even has a disturbing animatronic cowboy, straight out of the original Westworld.

The members of Japan’s electro-pop band and dance crew World Order may have changed over the years, but they’ve still got amazing choreography, as is proven by their latest video, which includes some new moves, along with their crowd favorite robotic walk.