Nara’s New Mascot
Nara, a city of famous historic Buddhist temples and tame deer, recently unveiled a new mascot character to commemorate the 1300th Anniversary of Nara Heijo-kyo Capital:
Its creators believe that the character matches well with the city of Nara, but many have been criticizing the mascot for being un-cute. It was originally thought that this new character could rival the ultra-cute mascot of Hikone Castle, but maybe that was wishful thinking…
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[Hat tip to KokuRyu]
Update: Nara might want to consider one of these alternative mascot designs.
Categories: Odd / Strange
Beautifying Ugly Walls
A recent episode of TV Champion challenged some craftsmen to transform ugly concrete housing boundary walls into eye-pleasing works of art. Below are clips of the walls created by the three finalists:
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Entry #1: Dream Flower
Cost: 450,000 yen [about 4,170 U.S. dollars]
Description: Flower designs on the wall & pillars altered to appear as if they were made of stone.
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Entry #2: Spring Wind
Cost: 145,000 yen [about 1,340 U.S. dollars]
Description: This wall design is supposed to show cherry blossom pedals fluttering in a spring wind, with the gate pillars meant to be cherry trees.
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Entry #3: Dragon & Mt. Fuji
Cost: 360,000 yen [about 3,340 U.S. dollars]
Description: The wall is used a canvas for a painting/sculpture of a dragon flying through the air and some traditional Japanese scenery.
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Categories: Japanese TV
The Valentine’s Day Business Scene
A report from FTV takes a look at the Valentine’s Day business scene in New York:
A short summary of the video’s contents:
- Valentine’s Day in America is celebrated differently in America: men give presents to women. The average amount spent on gifts is 170 dollars, with a nationwide spending total of about 1.8 trillion yen.
- The report introduces us to Keiko Hasegawa, a Japanese woman who works in New York as a package designer for Godiva. Hasegawa’s designs are used on Godiva chocolate packages around the world. She tells the camera that American consumers tend to like red-colored packages for the Valentine’s Day season, but in markets like Japan it is necessary to use colors such as pink or purple, which female consumers would find more appealing.
Categories: Japanese TV
Judo Washing Machine
A very creative performance from Kasou Taishou combines doing laundry and judo:
Categories: General Japan
