January 29th, 2017 | by weshareinterests | published in FASHION, FILM & MUSIC | Comments Off on Spitz – Gerbera, Mikazuki Rock (2002)
| STAFF – In 2002, bricks and mortar music stores were not extinct. In what used to be the original Metrotown Mall there was a specialty shop called POLY that marketed Asian media exports. It was here that I learned about a prolific rock band from Japan called Spitz and a song called Gerbera (ガーベラ), […]
October 1st, 2016 | by weshareinterests | published in FASHION, FILM & MUSIC, FEATURE | Comments Off on MidiStar, Music, Humans and the Brain
| A while back, in a talk I had with a friend, I brought up how peculiar it is that humans derive energy from very specific, mathematically linked arrangements of sound and movement. How is it that we enjoy one sequence of sounds in a given song yet are unnerved by a different series […]
September 11th, 2016 | by weshareinterests | published in FEATURE, SOCIAL SCIENCES | Comments Off on Priyanka Yoshikawa / Ariana Miyamoto: Japanese Beauty Queens, ハーフ, and Pop-Culture Disconnect
| This week, one of our readers tipped us off on a story about beauty in Japan. For the second straight year, Japan will be represented in one of the Big 4 beauty pageants by a poised, intelligent, strong woman who happens to be racially mixed and unwaveringly proud of who she is. Last […]
May 27th, 2016 | by weshareinterests | published in FEATURE, LITERATURE & VOCAB | Comments Off on Shinji & Obachan Go West
| On a warm evening in 2005, I was walking the girlfriend home and had just stopped by the neighborhood Family Mart for some Jeti, a beverage apparently for children but that I’d grown addicted to because, well, it’s chocolate so it’s good. On our way out of the store I witnessed something strange to […]
March 15th, 2016 | by weshareinterests | published in ARCHITECTURE, HOME & GARDEN, FEATURE | Comments Off on Hut Contemporized – Muji
| Back in November 2015, design specialists Curbed and designboom featured stories about household and consumer goods retailer Muji entering the micro homes space. Muji Hut will target those wanting a stylish, little place off the grid (or simply outside the city). Sales to start in 2017. The company enlisted three designers – Naoto Fukusawa, […]
July 29th, 2015 | by weshareinterests | published in FEATURE, LITERATURE & VOCAB | Comments Off on Ming & Yuka – The Week that Was, their Love that Is
| I used to work in a nice building downtown that was shown in a Tony Hawk game which means something to some and nothing to others. One summer there, I met a woman named Yuka. Mike: “Hey we’re gonna have a temp here for a week, a student from one of those ESL schools.” […]
July 26th, 2015 | by weshareinterests | published in FASHION, FILM & MUSIC, FEATURE | Comments Off on Marry Me – Kyle Hanagami & Koharu Sugawara
| It’s mid-summer and for many of us that means wedding season, a time when we celebrate the union between two people we hold dearest, or some relative we’ve sort of met and that person they met that time. (Image Credit – Mcdonald Selznick Associates) Kyle Hanagami is an acclaimed choreographer based in Los Angeles. […]
February 19th, 2015 | by weshareinterests | published in ARCHITECTURE, HOME & GARDEN, FEATURE | Comments Off on Dwell 100 – Chichibu Mountains, Japan
Dwell.com published a top 100 that looks at the most popular living spaces written about over their 12 year history. I thought I would go through and share with a bit of my take on some, maybe all. I don’t know what order these are in and which ended up being THE most popular. Maybe […]