The new LEGO Star Wars Clone Wars sets will be available soon, but attendees at Star Wars Celebration Japan got an early look at some of the sets — and the minifigs in particular. Edge (エッジ) over at レゴ系 (The LEGO System) was there, and took a bunch of pictures of the LEGO Star Wars Continue reading →
With cherry blossoms, a waterfall, serene pond, and simple, elegant architecture, Nathan‘s Japanese tea house is an excellent example of the Japanese aesthetic ideal: The tea house also has a lovely interior:
Minifigs.net member ArzLan is a customizer I hadn’t encountered until I saw this gorgeous samurai on Brickshelf: Poking around, I found even more great custom samurai minifigs: Don’t miss lots of other great creations in ArzLan’s Brickshelf gallery.
Lettering in LEGO is a challenge. Although the possibilities of lettering in Roman/Latin lettering have been explored rather well, especially by LEGO train fans, it’s rare to see lettering in other scripts, such as Japanese. Brickshelfer Sonix has changed the “HOTEL” sign in 10182 Cafe Corner to ホテル, which is how you write “Hotel” in Continue reading →
Having lived there for 15 years, I can attest to that. But Moko scales his house down to microscale: (Via Klocki.)
Let’s check in to see what Izzo‘s been up to lately… Why, it’s a series of hyper-colorful mecha inspired by retro Japanese TV! Growin up in Japan, my brother used to get up earlier then the rest of our family on Sunday mornings and sneak off to his friends’ houses to watch shows like Kamen Continue reading →
Toys R Us in Japan is sponsoring an Exo-Force Mashup Contest that challenges builders to combine any two Exo-Force sets into a new mecha. The two example mashups should be familiar to TBB readers — Van-Force and Naoe-Force. Several Japanese builders have already contributed entries. Kwi-Chang gets things going with a mashup between 7700 Stealth Continue reading →
Classic-Castler Enryu recently posted two vignettes inspired by Japanese history. Here’s “Dappan” (more info in Enryu’s C-C post): And here’s “Tachioujou” (C-C post):
As I predicted in a recent post, New Years Day in Japan has brought a spate of timely LEGO creations, including many inspired by the Year of the Boar. First up, a boar ATV by Izzo: Next, a new years card (or nengajyou) from mumu and his wife: Here’s another new years card from Ayucow Continue reading →
2007 will be the Year of the Boar. Of course, tigers eat boars for breakfast, so I’m thinkin’ it’ll be a good year. As I explained on New Years Day 2006, Japanese homes begin to fill up with new years cards — called nengajyou — this time of year. I assume we’ll see lots of Continue reading →
For the past five years, LEGO specialty store Click Brick in the Odaiba shopping district of Tokyo has held an “Original Model Contest.” (Via mumu’s I Love Cute LEGO and VignetteBricks.) You can view all of the entries in Sachiko Akinaga’s Brickshelf gallery, but Edge informs us that the winners have been announced. Here they Continue reading →
Spaces are tight and land is at a premium in Japan. Sure, there are enormous construction projects like the Akashi Kaikyo bridge (the longest suspension bridge in the world), but most projects are on a much smaller scale. Always a nation that solves just about any problem with technology, a company named Chikusui Canycom manufactures Continue reading →