mckib•in•nihon: August 2005

Point Up Nipple

Point Up Nipple, originally uploaded by mckibillo.

"We are the nipple chickies!".....

plastic nipples.

for your bra.

wow.

and here's the how-to.

At the beach

At the beach, originally uploaded by mckibillo.

Unknown

Unknown, originally uploaded by mckibillo.

Our Bodies, Ourselves, Our Cybernetic Arms

In a really inspired bit of editorial direction, the head poobah over at my old workplace Popular Science has gone and commissioned 5 original songs to go along with their special "The Future of the Body" issue. I did a series of illustrations for the "Mental Doping" story; all about better living through chemistry. The image above is the opening illustration. You can see the rest (as well as more of my work) here. You can download the songs from direct from the PopSci site here or from the musician Jonathan Coulton's page here as well as lyrics for the songs.

It's all kinds of cross-marketed synergistic MADNESS, baby.

Earthquake

Actually that earthquake I mentioned in my last post was a pretty big one... 7.2.

Click here for details.

Tenderhooks

So we've made the move. From Takayama (that's the red star in the map above over at the top left) to Tsujido (the red star down at the lower right). Tsujido is about an hour outside Tokyo by train. It's more properly a suburb of Yokohama which is closer, but Tokyo is really the star around which all of Japan rotates. Tsujido is a nice beach town, being a part of an area called Kanagawa which includes the much more famous and scenic Kamakura.

Which is home to the Amida Buddha. Really impressive in it's own right and more so because it's where me and Miyuki had our first date, although we didn't realize it was a date at the time.

Tsujido is a beach town and has a nice relaxed vibe. The beach itself is kinda sad, though, a long strip of grey sand fronting a sluggish expanse of brown sporting runty little waves. The lack of waves though doesn't stop hordes of surfers from trying to squeeze a ride out of the little curls. The roads to the beaches are always full of surfer boys and girls with their boards strapped to the side's of their bikes. The surfer boys in particular are an interesting breed, completely hairless and deeply tanned with chapatsu (dyed brown) hair, the overall impression being one of beige. All visual contrast has been baked out of them. It's a little like watching ferrets walk upright. I might sound harsh, but some of the Japanese conceptions of male beauty leave me wondering, particularily the male counterparts of the kogaru's. Their fashion bible is Men's Egg:

But that's a whole 'NOTHER post. The real reason we moved to Tsujido is not so I could make snide observations of the beach culture, we've come here for a few months to stay with Miyuki's folks so they can help out when the baby comes. Which should be in about a month now, September 18th, give or take a few days as these things go. So far everything is going fine, but it seems as though our baby might be as stubborn as her parents... she has yet to turn into the proper heads down position. We're not panicking yet, but getting close. Next Monday we're going to the hospital where they'll attempt to do a "baby turning". There's a 1% chance that the baby might decide enough is enough and demand to be born right then and there, so next monday we could be parents. I know Miyuki's ready to get on with it already. The heat here is stifling and being preggers and all it's doubly bad for her. The summer here is really harsh. I thought NYC was bad, but here the humidity is so high that at the end of the day I feel like my whole body's been sprayed down with some PAM. Sticky, sticky, sticky.

So the freight train of parenthood is bearing down on us. Time to strap on our crash helmets.

Oh, by the way, while I was writing this a fairly sizable earthquake happened. Nothing fell, but that was weird.

Armpit Rainbow

Armpit Rainbow, originally uploaded by mckibillo.

The Pickup Truck With 'Roid Rage

The Pickup Truck With 'Roid Rage

"It'll probably [tick] the tree huggers off"... What, you mean the continued stupidity and avarice you display when driving this resource crushing behemoth over my child's future should make me feel all warm and fuzzy?

Fuck you jerkwad.

Morning commute

Morning commute, originally uploaded by mckibillo.

Fish snack for cricket

Fish snack for cricket, originally uploaded by mckibillo.

Saw this in our local supermarket in Takayama. In Japan, during the summertime, crickets make popular pets; they're sold everywhere, home centers, department stores, etc.

This "little" fellow was about 2" long and snacking on a fish. Kinda creeped me out.

Bugs in general are popular here, well beatles at any rate, but particularily "kabutomushi" .

2 2 much

2 2 much, originally uploaded by mckibillo.

Normally, I wouldn't bother to post this kind of lewd and lovely image from the streets of Japan. I mean, there's so much of it, what's the point? It's like trying to document a landslide.

But I just had to memorialize this one, I mean, look at it.... those breasts are GINORMOUS and in case you didn't notice them, they're being helpfully pointed out for you by both a ballpoint pen (above) and a retractable wand (below), the kind most often employed for powerpoint presentations. It's like a training aid for breast men.

Oh yeah, this was displayed outside a dvd store right next to the entrance to a family restaurant. I could see this possibly causing some confusion as to what the daily special is.

Flying Cats

Cats, cats, flying cats

Chibito!

Chibito!, originally uploaded by mckibillo.

The tiniest damn car I have ever seen.

I've seen lazyboy's bigger than this.

Cheese Vader Gundam

This past weekend we had a bit of fun. Yuichiro, Miyuki's older brother, got us involved in a combination flea market, rollerblading competition and costume contest. Yeah, it's a bit of a difficult mix to grasp. But it worked out quite nicely! That is until we were soaked in buckets of rain. I designed the poster based on Yu-chan's costume from last year.

This year there was the addition of a Wisconsin cheese hat, courtesy of our pal Nathan Fox. Not too sure how well it improved the aerodynamic performance of the suit, but it certainly adds a splash of jaunty color.