Beautiful

"ECOTONOHA IS A PROJECT - TO NURTURE A VIRTUAL TREE COLLABORATIVELY, AND AT THE SAME TIME CONTRIBUTE TO THE ACTUAL ENVIRONMENT TO COPE WITH GLOBAL WARMING. AS YOU MAKE ECOTONOHA'S LEAVES, THE VIRTUAL TREE WILL GROW, AND AS ECOTONOHA GROWS, REAL TREES WILL BE PLANTED BY NEC."

Ecotonoha is a made-up word which consists of "eco" from ecology and the ancient Japanese term "kotonoha" which means word. This website is a project started in 2004 by NEC to plant trees on Australia's Kangaroo Island.

When you visit the site and leave a message on a leaf of the virtual tree, you help plant a tree. 100 messages = 1 tree NEC plants. Beautiful.

Visit Ecotonoha now >>

Engrish Locks!

Engrish refers to the grammatically incorrect variation of English often found in East Asian countries. While the term may refer to spoken English, it is more often used to describe written English, for which problems are easier to identify and publicize. Engrish has been found on everything from poorly translated signs, menus, and instruction manuals to bizarrely worded advertisements and strange t-shirt slogans.

Now that you know about Engrish, I'dlike to share one of my all-time favorite websites. You guessed it - Engrish.com. The site celebrates some of the funniest English phrases ever generated. Guaranteed to make you laugh.

Don't forget tostop by the Engrish.com store and take the experience to your own body. After all...

Obligation being Engrish Store visitation! Let's having joyful occassion- that is our wishness! Power spent to you in the world for shop need be!


(English Translation: Thanks for visiting the Engrish Store! We hope that you enjoy your shopping experience with us. The Engrish Store will do its best to serve you with your Engrish needs.)

Visit now!

J-list Serves Up Fresh Japanese Goods

If you hanker for a bit of Japan you can call your own, you may want to head on over to the J-List and pick something up. If you are a minor or you are easily offended by the pornish side of things, you may want to skip this one. (Although there is a porn-free area of the site for you should you choose to visit).

Among the highlights of this site are the Japanese adult toys such as the 'Breast Ball', the poop hat and 'Girl in a Cup.' For the not-so-naughty there's plenty of traditional Japanese items, clothing, magazines, anime, toys, DVDs, calendars... and s much more.

Get out your credit card and get shoppin'!

Ninja Week - Real Ultimate Ninja

Perhaps one of my fondest moments of discovery on the web was when I was sent the link to Real Ultimate Power. Not only is it an excellent site about ninjas, but it has the best hate mail I've ever seen. I only hope that you will enjoy it as much as I did.



PS - Don't miss the ninja sightings while you're there!

Free-base cuteness!

If you haven't noticed by now, I have a distinct and consuming love of kawaii - that's Japanese for 'cute'. Today's sites are a pair or uber-cute destinations for Japan's Aranzi Aronzo, Inc. Rather than describe these myself, I'll let you explore.

Kodomo



Aranzi Aronzo

Cute. Cuter. Super-cute!

Amigurumi is Japanese for 'crochet doll'. Making these little friends is a big craze in Japan and it's spilling over into the US too. People are making amugurumi everything... including the special treat shown below - curly poo - made by none other than Punchitomato.

Why didn't *I* think of this?

One very creative man, a lot of time to think. He shoulda been an architect. Oh the things he'd build! Japan would be a much better place, methinks. Check out David's idea for a Tokyo building at Ironic Sans.

Cutest. Packaging. Ever.

Visit Off the Shelf for a look at some of the best and most fun packaging design in Japan. Compiled by an American designer living in Japan.