As reported last year, Warehouse Terrada will officially open Japan’s first architecture model museum in Tokyo on June 18th.

Exhibiting architecture is always difficult. Although there are regular architecture-themed exhibitions at museums and galleries around Tokyo — especially Gallery MA — it can be tricky to bring the projects to life through plans, models and video alone. But specialists and students certainly see the benefit of viewing original models created by leading architecture studios, and even for the general public the models have their own merits as skilfully made replicas.

Entry to Kenchiku Soko (Architeture Depo) costs ¥1,000 for adults and ¥500 for students. The museum is open 11:00-21:00 and closed on Mondays. It is located in the bay area near Tennozu Isle Station.

The facility has a total of 116 shelves inside of an enormous space, which is about 450m2 with ceiling height of 5.2m.

Exhibits feature the work of some of the darlings of Japanese architecture and design, including Wonderwall, Kengo Kuma, Jun Aoki, Torafu Architects and Pritzker Prize-winner Shigeru Ban.

Shelves include panels with information on the exhibitors and QR codes so visitors can view more on their phones or tablets, such as exhibitor careers, photographs of the actual completed architecture sites and design plans.

The museum will also function as an archive, building a large repository of Japanese architecture models and designs for future generations to study. (The operator the museum, Warehouse Terrada, already has a large art storage service.)

A new stage in the redevelopment of the beloved Setagaya district of Shimokitazawa includes a restaurant and event space opening under the railway tracks.

In a similar way to how the western areas of Tokyo along the Chuo Line are somewhat defined by their use of the raised railway tracks, the tentatively named long vá quán and Shimokitazawa Cage will take advantage of the partial completion of the new Keio Inokashira Line railway bridge to open for three years only this August.

As the name suggests, long vá quán is inspired by Asian food stalls and will serve ethnic cuisine. Shimokitazawa Cage will be surrounded by a wire fence and function as a park space and also area that can be hired for corporate events, flea markets, art exhibits, film screenings, performances, and more.

It forms part of an unspecified series of activities that will involve the railway viaducts. The style of this development seems to bear hallmarks familiar from others in Shibuya (the Nike-sponsored sports park) and Aoyama (the Commune 246 areas of food stalls).

Located just a stone’s throw from Shibuya and Shinjuku yet distinctly different, Shimokita has been gradually changing over the past few years. It still retains its counterculture, off-kilter charm but the transformation of the station into an underground complex, the removal of the chaotic railway crossings, and the construction of a banal new commercial building behind the station are signals that the area may soon become just like any other suburban station in west Tokyo.

Although protested and opposed by residents and fans, Odakyu and Keio — the two train companies involved in the redevelopment of the district — have pushed on. The previous area near the tracks that was a popular cluster of bars and shops was torn down, and new visitors would never know it existed.

The nostalgia this kind of development evokes has already materialized in the form of books and even a documentary.

To be fair, Shimokitazawa has long been in danger of becoming a parody of itself. Hipster paradises like Bear Pond Espresso garner acclaim and disdain in equal measure, while the ubiquitous Muji opened a large branch on one side of the station many years ago. Other chain stores and restaurants have a foothold in the area, including the upmarket supermarket Peacock. As such, Shimokita’s character has long had a “clean” side, perhaps best encapsulated by the arrival in 2014 of an outlet of the nauseously named Inspired by Starbucks (now, without any irony, called Starbucks Neighborhood).

Have you ever wanted to be something you physically can’t? Perhaps a world-class athlete? Or a top mountain climber?

What about a member of another race? Moreover, an ultranationalist?!

Go! Go! Second Time Gaijin is a film (now being funded on Kickstarter) about just that bizarre scenario.

The makers bill it as “a mockumentary centered around a Caucasian expat who believes himself to be a member of the Japanese ultranationalist right”.

“Go! Go! Second Time Gaijin” is a mockumentary that focuses on a Caucasian expat living in Japan who, after receiving a blow to the head, wakes up believing that he is a member of an ultranationalist right wing group (the “uyoku dantai”). An idealistic amateur “director” (in the scheme of the mockumentary) is making a documentary film about this odd character because he believes that it will propel his own filmmaking career towards prominence. As the director and his subject’s views begin to diverge though, things begin to fall apart. “Go! Go! Second Time Gaijin” is a story about identity, delusion, myopic nationalism, ascendent conservative trends in Japan’s current government, other big words, and how those beliefs do not accurately reflect the political and social reality of Japanese society. Only the best ingredients for a controversial comedy!

The titular gaijin (foreigner) is played by Debito Arudou, a well-known figure in the expat community for his campaigns against discrimination. To be honest, we can’t think of a more provocative choice of person to be the wannabe ultranationalist!

Here’s the trailer. It’s mostly archive footage but it should give a sense of the subject matter and expected tone of the film.

Arudou has his fair share of detractors among fellow gaijin, though, and his latest project has already attracted some online spleen from them.

It remains to be seen if the Kickstarter campaign achieves its funding goal and that the film even gets made, though we are certainly curious to see the response of the actual ultranationalist groups in Japan.

The virtual reality buzz in Tokyo continues to unfold. Following VR Zone Project i Can in Odaiba and Sky Circus in Ikebukuro, the latest virtual reality experience attractions in Tokyo are Zero Latency and VR Living Dolls.

Both will be available this summer at Tokyo Joypolis in Odaiba. Zero Latency VR is developed by an Australian company while VR Living Doll is domestically produced.

In Zero Latency, six players don headsets, backpack and “weapon” to play the free-roam zombie shooting game set in a “warehouse-scale” virtual reality world. It looks kind of like a VR version of Laser Quest combined with Resident Evil. Details have yet to be announced on dates and prices, though it’s been a big hit in Melbourne and we predict will also score big in Japan. The Tokyo version is planned as a permanent attraction and should feature some upgrades on the original.

On the other hand, VR Living Doll is a spookier experience with a more Japanese feel. The “living doll” is a popular ghost trope in homegrown fiction, such as Junji Inagawa.

This is a virtual reality haunted house set in an abandoned temple where something terrible once happened. It starts from July and costs ¥600. Each session can have up to eight players.

One of Tokyo’s most iconic railway stations is set to lose its beloved exterior and poky atmosphere. JR East plans to overhaul JR Harajuku Station with a new, larger station building and major changes to the concourse and platforms.

Granted, Harajuku is one of the most uncomfortable stations to pass through when it is crowded, which is often due to the station’s proximity with Meiji Jingu shrine, Harajuku’s Takeshita-dori and the top of Omotesando boulevard. It is packed with both Japanese and international tourists as well as regular shoppers. The platforms are quite narrow and the passageways winding you to the exit even more so.

However, its charming exterior is one of the few reminders of bygone days in central Tokyo. This revamp, as the design images suggest, is set to remove all traces of the old Harajuku and replace it with the glass-style, clean and convenient style we can witness almost anywhere in the capital.

JR Harajuku Station was built in 1924 and is the oldest station building in Tokyo made of wood. Whether the distinct exterior will be fully demolished or somehow integrated into the new glass station has yet to be announced.

Unsurprisingly, this new development has been spurred by the spike in inbound tourism and is looking ahead to the 2020 Olympics, which is forecast to boost tourist numbers even more. Though the start of the construction is yet to be announced, JR says work will be finished by the time the Games start.

The new station will be changed into a two-level structure featuring a greatly expanded concourse, ticket gates and toilet facilities. The plans will also increase the number of elevators and add a new exit for Meiji Jingu.

The platform on the other side of the station tracks, which is currently only used at New Year to cope with all the people entering Meiji Jingu to perform their customary hatsumode, will become a regular platform for the Yamanote Line outer loop and will be directly connected to the Takeshita-dori exit. This is certainly a welcome development and will also stop new visitors forever asking people why there is a platform on the other side of the tracks that stands empty.

JR East’s ambitious plans also include redesigning two other nearby stations, Shinanomachi and Sendagaya, which is located near Kengo Kuma’s New National Stadium.

Elsewhere in Tokyo, the transportation company is presently carrying out major construction work at Shibuya and Shinjuku stations as well as improving facilities to Yurakucho, Shimbashi, Hamamatsucho, Nippori, Oimachi and Shinkiba stations.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time cafe will open at Guest Cafe and Diner inside Shibuya Parco, offering a menu inspired by director Mamoru Hosoda’s famous animes like Summer Wars, Wolf Children, The Boy and the Beast, and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

The cafe — known in Japanese as Tokikake Cafe, after the Japanese title for The Girl Who Leapt Through Time — is open from July 7th to August 7th at Shibuya Parco Part 1. Although we have recently seen a plethora of themed cafes in Tokyo, most have been based on single characters or franchises, as opposed to a single director and his output like this latest example.

The cafe is marking the tenth anniversary since the release of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, so the 2006 anime is getting the bulk of the focus of the menu. There is even a takeout pudding available if you want to take a little piece of the film home with you.

These items are based on the acclaimed The Boy and the Beast, here presented with the animated scenes that inspired them.

And these are some of the Wolf Children items.

And food and drink inspired by Summer Wars.

Naturally there is also a generous selection of exclusive merchandise on sale at the cafe as well as original mats and coasters.

The cafe is expected to be so crowded that the managers are issuing numbered tickets for diners to come at allocated times.

Guest Cafe and Diner has also previously served as the location for the popular Miffy Cafe as well as similar cafes for Pokémon and Funassyi.

The latest entry in Takara-Tomy’s series of Omnibot robotic toys is this Omnibot Charmy Baku Showtaro Comedian Robot, which functions like an alarm clock, joke-teller and household companion.

Released in August, it was recently showcased at the Tokyo Toy Show to some astonishment. Charmy Baku Showtaro is a fabulously wacky and retro gadget, like someone wanted to create a Showa-era TV personality as a mini robot.

Showtaro apparently has 1,300 in-built gags it can tell! The name is also a pun: “bakusho” means to roar with laughter, while Shotaro is a common male name. We could translate the name as “Roar with Laughter-taro”.

Perhaps the best word to describe this is “dasai”, which means roughly “tasteless”. But that’s the appeal. Charmy Baku Showtaro is a real throwback to the old TV comics that used to populate Japanese TV (and sometimes still do during the daytime). With their bad jokes, obvious wigs and peculiar costumes, they entertain as much as they annoy. Think of Kimimaro Ayanokoji (pictured below) and you’ve got the genre!

He can function in seven modes: joke on demand, joke on the hour, alarm clock joke, seasonal joke, joke medley (he will dish out 20 jokes one after the other), monologue (he’ll start speaking to himself if left alone for a long time), and wild (where he’ll just ramble for a few seconds to get your attention)!

Of course, the jokes are only in Japanese but we reckon international audiences will be able to get this joke.

Charmy Baku Showtaro is available for preorder now from Japan Trend Shop.

The third-wave coffee boom in Japan continues with Minedrip Coffee, which has opened on the rooftop of Shinjuku Lumine NEWoMAN.

NEWoMAN, which itself only opened in March, already has an insanely popular branch of Blue Bottle on its ground floor (go check out the crowds of people at weekends waiting to get their expensive drink).

Minedrip turns every customer into a barista since the novel concept for the coffee shop is self-drip: you essentially make your own cup of joe.

Minedrip is an online retailer of coffee beans and equipment, and also runs drip workshops. It will operate its self-drip pop-up shop at NEWoMAN until the end of November, featuring coffee supplied by nine roasters: And Coffee Roasters, Onibus Coffee, Glitch Coffee & Roasters, Coffee County, Sakai Coffee, The Wire Coffee Roasters, Trunk Coffee Roaster, Nagasawa Coffee, and Vide Cafetera.

The organizers partly funded the new pop-up through a crowdfunding campaign.

Bandai is targeting women in their twenties and thirties with its latest venture.

Otona Joshi Biyori (literally, Adult Girls Beautiful Weather) will open on June 24th in Tokyo Character Street, a shopping area in Tokyo Station. Marketed as a “character beauty shop”, it is the first retail enterprise by Bandai to target this older demographic. It will sell cosmetics, fashion and other merchandise for the Hello Kitty, Rascal the Raccoon, Sailor Moon and other franchises.

Bandai has successfully capitalized on the 20th anniversary of the Sailor Moon franchise, creating limited-edition clothing and toys, and even cosmetics, plus a cafe and exhibition in Roppongi. The women who originally watched and read Sailor Moon as children are now all grown up and working full time, but that doesn’t meant they don’t want to continue experiencing the characters and scenes from the popular series.

Observers are sometimes surprised at the range of appeal for anime and manga franchises in Japan. The crowds who pack out One Piece or Sailor Moon events are not just teens and tweens, but adults as well. In the same way, Sanrio has expertly licensed Hello Kitty and other character merchandise in such a way that there is something for almost all age groups.

In a related development, Sailor Moon is also featured at the Q-Pot Cafe in Harajuku from June 30th until August 17th with a special menu.

Another stage musical adaptation, Sailor Moon: Amour Eternal, is also set to open in Tokyo in October.

After already breaking records for inbound tourism last year, the government hopes to double the number to 40 million by 2020.

So far this year, more than 10 million non-Japanese visitors have entered the country, indicating the government is on track to hit 20 million or more for 2016. April alone brought 2.08 million visitors into the country.

Tokyo has seen an ambitious expansion in tax-free services and retail to accommodate the tourists, especially from Asia, looking to buy Japanese products. This includes tax-free counters and immediate ways to claim consumption tax back in stores as well as Tokyo’s first duty-free shopping zone. There has also been a notable increase in foreign and foreign language-speaking staff at stores and restaurants around Tokyo.

One of Tokyo’s most iconic landmarks is the statue of Hachiko outside JR Shibuya Station. It’s a popular meeting place for friends, too, meaning the dog statue is frequently obscured by crowds.

But don’t worry if you miss it. There is now a new version elsewhere in Shibuya, and it’s inside a shop so you can kill two birds with one stone.

Vanquish is an apparel store in Shibuya 109 Men’s and hopes to cash in on the bakugai (“explosive shopping”) tourist boom. The men’s fashion shop has installed its own version of the Hachiko statue in a blatant attempt to bring in sightseers who want to snap a picture of the famous dog.

The new dog is called Pachiko, which is a Japanese pun: pakkuri means a plagiarism or rip-off, so at least Vanquish is poking fun at its own cynicism.

The store also plans to develop a range of Hachiko-inspired items.

Will it be enough to attract tourist wallets? There are troubling signs on the horizon.

Despite the increase in tourist numbers on last year, department store sales were actually down in May by 5.1% compared to 2015. This decline has continued for three months in a row, indicating that bakugai may have run its course even as inbound tourism continues to boom.

Everything seems to be about tourism these days — and how to cash in on the boom.

This has led to foreign-language-speaking staff and tax-free counters at major stores in Tokyo. We reported yesterday how a Shibuya fashion store has even made its own version of the famous Hachiko statue in an attempt to create a new sightseeing landmark inside the shop.

There are also new kinds of developments such as this one, Japan Limousine Service, which launched on June 20th.

As opposed to what we have mostly seen so far — retailers hoping to attract Asian tourists with cash to spend on electronics and beauty products — here the target is clearly luxury and experiential, and it is notable that the promotional video features a white, European-looking couple.

The limousine service offers guidance in five languages through a dedicated handset. The vehicle that takes the travellers around is either a Mercedes-Benz V220d Avant-Garde Extra Long, Toyota Alphard, or Toyota Hiacde Grand Cabin VIP Custom.

Catering to a maximum of six travellers in one party, the car also provides amenities, high-speed Wi-Fi, music and more.

The service is currently just a fleet of 15 cars in Tokyo and the Kanto region, but there are plans to expand the fleet to 80 cars covering Kansai and Hokkaido by 2020.

Prices will apparently vary according to the distance traveled in any tour, though information is not available publicly — indicating that it is not likely to be cheap.

The focus here is on FIT, which in common parlance is a “free independent traveler/tourist” but can also be rendered as “foreign individual tourist”. While large tours are common for Asian visitors to Japan, there is certainly a gap in the market providing for individuals who want a concierge or bespoke experience that matches their tastes and budget.

Though it’s not luxury per se, a similar ethos runs through People Make Places, a new concierge service in the form of a book, app and personalized tour of Tokyo. You can choose the format that suits your needs (and budget).

We introduce unique destinations in Tokyo and help you visit them. Our focus is on the characterful individuals who shape each place: the chef and the restaurant, the designer and the brand, the barista and the coffee shop.

People Make Places is a beautiful, collectable, hardcover book to inspire you at home; a sleekly handy iPhone and iPad app to carry while exploring the city; and a real person-to-person concierge service to call or text for reservations, recommendations and other travel arrangements.

Examples of the people the service introduces are designers and chefs, as well as those working in traditional arts and crafts.

Animal cafes continue to develop in Japan. Not content with just cat cafes of all varieties, there are also cafes with rabbits and hedgehogs.

One of the most popular types of animal cafe is the owl cafe, and this genre has even now spawned an accommodation spin-off.

Wise Owl Hostels Tokyo opens July 22nd in Hatchobori, east Tokyo, featuring a Eurasian eagle-owl as its key attraction. If that sounds a bit gimmicky, rest assured that the hostel matches the feathered proprietress with a stylish, homely design and facilities.

As well as accommodation for travellers across four floors, the hostel also includes a furnished apartment on the top floor that can be rented, plus a cafe on the ground floor and bar (called “Howl”) in the basement.

The bar has an art and music theme while the cafe serves brews by popular third-wave coffee outlet Obscura Coffee Roasters. In addition to the coffee stand, the ground floor eatery also has regional sake and other rustic Japanese food.

The hostel will have a striking mural on the outside by Jun Inoue.

Shiseido has developed an app that determines the quality of a smile.

Shiseido is testing the software on 5,000 JAL flight attendants between July and September. The level of the female attendants’ smiles will be judged by the app on a tablet device, deciding if their smiles are too unemotional or have the ability to light up a room. JAL has not announced if its flight attendants will be demoted or penalized for lacking perceived smile quality.

According to the Asahi Shimbun, “the app can assess the degree of an individual’s smile on a scale from zero percent, which represents a bland expression, to 120 percent, which means a big smile.”

It uses facial-recognition technology developed by KART (Koozyt AR Technology) and Sony.

The app can analyze the impression that a smile would have on others using seven characteristics, including “a feeling of trust,” “elegance” and “affinity,” thereby allowing users to learn to use a type of smile depending on the situation.

The app also includes features that record the degree of a smile on a daily basis and help train a user’s facial muscles.

After this three-month trail, Shiseido hopes to offer the currently untitled app commercially in 2017. The marketing potential for this seems to be the customer service and hospitality industries, though individual users can also benefit from it. The app allows the user to track and record their smiles, and help in training the user to have a “better” smile.

Since 2008, Shiseido has also been organizing “smile lectures” based on its years of research into the importance of smiling. It runs them 3-5 times a year, reaching around 6,000 participants until now.

But is this taking omotenashi too far?

It may well be a cosmetics company but Shiseido’s projects are more wide-reaching and ambitious than just mascara and lipstick. It previously developed a “digital cosmetic mirror” device that lets you try on makeup virtually, and the brand also runs a contemporary art gallery in Ginza, Tokyo.

Of course, Japanese beauty brands also offer more rudimentary ways to improve your smile.

An underground station in central Osaka was converted into a temporary izakaya for four days.

Located in the business district of the city, Keihan Nakanoshima Station is a terminus that connects to the main Keihan run running between Osaka and Kyoto. Starting June 22nd, one of the station’s platforms transformed into a four-day space for drinking and eating.

Nakanoshima Station Platform Tavern, as the event is literally called, is held on Platform 3 of the station, offering a relaxing place for workers to enjoy a quick bite and drink on their way home in the evening.

Not just the platform, train carriages themselves have also been turned into a place to eat and drink. The choice of train — a model that originally went into service in 1964 — was deliberately nostalgic.

However, unlike almost all izakaya in Japan, the event is completely non-smoking since it is located inside a train station.

Entry costs ¥1,000, which then gives you a set of ¥100 food and drink tickets (more tickets can be purchased). Children receive free entry. On June 22nd, in the first hour after it opened at 5pm there were already 500 customers. There are around 250 seats available on the platform and inside the carriages, so customers may have to wait to get in during crowded periods. Though only open in the evening on weekdays, the final day on Saturday will start at 2pm.

The event has been organized by Keihan to celebrate eight years since the opening of the Nakanoshima Line, which extended the previous terminus at Kyobashi to Nakanoshima further to the west of Osaka. However, the station is not being used by as many passengers as expected and Keihan hopes to boost its popularity with this event.

Keihan also previously organized a “sake train” in past May, offering a chartered ride between stations in Kyoto for passengers to enjoy local sake.

Though the Nakanoshima event is particularly ambitious, Japan’s train station platforms sometimes have unusual amenities and services in addition to the standard food kiosk and vending machines. For example, the Donbei cup noodle restaurant at Shibuya Station has been popular with passengers needing a quick bite since it opened in 2010. UNIQLO also opened a pop-up shop on the platforms of the empty Toyoko Shibuya Station in 2013.

Images via Traffic News.

Monocle has declared Tokyo the world’s “most liveable city” for the second year running.

The magazine says:

This city of 13 million nurtures a balance of hi-tech efficiency and traditional neighbourhood values — and it’s a combination that wins the Japanese capital the top spot for a second year running. Our film focuses on its nocturnal delights, from sunset sports to the public-transport system, restaurants to late-night shopping.

Monocle highlights the punctual transport, safety and convenience as well as the night life of the city where shops are open late and there is always such a choice of places to eat and drink. The magazine also notes the popularity of sports and running in Tokyo after work hours.

Though this is a welcome change from all those misleading “guides” that frequently declare Tokyo to be one of the most expensive cities in the world, based on false criteria of American-sized homes in the city center of Tokyo, Monocle’s standards are also problematic.

The magazine has long been obsessed with Tokyo. Content about Japan regularly features in issues (there is a “Tokyo bureau” since 2007) and it has even produced its own guidebook to the city in its own inimitable style.

Monocle once had a pop-up shop, in Francfranc in Aoyama, before it eventually opened an antenna cafe in Yurakucho and then a shop in Tomigaya, which perhaps best encapsulates the Monocle-reading demographic. The store is housed in the same building as the Tokyo offices for Winkreative, the creative agency responsible for Monocle.

This is Monocle reporting on Isetan, “shopping as spectacle”.

But whose Tokyo is all this? It seems to be pulled from a hipster wet dream revolving around third-wave coffee shops in Nakameguro and apartments in Yoyogi-Uehara. It is a world inhabited by singletons under 40 with jobs in the creative industries, rather than regular families or people who work long hours.

This video showcasing the city as the world’s most liveable is revealing in that it shows almost entirely only young people. Where are the families? Is Monocle aware how hard and expensive it is to get a place for a toddler in a nursery in Tokyo? And what about how rare it can be for non-smokers to find somewhere to eat and drink? Instead we are treated only to alluring shots of Commune 246 or charming back streets. We see taxis gently taking people home, and evening trains hardly full. We doubt the folks at Winkreative ride the JR Yamanote Line during the morning rush hour. That would make for very different footage.

We love Tokyo, but there needs to be some realism to lording the city. We fear that Monocle is pushing a fantasy of Tokyo for single men in their thirties.

The upcoming election on July 10th for the House of Councillors will be the first time that 18- and 19-year-olds will be able to vote in Japan.

This means there are 2.4 million new youth votes up for grabs, but do the teenagers even know about the election and will they vote even if they do?

Both public organizations and the political parties are campaigning hard to encourage the newly enfranchised to contribute to the election, whose turnout is predicted to be low.

Election commissions on the national and local level are trying to disseminate information and excite teenagers about the poll.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, which organizes elections in Japan, hired actress Suzu Hirose to front their campaign publicizing the election. Sadly the politicians the teenagers are voting for don’t look as nice as Hirose, though this is certainly one way to get their attention.

Sometimes, though, the attempts have taken a curious approach.

As we previously reported, Tokyo Metropolitan Government launched TOHYO-to, featuring a truly bizarre video and website that seemed to liken the election to a psychedelic experience.

Other governments were more subdued. Nara City has a short anime by the up-and-coming Ryo Inoue where a character called Naranara educates three just-turned 18-year-old women about the need to vote (Inoue also voices all the characters). The anime then morphs into a surreal song in Inoue’s inimitable style.

Another Kansai city, Ikoma, has created a two-page manga with its mascot, Takemaru-kun, which was sent to new voters in the district. The manga was written by a first-year college student.

The political parties have also tried some new tactics.

Japanese Communist Party has created JCP Magazine, which is obviously aimed at young people and bears the hallmarks of the student group SEALDs, with whom the JCP has been cooperating.

Finally, the newly inaugurated Democratic Party (formed out of the merger of two opposition parties) seems to have taken a leaf out of Tokyo’s book with their campaign website, Minshin18. Apparently the way to woo young voters is to reduce everything to a comic book words like “Wow”, “Yeah” and “Japaaaaaaan”. If only politics really was a manga. Oh, wait — sometimes it is!

This is one of the videos the party made featuring two teenagers who are fronting the campaign.

The way to young voters’ hearts is seemingly to pair middle-aged lawmakers with attractive female models at events in Harajuku called “Democratic Party High School”. Stick “high school” in the title and you are going to get youngsters attending in droves, right? The jury’s still out until July 10th.

After previous successes such as Infinity of Flowers with Gucci and Night Wonder Aquarium, teamLab has now teamed up with online retailer DMM and Fuji TV to create a new major summer attraction in Tokyo Bay.

“DMM.Planets art by teamLab” has a somewhat Japanese-English title and opens at a venue at Odaiba Dream World on July 16th. Running until August 31st, the immersive event brings together previous teamLab installations and also a new piece, “Floating in the Falling Universe of Flowers”, which features 10 million digital flowers inside a 21 x 10.8-meter dome.

The makers describe the new installation:

A seasonal year of flowers bloom in this ever changing universe of flowers that spreads out into infinity in the dome art installation space.

Viewers can use their smartphones to select butterflies and release them into the flower universe.

Neither a pre-recorded animation nor on loop, the work is rendered in real time by a computer program. The interaction between the viewer and the installation causes continuous change in the artwork. Flowers are born, they grow, bud, bloom, and in time, the petals fall, and the flowers wither and die. The cycle of birth and death continues for perpetuity. Previous visual states can never be replicated, and will never reoccur.

Other installations include “Wander through the Crystal Universe”, in which particles of light are digitally controlled and change depending on how the viewer interacts with the installation through their phone.

Tickets to the event cost ¥2,000 for a one-day pass.

Along with the Art Aquarium series, these kinds of events that combine art, spectacle and selfie-friendly scenes are proving massively popular in Japan. Sega Toys recently jumped on the band wagon with the Art Aquarium Prisrium, a compact version of the Art Aquarium exhibits for home consumption.

TeamLab describes itself as a group of “ultra-technologists” aspiring to “expand art”. The collective is also taking part in Kenpoku Art 2016 in Ibaraki Prefecture this autumn, which is meant to be the largest art festival in Japan. Outside Japan, its installations have been seen in California, Ohio, London, Australia, Bangkok and more.

Although it is best known for online shopping, DMM has all kinds of other creative side projects that make it a suitable partner for producing the teamLab event. Dmm.make, one of DMM’s endeavors, is at the heart of Tokyo’s current maker culture and fab lab boom.

Last year we reported on a stunning series of concept mobility vehicles and musical instruments by Yamaha.

Now Yamaha is back with more, though this time it is just their motoring arm.

The two concept vehicles, 05GEN and 06GEN, are themed around connecting people and the environment through mobility.

The bold-looking 05GEN is a single-seater mobility concept that you ride like a tall tricycle, albeit one that “wraps” around you. While some may question the sturdiness of the vehicle, the eye-catching features include electric motor assist technology, leaning as you take corners, a roof that folds down neatly, and snazzy tires.

The four-wheel 06GEN is a multi-seater leisure vehicle with a Japanese vibe. All the family can ride together in this boat-inspired, round car, which also comes with a wheelchair that can be loaded onto the spacious, wooden deck.

Unfortunately the new vehicles are not on display in Tokyo. But if you are really keen you should head to Ehime Prefecture’s Toyo Ito Museum of Architecture, Imabari, in Omishima, where they are exhibited from July 4th until June 6th next year.

Though visitors cannot actually test-drive them, the genteel vibe of the vehicles should fit in perfectly with the museum’s island setting.

We have been following recent developments in the Tokyo book store world with interest.

From gimmicks like Book and Bed Tokyo — a bookstore-themed hotel — and the actual opportunities to stay overnight at Junkudo, a real book shop in Tokyo, to the revamp of the Muji store in Yurakucho with spirals of bookshelves, and the silent disco “book bar” Mori no Tosho Shitsu, it is cool to be a bookworm these days.

It started with such hipster favorites like Shibuya Publishing & Booksellers, near Tomigaya, and B&B (Books and Beer), an event space with a highly curated selection of books that opened in Shimokitazawa a few years ago (part of the growing gentrification of the area). In addition, Tsutaya has reinvented itself from the Japanese version of Blockbuster for the new century to being a sophisticated bookstore with chic ventures in Roppongi, Daikanyama and Shonan.

The latest example is Book Lab Tokyo, which opened on June 25th in Tokyo. Featuring 10,000 books with a particular focus on cooking, design, architecture and business books, it also has a coffee stand that serves drip brew coffee during the day and craft beer at night. The “lab” is open from 8am to midnight. In other words, the third-wave coffee and craft beer trends in Tokyo have dovetailed with the high-concept bookstore movement.

Like Mori no Tosho Shitsu, Book Lab Tokyo was partly crowdfunded. It is produced by the start-up Labit, which is led by a 25-year-old.

Book and Bed Tokyo in Ikebukuro is also so popular now that it has its own pajamas. When you stay over the “bookstore hotel”, you can rent these snazzy PJs. They were put on sale earlier in June but sold out in 15 minutes!

Kota Hatachi of BuzzFeed News Japan has investigated a bizarre and unsettling case where Tokyo police seemed to link Airbnb with foreign terrorism.

Shibuya police put up an illustrated poster showing a gallery of mixed and swarthy faces around the message: “In order to protect against terrorism and protect the Olympics, we need your information. We are especially collecting information about detached houses engaged in minpaku.”

While there is no direct reference to the non-Japanese faces, the implication is that foreigners staying at private residences (minpaku) may be planning a terrorist attack on Tokyo during the Olympic Games in 2020. The police want citizens to proffer information if they believe that something suspicious is happening at a house.

BuzzFeed News attempted to speak to the Shibuya police station. Turned away when they went to the station directly, they were given the PR office’s phone number. The journalist was then told that questions were only accepted by fax. Dutifully sending in a fax, a response came back two days later explaining that the “foreign faces” were chosen to show how Airbnb-style services were expanding, and the police wanted “foreign tourists also to feel safe during their visit”.

It is not known to what extent the poster was distributed or how it was used, though the online storm created by the Buzzfeed News article may mean police will be reluctant to employ a similar campaign in the future.

Although the recent killings of Japanese citizens in the Middle East and in Bangladesh has attracted headlines, there has been as yet no recent cases of terrorism in Japan carried out by foreign nationals with the exception of an attempted bombing of Yasukuni Shrine in 2015. In fact, the threat of domestic-grown terrorist attacks, such as the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack, is arguably far more significant and dangerous.

The police poster seems part of the growing backlash against minpaku by the hotel industry and the authorities. Minpaku is a private residence that is rented out, typically as short-term accommodation for tourists. This is most obviously represented by Airbnb, which has been surging in Japan since it launched locally in 2014. Police agencies have clamped down on certain illegal minpaku as hoteliers call for minpaku operators to be registered as business entities. Local citizens have also complained about the side effects of minpaku, such as trash being put out on the wrong days of the week.

The government is torn between embracing the minpaku revolution or protecting its lobbyists in the hotel industry. It wants to attract 20 million tourists annually in the run-up to the 2020 Olympic Games, but there aren’t enough hotels. In April, it relaxed the Inns and Hotels Law to make it easier for individuals to operate private homes legally as lodgings, though some municipalities — including wards in Tokyo — still have their own rules that restrict what constitutes a legal minpaku, such as having a front desk.