Tag Archive for 'Japan'

Overlooking The East

Published
by
David
on August 27, 2008
in Cool and General
. 2 Comments

There have been some amazing advances in CG animation over the past few years with Pixar having a string of hits which seem almost unstoppable and meanwhile a new level of sophistication is emerging both in the visual style and story telling departments. What I find strange though is that the creative output of the Japanese animation (anime) industry is still largely ignored by the west (with a few exceptions) even though they produce more content than every other country put together. I would suspect this has something to do with the cultural gap which can be particularly evident if you are unfamiliar with that part of the world although for me makes it all the more interesting…

Recently I’ve seen two anime films which I’m sure most people will not have heard of but which use cutting edge animation to great effect and if you enjoy that sort of thing definitely worth getting your hands on -

Appleseed Ex Machina

Following on from first film in 2004 Appleseed Ex Machina takes the unique look to the next level in evidence by a greater depth of detail and texture than its predecessor. Whilst some of the character articulation needs work it’s still a visual feast to behold. Cyborgs and mecha eat your heart! [Review]

Vexille

Whilst borrowing on a similar visual style Vexille is an altogether darker film in both its appearance and tone. Set in a self-isolated Japan of 2077 the visuals are outstanding and, even though the score by Paul Oakenfold is unorthodox, it’s refreshing and compliments the excilarating action scenes. [Review]

Neither of the story lines here are totally unique and the character development is sometimes lacking but if you’re after eye candy they might just blow you away!

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Design Perspectives

Published
by
David
on May 30, 2008
in China, Design, Japan and Korea
. 2 Comments

What do you notice about the design of these web pages (aside from the fact that they’re not English)?

Cyworld
Daum
Naver

163
Sina
Sohu


The top 3 are Korean and the bottom 3 Chinese - all are popular portals. Naver is Korea’s premier search engine (with 77% of the market there) and Cyworld could be compared to Facebook (with over 20 million users).

If your first reaction is that all these sites are very crowded and densely packed with content then you’re not alone. Your second reaction might be to ask why would they design something so cluttered, and from a western perspective lacking in the clarity and simplicity that we’ve come to expect from “good design”. It’s certainly not very “Web 2.0″, as we know it anyway.

It turns out a lot of other people are thinking the same thing. Different theories for why there is this marked difference are abundant, ranging from the influence of Buddhist principles whereby “strong and rich colour, density, and opulent presentation symbolize happiness and wealth”, otherwise termed the ‘aesthetics of abundance’, to different advertising models and the way in which people read/scan different languages. It seems no one has a definitive answer which means there’s definitely room for research here.

What I find fascinating is that two almost entirely different ways of looking a web design have emerged from a common set of technologies used by different cultures. It’s even more applicable when you consider western firms doing business in East Asia where a simple re-branding exercise is clearly going to be insufficient.

Another interesting point in fact is that whereas in the west we are used to accessing and advertising websites by their URL (e.g. www.randomwire.com), in East Asia the search box is king and URL’s are virtually redundant. These so called “navigational searches” may have something to do with the complexities of typing roman characters on input devices especially designed for Japanese/Korean/Chinese but still seems a pretty good idea to me and one which I expect will slowly make its way westwards in time, especially with the rise of the mobile internet where typing is even more cumbersome.

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London -> Tokyo by Train

Published
by
David
on May 13, 2008
in Cool, Japan and Korea
. 0 Comments

Sometimes you come across an idea which is so mad that it might just have a chance of success. This was the case when I first heard about proposals to dig a 200km+ undersea train tunnel between Korea and Japan in a similar fashion to the Channel Tunnel which connects Britain and France (albeit 4 times longer). The tunnel has a number of proposed routes, a couple of which would see it also pass through the territorially disputed islands of Tsushima and Iki on it’s path.

It’s estimated that it would cost around 100 trillion Won (£1=W2000) and 15 to 20 years to build the so-called “peace tunnel” which would be a joint venture between the two countries if it ever comes to fruition. The technical, economic and political feasibility of the project is currently being estimated but it is still far from clear whether it will ever get the go ahead given the uncertainties.

Aside from improving relations between the two countries and promoting economic growth what excites me about this project is the wider implications for trans-continental travel around the world. With the cost of flying rising every year and the environmental impacts ever more present could high-speed rail links, taking advantage of new connections such as this, be part of the solution?

If the tunnel is ever built it would be physically feasible to travel by train all the way from London to Tokyo without the need for flying (ignoring the small problem of North Korea for the moment!) and combined with new technology in the future such as magnetic levitation the journey time wouldn’t necessarily be a huge amount longer than flying.

In the wake of the devastating earthquake in China yesterday you have to wonder whether building a massive underwater tunnel in an area of tectonic instability is a good idea but as pipe dreams go (excuse the pun) I’m all in favour! Humankind has always strived to push the boundaries of science, technology and engineering and it can’t be a bad thing if this helps bring together two historically hostile neighbours.

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