via Tokyomango.

I finally got around watching Moyashimon, the Anime about a boy being able to see and interact with microbes. Pretty fantastic kids TV about agriculture, microbiology, chemistry, and girls in short skirts. Here’s the intro:

Full episodes with English subtitles, on YouTube.

Our friends from The Plant have just launched Joblet, a job listing site for Japan.

Joblet job offers are published on sites such as pingmag and asoboo. And if you’re looking for a Flash developer position in Japan, have a look here.

Eurogamer has an article up with first impressions of Echochrome, Sony’s upcoming Escher-inpired puzzler.

Previous post here.

Trailer on EurogamerTV: echochrome, a game with MC Escher-inspired level design. Huge trailer here if you want to see it in more detail.

PingMag has a nice (and long) article on character design on Japanese packaging.

My favourite characters are Peco-chan (pictured) and Poco-chan:

This chocolate used to be sold in tin cans, and Peco-chan and Poco-chan aparently got their names from the sound the tin lid makes when being pressed (peco peco, poco poco).

Here’s a link to PingMag’s flickr archive of characters, and a previous article on Strawberries (!) in packaging design.

Nice use of physics in Flash, and a 3D character builder, by Japanese designer Masayuki Kido.

The site showcases the new Volkswagen Eos, an all weather car with a “James Bond”- like roof system. The user can choose a season / theme and use the power of Eos – the Titan Goddess of Dawn according to Greek Mythology – to paint the car in a different colour and change the scenery.

Click here to visit the site.

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Philip Worthington's 'Shadow Monsters' is currently being exhibited at Tokyo Design Tide. The most fun new media installation I've seen in a while. This YouTube video doesn't do it justice. More on his website.

Update - a short video from the Tokyo Design Tide version:

More pitagorasuitchi.

Free daily Japanese lessons as pod casts, JapanesePod101.com.

At last weekend's Tokyo Design Festa, a design show similar to a London degree show (only 10 times the size), we came across the DVD series "Ski Jumping Pairs":

Here's another one.

Website (Japanese): www.jump-pair.com