Seeds of 'Unearthly Delights': teamLab's Digital Garden

teamLab's immersive, interactive art, part of of Japan Society's' fall exhibition Garden of Unearthly Delights.

TeamLab is a collective of around 300 individuals specializing in various areas such as art, design, mathematics, and computer engineering. With their combined efforts, they create works that blur the lines between art and technology.

Although they invent cutting-edge software to create their art, their roots are distinctly traditional, drawing inspiration from scenes of nature and domestic landscapes commonly found in classical Japanese paintings.

Their artistic and technological prowess can be viewed in the exhibition Ultra Subjective Space at Pace Gallery through August 15. Much of the work depicts a three-dimensional world with three-dimensional objects, but “flattened” to emulate the look of Japanese paintings.

Traditional East Asian landscape paintings depict space in layers of picture planes; one at the foreground, the other in the middle-ground, and then the last one indicating the farthest space in the background. Transitional spaces are to be then completed in one’s own (i.e. subjective) imagination. On the other hand, Western art has been using a linear perspective with one fixed point.

"Western approach to spatial representation is based on optical illusion," explains Miwako Tezuka, director of Japan Society Gallery. "Before Japanese learned the linear perspective system to create visual illusion in painting, I think they felt, rather than saw the depth by empathetically entering into the planes of foreground, middle-ground, and background of paintings.

Teamlab shares this point of view, stating in their manifesto:

We propose that people in Japan at that time may have actually seen the world as they chose to depict it in Japanese painting. People of today have a perception of space that is based on the perspective they see in photos and paintings, but is it not possible that people of old saw and were able to feel space in the art work they looked at?” teamLab wrote on their website.

In an evocative review of the Pace exhibition, VICE illustrated teamLab's achievement of capturing this:

The European standard of linear perspective is absent from these compositions, allowing viewers to place themselves anywhere inside the scene, rather than being limited to a single point of view… [The works] each capture a celebratory perspective on nature, effortlessly combined with the sleek, clean, hi-tech texture intrinsic in their medium.

The combination of design and technology also makes their work an interactive experience.



The Ever Blossoming Life series, for example, shows a cluster of flowers in a gold background and a dark blue-black background where flowers bloom, drop their petals, wither, and die with progression of time. While the flowers collectively bloom and wilt ad infinitum, they are programmed so that they display the images in real time and never duplicate their previous states. Just like real flowers, each flower bud blooming, wilting and falling cannot be repeated exactly the same again. The life of each plant, the duration of each flower is a unique image in space and time.

After their Pace Gallery show, teamLab will have their first major museum presentation in Japan Society Gallery's fall exhibition Garden of Unearthly Delights: Works by Ikeda, Tenmyouya & teamLab. Their work is a perfect fit for the show that highlights visionaries shaping the present and future of Japanese art while harkening to the past.

The moving images that teamLab creates are extraordinary in the original sense of the word: their nature-filled landscapes not only reminisce one of the classical Japanese painting subjects of “flowering plants of four seasons” but also are truly out of this world, says Tezuka.

"They contain so much more visual and philosophical information than what our mere eyes can perceive. They invite our multi-sensory participation, and this fall, we will have that very chance to participate in strolling through a brand-new digital garden that will blossom in Japan Society Gallery."

--Younjoo Sang

Photo: teamLab (est. 2001), United, Fragmented, Repeated, and Impermanent World, 2013 (detail). Interactive digital work, 8 screens; endless, 9:16; sound by Hideaki Takahashi. Courtesy of the artist and Pace Gallery.

We Are Legion: Decentralizing The Internet For Innovation

The general attitude among netizens is that with all the data that comprises the Internet, sharing is caring. Or is it the other way around?

In terms of file sharing, many are familiar with the concept of direct downloading as a means of getting music and videos, and its web of legal issues. An alternative method is BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer system where users simultaneously download and upload pieces of an original file which get shared around the Internet to complete the download. Instead of receiving data from a single source, multiple owners of the file chip in to help others claim their own.

BitTorrent is one example of free and open-source software (FOSS), in which anyone can take available software, make changes, improve, and redistribute it for free as long as they allow others do the same. There is no copyright concern, which can slow or even prevent openly sharing valuable information and knowledge that leads to innovation and breakthroughs. Ultimately FOSS exists to help “individuals and organizations reduce cost, increase use, improve standards compliance, enhance security, and avoid vendor lock-in.”

The philosophy and practical applications of FOSS can help solve impossibly complex problems and even have life-saving ramifications.

In Japan, in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunamis that led to nuclear crisis at Fukushima, little information was made available for people concerned about radiation levels. Safecast, formerly known as RDTN, took matters into hand by aggregating radiation data from various sources. In the spirit of FOSS, the team makes all data available to everyone after planting static radiation sensors around Japan, as well as utilizing portable Geiger counters that work with mobile devices.

As a forefront advocate for internet freedom and global technology policy, Joichi Ito, director of MIT Media Lab and former CEO of Creative Commons , argues we no longer live in a world of central control but rather in ecosystem of "small pieces loosely joined" with innovation on the edges. The ubiquity and low cost creation and distribution of information has fundamentally changed the way we collaborate.

Ito shares his ideas in Innovation in an Open Network at Japan Society on November 10. Drawing from his work at MIT, he’ll look at startups like Safecast, use of citizen Geiger counters, and other examples of 21st century practices that are bettering the world. Michael Zielenziger, McKinsey Global Institute senior editor and author of Shutting Out the Sun: How Japan Created its Own Lost Generation moderates.

--Sean Tomizawa

Mathematic(k)s & Blips

Ikeda bends math to astounding audiovisual conclusions. Via.

Imagine being immersed in a black and white (and very occasionally red) world of nearly imperceptible electronic whines, trippy digital beats, lulling clicks and jarring ticks, swirling computer-generated geometric dust devils and slippery, speeding, jarring, eye shattering mathematics. Senses have been loaded, perhaps about to spill over, and  perceptions of the world and sound itself have come into question by hyper, hypnotic and profoundly confounding live audiovisual experience created by one of Japan's leading new music pioneers, Ryoji Ikeda.

The Contemporary called Ikeda "a man for whom sound and vision comprise not two separate senses but a single stimulus to the senses," and described the awesome opening of one of his shows as such:

Nothing: a blank black screen and a wall of silence. Slowly, imperceptibly, a distant high-pitched hum emerges from the sonic void, like the sound of a moist finger running around a half-filled wine glass. Simultaneously, slowly, the screen flickers into life: white lines bisecting the black background. The hum disintegrates into blips and bleeps. Flashes of beauty flicker on the screen... then fragment into a never-ending series of numbers. The visual aesthetic vanishes, to be replaced by pure data, yet at the same time the very essence of the image transformed into an abstract but utterly precise mathematical code.

This weekend Ikeda performs the New York premiere of his 2006 masterpiece datamatics [ver. 2.0]. Co-presented by Japan Society and FIAF as part FIAF's Crossing the Line Festival, datamatics takes place at Florence Guild Hall September 10 and 11.

The festival includes a solo site-specific installation up through October 16 designed for the FIAF Gallery, consisting of Ikeda's hyper-real manifestations of complex mathematics, combining discussions with Harvard number theorist Benedict Gross and meditations on transcendental numbers. 

S.J.

News Blast: Death Chamber Opens, US-Japan War Games, Cat Island, Museum Manga And More

 Japan's Cat Island. Via.

►The New York Times reports Prime Minister Naoto Kan will face challenge in September from Ichiro Ozawa, "scandal-tainted power broker within his own party". The announcement comes shortly after the outspoken Ozawa told Japanese press that he found British People unlikeable and Americans 'monocellular', according to reports from Japan Today and Mainichi  (confirmed by Great Britain's Telegraph and followed up humorously by The Wall Street Journal.)

►Where most Japanese political parties limit membership to nationals, regulations of the ruling DPJ allow membership to anyone over 18, including Japanese nationals living abroad and foreigners living in Japan.

►As Japan reviews defense policies, and a panel wary of China urged change, AFP reported the U.S. and Japan plan to practice 'war games' in December that simulate recapturing a remote southwestern island from an enemy. Notes the AFP: "Such an exercise could bring a stern response ... Japan has territorial disputes with both China—its key Asian economic rival—and Taiwan."

►A second wave of bilateral talks between PM Kan and President Barack Obama are likely to take place at the UN in late September. The discussion may encompass the planned relocation of the Marine Corps’ Futenma Air base in Okinawa, North Korea’s nuclear program, economic stimulus, and global warming. Related, Japan is working to disclose an expert report on the Futenma relocation by the end of August.

►This week Japan's Justice Minister allowed media rare entry into an execution chamber. Mainichi carries images and officials' description of the facilities and Reuters published facts about death penalties around the world, such as Japan and the U.S. are the only countries in the Group of Eight rich nations that conduct executions.

►In a long-awaited reconciliation move, Japan hosts World War II POWs. Five American POWs and the families of deceased POWs will visit Kyoto and Tokyo among other destinations in a government supported tour. Kinue Tokudome, founder and director of the U.S.-Japan Dialogue on POWs, explained to Stars and Stripes: "the idea that Japan should apologize for anything after what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki—the first and only nuclear attacks in history and carried out by the United States—is a sometimes difficult proposition in Japan."

►Meanwhile, California approved a bill requiring bidders for a prestigious high-speed railway project to release details on transportation of WWII POWs.

►Artists and writers reflect on Japan's tumultuous postwar history after the signing of the 1960s security treaty in the new documentary Anpo, due out in Japan next month. The film is directed by Linda Hoaglund, a frequent collaborator with Japan Society's film and education programs, who produced the fascinating kamikaze expose Wings of Defeat, and who has for years handled English subtitles for about 200 films, including those directed by Akira Kurosawa and Hayao Miyazaki.

►International Herald Tribune Op-ed: "Japan and its youths, old beyond their years, may well reveal what it is like to outgrow growth."

Kimono from Cameroon. Via.

►Africa unveils gorgeous kimonos for the 21st Century .

►Asahi launches "Fun! Fun! Fashion!" column. This week: socks!

►Japan invents the smallest, safest oil-to-plastic conversion machine.

►A new Japanese toilet measures blood pressure, body temperature, weight and sugar levels in urine.

►Sports Roundup: the New York Mets hold their first annual "Japanese Heritage Night", the trend is shifting for American managers of Japanese teams, Japan wins women's world baseball championship, Okinawa’s Konan High School took the Koshien national championship, and Sumo elite get iPads to enter 21st century and accommodate their meaty fingers.

►Japanese filmmaker and comic-book artist Shatoshi Kon (Paprika) "whose dazzling visual compositions and humane, emotionally resonant stories won him a devoted following in animation circles and beyond", according to The Times obituary, died in Tokyo at age 46. Read Japan Society's tribute in memoriam.

►David Mitchell talks to NPR about the inspiration for his acclaimed novel A Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.

►Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami: writing a novel is "just like having a dream."

►Though conductor Seiji Ozawa says he has successfully completed treatment for esophageal cancer, he will still curtail appearances at the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto in Japan next month. We're hoping for his speedy recovery and look forward to him kicking off Carnegie Hall's JapanNYC fest in December.

►A Japanese manga exploits British Museum treasures (which sounds vaguely familiar!) Notes The Economist: "In Japan manga is a mainstream medium, with sales of magazines and books amounting to around $5 billion a year. Though many are juvenile, violent or pornographic, others are intricate narratives skilfully illustrated and meant to educate as much as to entertain."

►The Times says the Museum of the City of New York's Samurai in New York exhibition "delivers more than you’d expect ... In this case it offers a lot to think about in terms of photography and its role in early publicity and celebrity culture as well as a fascinating look at how different societies responded to 19th-century stirrings of globalization."

►Japan Times profiles Junko Fisher, a New York-based performer who teaches traditional Okinawan dance at Queens Library in New York.

►10-year-old Japanese guitar prodigy Yuto Miyazawa shreds onstage with Ozzy Osbourne.

►(To the Jurassic Park theme): Welcome... to Japan's Cat Island!

S.J.

News Blast: Border Control, Holo-Vision 2022, First Lady Of Flight, Nimble Ninja Kids And More!

Cool Japan fest in NYC's East Village. Photos via.

Japanese Border Control & Immigration Policies

Where the U.S. army has a pronounced presence on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, the Japanese Self-Defence Forces plans to increase their presence over the next year. The Japanese Defense Ministry has announced plans to deploy more troops on Okinawa, as well as several hundred on the even more southernly Sakishima Islands. Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa cites increased activity by Chinese naval vessels as a chief concern this move will address.

On a related note, a new resource will no doubt prove invaluable for civilians looking to get through Japan’s borders. The brand-new blog Turning Japanese  is on a mission: to provide, in English, a comprehensive overview of the Japanese Immigration protocols as well as instructions for applying for Japanese Citizenship. What makes this news so exceptional is that there really isn’t another (official) resource for English-speakers on the subject.

News from the World of Food

The Telegraph has two news-items on possible health side-effects from eating certain kinds of food. First: soy sauce could reduce symptoms of menopause . Studies in Japan show that soy contains a compound that reduces the production of oestrogen, which contributes to menopausal problems. Of course, the news that soy sauce is a ‘miracle food’ should be taken with a grain of salt. The article also cites previous studies, which have showed that soy sauce can prevent cancer and lower cholesterol.

On the more dangerous side of the spectrum: konnyaku, a Japanese jelly that’s harvested from a very starchy tuber known in English as the konjac (though it’s also known by such sinister names as Devil’s Tongue and Voodoo Orchid). In Japan, it’s usually eaten raw, as konnyaku sashimi in long thin strips. However, the dense chewiness of it has led to over 20 deaths in the past 16 years, and over 20 hospitalizations, all among the elderly or young people. Kenta Izumi, parliamentary secretary for the Cabinet, has convened a panel of lawmakers, doctors, and manufacturers to come up with a safety standards law to reduce casualties. The American Food and Drug Administration actually removed a number of konnyaku-based candies from US shelves starting in 2001 as a response to deaths in America.

A Bumpy Ride in U.S.-Japan Relations?

In the pages of Newsweek, columnist Tobias Harris predicts rough times ahead for Japan-U.S. relations. For Harris, the tension will mostly stem from issues of security: the U.S. is interested in pursuing a more security-based partnership with Japan, where Japan will expand their army, and join the U.S. on key missions. Japan’s DPJ, however, have a tenuous hold on power after the disappointing elections a couple weeks ago. In this political climate, it doesn’t look like the Japanese government will allocate more funds to defense, and therefore will enter a more dependant relationship with the U.S.

Bite-size News:

►Bloomberg-BusinessWeek reports Japan's Provinces are 'withering away'  and that budget cuts are most likely accelerating rural decline. The warning stems from the Bank of Japan's Sakura Report, a regional survey akin to the Federal Reserve's Beige Book.

►Variety examines the possibility of Japan broadcasting live holographic television by World Cup 2022.

►FIAF inspects Japan for 2022 World Cup hosting bid, finds it 'very balanced'.

►67 countries pledge to attend the August 6 peace memorial service marking the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

►A decision on the U.S. air base in Okinawa is not likely until November. 

►Japan Today profiles Ari Fuji, Japan's first female commercial flight captain, who had to get her license from the U.S. because of Japanese height restrictions.

►Mainichi profiles Noriko Williams, a Japanese langauge teacher who authored a pictorial kanji character textbook for English speakers. Says Williams, "I wanted to teach kanji learners that these seemingly meaningless combinations of lines actually derive from ancient wisdom."

►The New York Times has further news on the story from last week about the Japanese government agency that allegedly exploits foreign workers and interns.

►Celebrating dramatic growth overseas, Twitter CEO Evan Williams tells a cheering crowd in Tokyo: "We've come a long way in two years especially in Japan."

►Peter Fernandez voice of Speed Racer (and who wrote the American lyrics for the show's theme song) died this week. Anime News Network's Egan Loo told The New York Times "He took a quintessentially Japanese title and made it so Americans could enjoy it," calling the show "one of the first titles that turned Americans into fans of Japanese animation."

►The annual Tokyo Toy Show wrapped last weekend, and Kotaku has a collection of videos of some of the choicest toys. Dibs on the robot butterfly!

►Reports from Gothamist and Examiner on last weekend's Cool Japan street fest.

►Japanese and American manga publishers are scouring this year's Comic-Con for talent.

►Overview of the alums and allies petitioning to keep the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program alive.

►The Wall Street Journal is looking for examples of "Jinglish", notes that around 10% of Japanese stems from English words, though Frank Daulton, author of Japan's Built-in Lexicon of English-based Loanwords.

►A ninja themed excercise training facility for kids.

►Behold the portable watermelon cooler/heater.

►Canadian practices old-school silk making in Japan.

►Japanese men "muscle in on ballet, cooking, ikebana classes."

►Japan's giant salamanders may hold the key to stave amphibian extinction.

►U.K's Sansbury Centre offers an awesome electronic gallery guide for Unearthed, an exhbition of prehistoric ceramic figurines from Japan and the Balkans and Japan. Thru August 29!

►Japanese travel magazine, Paper Sky  has posted a fascinating three part series on fishing superstitions in the port town of Yaizu. Yaizu is home to one of the biggest fisheries in Japan and the biggest catcher of mackerel and tuna in Japan.

N.O., S.J.

Obama Mixing it Up

Probably in response to the growing competition, Mixi.jp, by far the largest social network in Japan, is no longer an invite only service.

Led by Japan’s 40th richest man according to Forbes, Mixi boasts over 25,000,000 users, a revenue per member 3 times bigger than Facebook, and attracts several times more visitors than Bebo on a worldwide basis. It has a quasi-monopoly among similar services in Japan (crushing international giants like Facebook or MySpace) and has recently started to diversify it’s offerings with new features such as iPhone apps and a micro-blogging platform similar to Twitter.

Mixi is just one of many Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) that have the power to improve productivity, help create internationally competitive businesses and that represent a key to social and organizational reforms. President Obama used ICTs effectively during his presidential campaign. Now in power, his administration makes aggressive use of the social networking tools to develop stimulus policies and other governmental operations. Here, ICTs are not just tools for election campaigns, but for realizing civic participation and transparent policy-making.

Also important is the vibrant blogosphere where discussions about the future of media industries and Internet firm business models are influencing corporate strategies. A pattern is emerging where corporate and policy decision-making is shaped by open Internet-based discussions. Japan has advanced broadband infrastructure and excellent entertainment services. However, comparable progress in reforming business and society is lacking, a problem the Democratic Party of Japan seems keen to address.

Friday, March 19th, Japan Society is hosting a panelist discussion to discuss these topics that's completely free to the public:
Obama's Internet Initiative & Social Reform
in the U.S. & Japan

News Blast

Japan PM in a bind as upper house election looms

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, his party flagging in polls ahead of a mid-year election, promised on Monday to find a way to regain public backing but said he was not considering a cabinet reshuffle now. Only one in four voters plan to cast their ballots for his Democratic Party in an upper house election expected in July, a Yomiuri newspaper survey showed on Monday, as funding scandals and doubts about the premier's leadership erode his support.

U.S. sees 'critical role' for Japan on Iran

A top U.S. official said Friday Japan has "a very critical role" to play in international efforts to limit Iran's nuclear ambitions as the West pitches new sanctions against Tehran. Japan -- which relies heavily on Middle Eastern oil and, unlike its chief ally the United States, maintains relatively cordial ties with Iran -- next month takes the rotating chair of the U.N. Security Council.

Korea, Japan to sign e-government deal

Korea is set to export its e-government systems to Japan a hundred years after it was forced to adopt Japan's administrative system and rules under its colonial occupation. Korea and Japan will sign an agreement on e-government cooperation and technological exchange later this month, according to a government source. Korean IT companies have sold electronic government systems to Japan's local governments since 2004, but it will be the first such deal between the central governments of the two countries.