Creamy Mami x Galaxxxy

When I set out to visit the shop, I got halfway to the station before realizing I forgot the box of Oreos I planned to eat on the train and went back home to grab them. Unfortunately I didn't notice that I'd also forgotten my camera, so you'll have to make due with cell phone photos this time around.

Shibuya clothing brand Galaxxxy is running a Creamy Mami shop/gallery through the end of November. Lots of concept sketches, animation cells and vintage collectables are on display, along with original goods ranging from jackets to keyboards. Details here. 

Haco X Big Comic Spirits 30th Anniversary

Was there ever a greater feeling of accomplishment than watching your favorite Saturday morning cartoon while wearing underwear festooned with the characters? Now's your chance to return to your glory days with these stylish briefs created in collaboration with Haco to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Big Comic Spirits. The Mori Mokkori inspired design will keep Heavy D and the Boys from sticking to your thighs this summer.

Left Hand of God, Right Hand of the Devil (By Umezu Kazuo)

Uzumaki (By Itoh Junji)

Ping Pong (By Matsumoto Taiyo)

Check out the 15 varieties available from Haco's homepage.

Kinnikuman T-Shirt Festival

Beneath its flaky exterior of brutal signature moves and fart jokes, Kinnikuman is built around a solid core of wrestling in-jokes and references, so its only natural that its apparel also be recognizably obscure and dense. The boys over at BamBamBigelow88 do not disappoint and bring to the ring the things that inspire man-children most: Metal albums, action figures, bone-crushing body slams, and limited edition T-shirts!



The Parco in Kichijoji is running a mini-Kinnikuman exhibition from now until May 13th as part of their NICE MEAT Spring collection. It you pick up one of the figures, shirts, or caps you also get a swag character pin so if you have even a passing interest in the series, wrestling, or things that are awesome you’d better stop on by. Tie-in products tend to be chintzy but these are the real deal. The quality of both the materials and design are top notch. You can tell that this stuff is made by fans that love the show and just want to spread the insanity.



According to urban legend, series writer Takashi Shimada asked artist Yoshinori Nakai to design a logo for their manga that could be drawn in the least possible number of strokes, for ease of graffiting across notebooks, desks, and bathroom walls. Where have I heard that before…?



Every piece of apparel tells a story and that story gets added to the ever growing muscle-bound mythology. You're not a true Gen-X slacker unless you know your Kinnikuman!

Kinnikuman Shop

His name is MASAGON

Fortune here, back from my TSB Tokyo expedition and reporting from the heart of Kansai- Osaka!

Never thought you would see a Tokyo Scum report from a luxury hotel, did you? After seeing the flyer, I couldn't resist checking out local artist Masagon at Hyatt Regency's gallery in Nankou. I found him in the studio-like gallery at the bottom of a marble corkscrew staircase, sitting there in his red beret. What an unusual place he chose to display his art! However, the laid-back atmosphere soon made me forget I was in the basement of a gigantic five-star hotel.





Masagon is a handicraft sculptor; he creates various kinds of sculptures mostly from clothes, shoes, and stuffed toys; but he describes himself as a graffiti artist. "I am strongly influenced by graffiti and street art. It is just that I use clothes and yarns instead of spray cans." Surely, if you see his work, you will feel like you are in Amerika-mura (American Village), the funkiest district in the city where you can find a mess of graffiti and street wear stores. My first impressions was that this dude is Ame-mura personified. "I travel overseas, but in Japan I've never moved out of Osaka. I just can't stop loving the city."





The turning point in his career was when an artist friend in the UK asked him to join an exhibit in France. One day, walking down a street of Paris in his custom Gundam-studded leather jacket, "A Parisienne hit on me out of nowhere. She said "Kawaii!" in Japanese. I was so surprised!"


Best way to recycle SD Gundam erasers!

The exhibit in France was a huge unexpected success, and he has since been featured in 'The Face'(UK), 'VOGUE'(Japan), 'SHOWStudio'(France) and various other media related to fashion and art. In recent years, he even joined an art show by DIESEL and worked with American artist Mark Jenkins on street installations.

All this and yet what surprises me the most is that this guy never learned to sew or knit! "I liked vintage clothes originally, so I just thought it would be interesting to create monsters, heroes and other figures out of them. I don't really know how to sew. I just looked at some embroidery and started imitating it."

If you are in Osaka, peep his show at Kitsutsuki in Tamatsukuri. It runs through November 13th.
Meet this pop art madman while the meeting is good!

	Click here for more Masagon pics!
masagon

Putrid Princess SFX Fashion Show

Monster girls in bikinis strutting their stuff to lousy metal? Nope, Rob Zombie isn't touring Japan. It's the horror SFX-makeup fashion show from yesterday's Design Festa Vol. 30! If you dust off your imagination and look real hard, you just might be able to see the morbid fairy tale theme they were going for.


Pre-show makeup demo.


Red Riding Hood


Rapunzel


Little Mermaid


Cinderella


Sleeping Beauty


Snow White


Kaguya Hime

	Click here for more pics from the show
Putrid Princess Special Effects Fashion Show