smurfesque charms

James Cameron was kind enough to see that his latest offering was subtitled on time for a worldwide release, meaning Avatar came out in Japan a month ago. Now the shockwave has passed ORAZ believes it deserves a little calm consideration. We hope you’ll bear with us for a second if we tell you that we believe that the film industry, and indeed the electronics industry, will have to be reconsidered anew in the post-Avatar era. Allow us to justify that hyperbolic preamble.

At a modern-day trade show, no matter whether you want to sell a 50 inch 3D plasma TV or a wristwatch, standard practice has become to show a clip of Avatar to get the audiences starry-eyed with anticipation. You like Avatar? Buy our ebook reader! As such every commercial clip of Avatar has been used time and again and audiences have been utterly overexposed, nay inured, to [...]

existentialist angst

Superstition is big business in Japan. As in other countries people are willing to pay big bucks to anyone who can offer them totalising narratives that appear to lend some order to the world and assuage the existentialist angst that they are unable to deal with alone. The word superstitious in this context is an interesting one. Occasionally it can be endearing and at other times it covers a multitude of sins and essentially operates as a euphemism for “naive” at best and “smart as an 11th century hick” at worst.

While we’re on the subject. Love Touch is an iPhone app on the Japanese store capitalising on the popularity of zodiacs, blood types, palm reading and all other forms of uranai or fortune-telling which is so popular in Japan. Obviously this is a great app to whip out in a drinking hole to break the ice with that special [...]

Almost every tourist in their right mind who comes to Kyoto will find themselves on the trail through Higashiyama that takes in Yasaka Shrine, Maruyama Park, Nene no Michi (“Nene’s Path”) and Kiyomizu Temple. On the way they’ll pass and perhaps notice Rakushou, with its spectacular koi pond and landscaping, but relatively few will stop in for a bite. It’s possible to live in Kyoto for a long while and assume that Rakushou is, like a lot of Kyoto town houses, too exclusive to allow the hoi-polloi in to spoil the tatami. However, it is not only home to one of the most beautiful gardens in any Kyoto cafe but it’s also a very reasonably priced to boot.

One enters the cafe and is immediately ushered outside again. One needn’t take offense, however. This is an opportunity for you to enjoy a stroll around Rakushou’s small but beautifully formed Japanese-style garden [...]

Recently the ORAZ team took a break from it’s hectic schedule to allow its neglected PS3 make the bond with the iNt@rrw3bz and mind-meld with Eiwa to see what juicy tidbits might have been unlocked since the last time. One such nugget was Playstation Home. Once touted as social networking in 3D, Home has now been out in Japan long enough to lay out it’s stall and state it’s purpose. A polygonal world to inhabit with your own avatar? Like Facebook the game? Would it turn out to be sauteed oricalcum of Second Life-esque proportions or would it be the undercooked, half-baked cash-grab for which Sony are synonymous? The ORAZ team set minds to open and prepared to dive.
Youre looking a little “caveman” today cyber-Andy. The first thing to do is spend hours tinkering with your avatar’s forehead, watching it swell and shrink like a weird alien lung until you’ve [...]

One of Perfume’s best tracks, called Polyrhythm, the second single from their second album Game and 10th overall the song’s bridge is polyrhythmic, incorporating 5/8, 6/8 in the vocals, common time (4/4) and 3/2 in the drums

Near Shiga’s Seta, in the “Culture Zone” can be found one of the best value Japanese experiences the Of Rice and Zen team have ever come across; a tea room called “Sekishoan”. For a hefty fee the large and pristine tatami rooms can be rented for private tea parties, entertaining clients or a birthday gathering. How ever for the passing gallery-goer or tourist they can be enjoyed for much more reasonable price. For ¥350 visitors can sit at a low stool in the non-tatami room and enjoy a cup of freshly whisked powdered green tea with Japanese tea accompaniment cake while enjoying a view that was made for the autumn leaves. Some words of advice: 1. We suggest you avoid trying to move the stools by grabbing the seats as they are detachable. 2. The server will bow to you after she places your table and it [...]

One of Of Rice and Zen editor Andy Heather’s sidelines is writing columns for expatriate publications in Japan. Japanzine is one of the more well-known examples and this month the ed was lucky enough to have the following article publish. It’s the latest in a series called Hidden Kyoto and introduces a lesser known establishment called Sabon in Sanjo.
If you’d like to download a full PDF copy of this month’s Japanzine for free, please click on this link: http://www.seekjapan.jp/article/jz/2444/DOWNLOAD+Japanzine+November+2009+Issue+HERE!
  

Nestled in amongst Kyoto’s tiny and impenetrable establishments there is a Michelin starred restaurant that is an absolute must for anyone who wants to find out just how sublime a Japanese meal can be. That restaurant is called Sakuragawa. It has a tiny counter with 12 seats at it and three staff members.

Perhaps more than other cities, recommendations are essential when dining out in Kyoto. When faced with an infinity of anonymous, pictureless wooden frontages most travelers have no idea where to start and therefore resort to Pizza Hut. Tiny, nondescript restaurants on Kyoto’s are so numerous and so forbidding that for most foreign guests the good places are hidden in plain sight.

This is particularly true of Sakuragawa which you could easily walk past without having any idea of its pedigree. It would be a vulgar display of power for the establishment to advertise its Michelin star, so from outside [...]

Orrizonte is a bar on the 17th floor of Kyoto Hotel Okura near Kyoto Shiyakushomae Subway in the centre of town. It is notable for a few reasons, the first of which being that it stands at a nosebleed-inducing height. Most Kyoto buildings were restricted to 10 floors in an attempt to maintain a little of the character of the city in which it used to be forbidden for any building to overlook the Emperor’s Palace.

Many a weary traveler has asked me where is a good place to stop for a good coffee when taking a jaunt to Higashiyama’s world famous Yasaka Jinja. For Of Rice and Zen, there’s a clear winner on the left before you reach the shrine, underneath the Hosomi Gallery.
In the basement of the Hosomi gallery in Kyoto is the stylish and elegant Cube Cafe. Despite being 2 floors underground it is well-lit and spacious due to some really creative architecture. The coffee is real, the food is good and the surroundings relaxing.
Just next door to the cafe/restaurant is the museum gift shop should you fancy some art books with which to decorate your coffee at home. For fans of live music there’s live jazz performed here whlie you dine on the last Thursday of every month. Whether its art, food or music you come for, The Cube is well worth [...]