Alternative Tokyo Rail & Subway Map

Via this Japan Times article, I bumped into Vollmer Design's great looking alternative Tokyo Rail & Subway map. The goal was to make the map fit better with long romaji station names, but in my opinion, certain names crossing subway lines could use an outline or dropshadow to improve the contrast. The "ei" in Seibu-Shinjuku for instance is almost unreadable in the online version. Otherwise, a very nice project.

Morisawa Fontpark 2.0

Morisawa Fontpark 2.0 is an impressive Flash sandbox that allows you to create designs with Japanese (and also Western) glyphs. Every action is recorded, and there are plenty of movies showcasing how the various saved designs were conceived and the iterations they went through.

The Geisha entry is my favorite one - it's included below.

Interchange set

Ken Ohyama has created an amazing set of 111 Japanese highway junctions photos. Maybe the soon to be completed (and disturbingly big) オーパス目黒大橋 is next?

Update: I found out that these pictures have also been turned into a book, aptly named ジャンクション.

Japanese web design bookmarking

I just came across straightline _bookmark, which is a Japanese "web design bookmark" service - think del.icio.us for pretty Japanese sites, including preview screenshots. Neat.

Japanese stereoviews and more

An amazing set of Meiji era stereoviews by Japanese and Western stereo-photographers, assembled by Flickr user Okinawa Soba. I recommend checking out his other sets too, such as the T. Enami glass slides one. Pity of the all-caps shouting and the sometimes overly verbose descriptions, but nevertheless worth a look :-)

Goo's historic Tokyo maps

A while ago, Goo added an interesting twist to its online map service: historic aerial maps of Tokyo. In addition to satellite images of Tokyo, you can go back in time and see what the city looked like in Shōwa 22 (1947) and 38 (1963). The enormous transformation from a war-torn capital to the current-day crowded metropolis is absolutely mind-boggling. It's also worth pointing out that there is a new "Meiji" layer, which features cartographic data of the Meiji era, and puts the city's wards and boundaries in yet another perspective.

Traditional colors of Japan

Ever heard of 桜鼠, 虹色, 甚三紅 or 淡紅藤? Neither had I before finding this great color chart listing traditional Japanese colors - HEX color codes included.

Wikipedia has more context: "The traditional colors of Japan trace their historical origins to the Twelve Level Cap and Rank System which was established in 603 by Prince Shōtoku and based on the system of Five elements."

へぇぇぇ。