Monday, June 26, 2006

The Sanshin Building and its sad fate

I posted a stitched image of Hibiya's Sanshin Building on Flickr (the lighting on the first floor's arches needs some retouching, but oh well...)

Sanshin Building

Sadly enough, the building is about to be demolished — something I'm afraid even the Save the Sanshin Building Project people won't be able to stop...

More pictures of the Sanshin Building's Art Deco like glory on Flickr.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

List of Japanese-sounding web services and tools

Between the Edgeios, Vyews and Hipcals of this world, there is also a considerable number of (non-Japanese) web services and tools sporting a brand name with a soft Japanese feel. An overview of the ones that have crossed the radar (including silly suggestions about what they might mean):

  • Awasu: comes from 合わす (according to their FAQ: "to join together, to unite, to combine, to connect, ...")
  • Hamachi: there's a はまち fish, as well as a 浜地 surname...
  • Oyogi: something to do with 泳ぎ ("swimming")? Probably not, as the (rather dead) site also mentions non-Japanese variants such as "yogis" and "Yog".
  • Hanzo:web: 半蔵 or 半増? Just kidding.
  • Mayomi: まよみ is a girls name.
  • Infogami: a clever combination of "info" and かみ, which means "paper".
  • Dōjō: 同上 ("ditto," "same as above"), 同情 ("compassion") or something else? You decide.
  • Mosuki: a difficult one. Maybe も好き ("I also like...")?
  • Shozu: possibly 小図 ("small graphic") or else, 小豆 ("red bean"), better known as azuki...
  • Yuku: 行く ("to go")? Or is it 逝く ("to pass away")?
  • Mojizu: according to the FAQ, moji stands for "character" (correct, except that character/文字 actually means "letter," not "comic figure," which is the site's theme). The -zu part is maybe 図 ("figure", "diagram").
  • And last but not least, Big in Japan, which has nothing to do with Japan, but everything with blogging tools.

Additions are welcome.