Chinese propaganda

Wrapping up my Asia Tripping Summer '06, I picked up Mao's Little Red Book and some Chinese propaganda posters before leaving Beijing. The propaganda posters have been the favored vehicle through which art conveyed model behavior in China. I like how the artists stylized the figures with massive arms and the cute kids with weapons. My high school Chinese is a little rusty, but as best as I can translate, here goes:


"You dogs must do all the work today because I'm calling in sick and going to the beach!"


"We laugh at capitalist copyright infringement laws!"


"We must thank Chairman Mao for the nifty weapons and warships!"


"I enjoy reading Chairman Mao's Littled Red Book while I plow the fields!"


"We shall overtake this beach and enforce strict regulations against surfing!"


"HWALP! I should not have consumed so much sake last night as I am hung over and this will certainly lower my productivity in the factory today!"


"Our children will dive to the deepest depths and extract precious gems from the belly of the magical fish!"

Police Academy: China

The Chinese People's Armed Police Force Academy is located in Beijing. Police recruits are drawn from every segment of the population without restriction as to sex or ethnic origin. Selection is based on political loyalty, intelligence and health. Usually those recruits designated for leadership positions attend the police schools, and patrolmen are trained in the art of kung-fu. See them in action in this video!

Let me stand next to your fire

Continuing my Asia Tripping Summer '06 tour, I visited the Yu Cai Middle School in Chongqing. This school is a famous secondary school in China. It was established by educationalist Tao Xingzhi and was used to test Tao's theories on comprehensive education which included six disciplines: natural science, social studies, literature, painting, music and fire-breathing. In this photo, a group of students go throught their daily fire-breathing exercise, much like students in the U.S. have Phys. Ed.

Tattoo you

Continuing my Asia Tripping Summer '06, I was walking around Beijing where I came up to this most unusual sight. A tattoo artist was working on a live pig at an organic art center. Artists at the Art Farm tattoo anesthetized pigs to create works which are expected to be displayed in galleries once the pigs eventually die. The pigs, which are tattooed with designs ranging from the Nine Inch Nails logo to Russian prison tattoos, are expected to live a longer than normal life since their increased value protects them from being killed for food. Coincidentally, this was playing in the art center.

NIN tribute band

Sinchon, a section of Seoul, is a great place to soak up a more Korean environment. Sinchon is set up like many Korean “play” areas, where bars, clubs, restaurants and singing rooms are structured in a grid-like fashion. The only way to familiarize yourself with the area is to stroll the alleys and discover all the different places. Korean bars tend to be rather antisocial compared with their U.S. counterparts, with people sitting at tables with friends and not tending to mix. There are a number of western style bars in the area, including this one, Nori Ha Nun Saram Dul, a bar known for its great rock music. On this particular night, the Nine Inch Nails tribute band, aptly named the Nine Inch Nail Techs, did a particularly beautiful cover version of one of NIN's more downtempo tunes "La Mer."


Check out her guitar.

And yet another protest

There were some seriously disappointed Nine Inch nails fans in Seoul! Imagine the sight and sound of about 2,500 protesters chanting "Head Like a Hole!" The street recording quality is a little rough.

On the subway

While riding the subway in dowtown Seoul, I noticed this woman reading the Chosun Ilbo, one of South Korea's major newspapers. On the back page there was a photo of President Bush. The Photoshop color backgrounds and weird cuts caught my attention. Also, the curious way in which she held the newspaper.

Protest march

Continuing my summer '06 tour, I spent some time in Seoul, South Korea where I came across yet another protest march. About 25,000 Nine Inch Nails fans were protesting the fact that NIN would not be playing in Seoul during their summer '06 tour.

Synthetic people, synthetic parts

TaiyoToy Company also manufactures the novelty "lap pillow". The polyurethane lap pillow is molded on a real woman and provides, as the company advertises, "close-to-real warm and smooth lap feeling". For a party attraction and lonesome hearts, it is available at 8,980 yen (US$86) with a choice of red or black skirt.


The synthetic flight attendant comes only in a lime green uniform.

Tokyo demonstration

While strolling through downtown Tokyo, I came across an anti-Bush demonstration. About 150 protesters held up signs in front of Parliament, demanding the withdrawal of Japan Self-Defense Forces from Iraq. The man on the left wearing the rainbow wig was not part of the demonstration. He was distributing posters for the Summer Sonic festival and got caught up in the demonstration.


I just had to zoom in on this crown-of-barbed wire vampire Bush poster.

While in Tokyo

While in Tokyo, I had an opportunity to meet with Mr. Hiro Nakamura, president of TaiyoToy Company, who will be manufacturing and distributing my line of GothGirl bobble head dolls. GothGirl started out as a Halloween card, then developed into an on-going series of illustrations applicable to other holidays, news events, etc. Soon, the GothGirl bobbleheads will be available in the U.S. from cafepress.com

Head like a hole, with teeth

After the MTV Japan awards show, I was walking around Tokyo, doing some sightseeing, and who did I run into? None other than Trent Reznor, Mr. Nine Inch Nails himself! He was in Tokyo for the SummerSonic Festival in a couple of days. Unfortunately, I was scheduled to continue on to my next location, so I had to miss that show. But we hung out for a while, had some sushi, talked technology. Managed to snap his picture. Thanks, Trent!

I love technology. And sushi.

Combining two of the things that the Japanese love best: technology and food (they’ve got their priorities straight over there) these USB memory keys from Solid Alliance have got plastic sushi stuck to them. Never again will you have to choose between having sushi or having a USB memory drive — thanks to the USB sushi drive. These USB drives are hand-made-in-Tokyo sushi replicas. The convincing USB sushi drive comes in several flavors.



So that gave me the idea to print these t-shirts, borrowing the I Love Technology line from Napoleon Dynamite.

Moster award

For a change of pace, I am going to post some photos from my Asia Tripping Summer '06 tour.

I happened to be in Tokyo during the MTV Japan Awards and I got tickets for the show, where I managed to get this shot of Godzilla accepting a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Godzilla remains an enduring character beloved by fans worldwide, and is among the few creatures granted this award by MTV Japan, becoming the second fictional character, and the first to be completely non-human in nature, to receive it.