I’m sure you probably have already heard of Free Hugs movement that began in 2004 by Juan Mann, right? Well, it has already reached the part of Asian countries long before even as I started blogging about this. For now, I’ll just talk about what the Westerners are most familiar with, which are Japan, Korea, and China. Needless to say, these countries are aptly known as the “East.”

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to be a cultural anthropologist or even pretending to be one, but I do know the real significance of public display of affections in the Asian countries. The Asian countries are generally not touch oriented societies and that hugging in the public is relatively new to them in their respective countries.

Maybe it’s because in recent years, the Western and contemporary values and ideas have become more popular and has either influenced, altered, and even replaced, some of the more traditional gestures. So, understanding human behavior is tricky stuff. We see a lot of Western-influences in Japan and South Korea, but not so much in China (except perhaps for Hong Kong).

Hugging may be universal, or at least the Olympic events proved that, but it appears to me that Westerners are more willing to give hugs than Asian people in their respective countries as you will notice in some of the videoclips below. These videoclips will show Free Hugs movement that took place in Japan, South Korea, and China. Watch and see how these people react bit differently in each of their countries.

Free Hugs in Japan

Free Hugs in South Korea

Free Hugs in China (this guy got arrested at the end of this videoclip)

As the global village continues to shrink and cultures collide, it is essential for all of us to become more sensitive, more aware, and more observant to the myriad motions, gestures, and body language that surround us each day. And as many of us cross over cultural borders, it would be fitting for us to respect, learn, and understand more about the effective, yet powerful “silent language” of gestures as hugging.

I realized this post may sound a bit too juvenile for some of you, but seriously these remarkable wood toys hand-crafted by Takeji Nakagawa are, to me, nothing short of a true genius craftsman and artist.

Takeji Nakagawa hand-crafts his toys so meticulously piece by piece all by himself, just so that wooden materials’ true quality and beauty can shine through. He runs a small toy company with his wife, yes just him and his wife, in Japan. The Take-G toys are really a “toys” in the truest sense and it’s meant to be. In his own words, he shares his view about why he made these toys:

“I often get asked “Why do you make robots with wood?” I don’t really have an exact answer for it but I often relate my robots with ‘future’. 

What do you relate future with? Cities full of metals, glasses and plastics in a SF movie? What we really want is not that kind of future but one full of trees and something more natural. I don’t think humans can live without trees no matter what advances technology makes. 

When I think of ‘future’, I cannot help thinking of ‘past’ at the same time. Trees take long time (tens and hundreds years) to grow and show us their beauty (the product of their past). I think that I have responsibilities as a craftsman and an artist of breathing new life into these trees. I have a job to link 100 years in the past and 100 years in the future through my work. This is my values toward my work. 

I wish my work, which carries such values, can grab imaginations of children of the past, present and future.“ 

 

 

Unfortunately, the Take-G toys can’t be bought by any conventional means, not yet anyway. Take-G, however, only sells them at exhibitions and art galleries. I guess that would really make them all the more rare and valuable collectible items for anybody. Here, you can check out his website at Take-g.com. The english version Take-G website will be coming soon. 

If you think you have an idea for the next big Reality TV, then there’s a chance that your big idea could be bought directly from John de Mol, the big-time producer who brought us Deal or No Deal, Fear Factor, and Big Brother. He is looking to solicit the concepts from people like you for the next “big” reality TV. Interested? You can participate by submitting your ideas or responding to focused creativity assignments at TalpaCreative.com. According to John de Mol, there is no cap (no limit) to how much you could potentially be making from this.

Source: Usatoday.com

“Squids” is one of common labels by Harley Davidson riders each time they spot cocky guys tootin’ around on their super sport street motorcyles in Daytona Beach, Florida. Well, I do agree with the Harley Davidson folks that having such sporty bike is bit cocky, that’s for sure, but I wonder what they’ll say when they see this one? The menacing looking street bike, Yamaha Vmax 2009, which is set to be on sale soon. Will the Harley Davidson riders have mad respects for this one? I do have a motorcycle license ready for this seriously sweet ride.

For more Yamaha Vmax pics, view gallery here.

I marvel this at freshome.com and it’s quite mind-boggling. Here goes:

According to the less alarming forecasts of the GIEC (Intergovernmental group on the evolution of the climate), the ocean level should rise from 20 to 90 cm during the 21st Century with a status quo by 50 cm (versus 10 cm in the 20th Century). As a solution to this alarming problem architect Vincent Callebaut came up with this ecotectural marvel that could serve as a luxurious future retreat for 50,000 inhabitants seeking refuge from rising waters due to global warming. He believes the world will be desperately seeking shelter from the devastations of climate change, and hopes the auto-sufficient amphibious city will serve as a luxurious solution. To bad that right now we are close to 7 billion people and this luxurious future retreat is just for 50,000 inhabitants ( just for rich people ).

Vincent Callebaut called this project “Lilypad“, but this ecotectural marvel is also called as “Floating Ecopolis for Climate Refugees”. The whole structure is covered in green walls and roofs, the top portion covered in grasses with the inner portion featuring a palm oasis, and the under portion serving as a bed for natural sea planktons and oceanic plants. Finally if you were already planning to reserve a place to this luxurious future retreat stay calm, because Vincent Callebaut hopes that “Floating Ecopolis for Climate Refugees” will make the transition from design to reality around the year 2100