Mohammed Alnashar

1st Edition


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Today the part of the Internet will be played by a seagull.

abulletforniki:

powerofvoodoo:

well this is rEALLY FUCKING CUTE.

IT’S THE CUTEST FUCKING THING I’VE EVER SEEN.

There seems to be a large number of folks out there who think that money is my only motivation for doing what I do. I find this rather amusing because if money was a driving factor for me then I’d be doing something very different indeed.

Today I will talk about how I currently make money, why its not a motivating factor for me - and then cover some of the factors that do motivate me.

If all I wanted was money

If all I wanted was money, it would be a much much wiser decision for me to not leave corporate life and remain as a salaryman at either Amazon as Website Manager or Microsoft as Product Manager where I was earning about 30,000,000 yen per year (300,000 USD at today's rate).
Compared to back then, my company now pays me 1,200,000 yen (12,000 USD) per year - less than what I pay my employees ^o^

Also, at the same time that Amazon gave me the job offer, I got an offer from eBay too. My recruiters got them both in a bidding war - the more they paid, the more the recruiter gets which is about 30% of my annual salary. eBay ended up offering *much* more but I chose Amazon. I felt I was more familiar with e-commerce rather than auctions - it was not the money that counted.

If you are interested, you can read what life was like at Amazon and Microsoft in this post.

I get by on my current salary because my job is my hobby - most of the things I need or do can be expensed to my company.
Much of the items that are involved with my line of work (figures, dolls, hardware etc) fall through the hole in the ceiling meaning that I do not need to spend a load of moolah on the stuff I want.
Most of my travel overseas is also covered by the conventions that have invited me.

But why don't I pay myself more? Because I don't require more money than I need - the most important thing is to keep as much money in the company as possible so that I can feed my employees, keep the company running and help it grow.

Alternatively, if all I wanted was money, I could take one of the open job offers I currently have from comrades who work in senior positions at companies like Apple or Google - not only would I be earning more money than I do now but I can also:-

• Sleep more than a couple of hours a day.
• Not have to worry about income and feeding my employees as I would have a steady paycheck.
• Have more time to spend with family.
• Have more time to spend on health instead of putting constant pressure on my Spinal Hernia.
• Spend time to relax on some beach - which I did manage to do from time to time as a salaryman.
• Finish work at 6PM - which I did when I was at both Amazon and Microsoft.
• Buy my dream car which is a Nissan Fairlady Z ^^;

I left corporate life at just below Director level but if I continued then not only would I have received more money, I would have started to receive incentive bonuses too - things like “reduce headcount by 10 and get another 100,000 USD bonus.”

By the way - this photo taken at the Google HQ in Roppongi. This is their canteen where food is unlimited and free!

Life is a jigsaw puzzle

The basic needs of humans is food and shelter and in todays society, these needs can be covered by money. Personally, once I had these needs covered, earning more money in corporate life didn't matter to me anymore.

Life is a jigsaw puzzle. You don't know what's going to go where, you don't know where the pieces are but you do know that you need to keep looking for the pieces and figure out where they go. All events that happen to you is a piece of your puzzle. if you are stuck in a rut at school or work and keep asking yourself the "what if" question then its a sign telling you that there are no more pieces of the puzzle to be found where you are.

One of the reasons I left corporate life is because I felt that there was no more room for me to achieve, be challenged or grow - and more importantly - I felt that I had collected all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that I was looking for in corporate life.
It didn't matter how much more money I was going to get - it was not going to buy me any more jigsaw pieces.

Now that I run my own company, Although I’m collecting a load of new jigsaw pieces, I can tell you that its one of the hardest things that one could possibly ever want to try in life!
I’m challenged daily, constantly achieving goals and growing at the same time - although the baggage of running a company has contributed to me growing older much faster too ^^;

Mirai Suenaga

After leaving Microsoft, I started up a company called Mirai Inc. The company was to do web consulting and I initially did so for companies like Disney and Columbia - I even got a job offer from Disney while I was consulting for them ^^;

I also created a mascot character for my site called Mirai Suenaga and since she was born in 2007, I’ve been working on growing her brand worldwide. Mirai has made appearances in Japanese games, anime and has even become a mascot on Malaysia’s electronic payment system cards called Touch n Go.
Mirai has also had figures made of her such as figma and Nendoroid with more to come. Find out more about Mirai and her collaborations on her page.

Mirai has a fair following around the world and here is just some of the cosplayers who support Mirai - more can be found on her cosplay page.

Mirai has also been illustrated by many popular illustrators who participate in the Japanese pop culture field. Many of these illustrations are used on the products that we produce. Wallpapers that include these illustrations can be found here.

While Mirai has a following around the world - she is certainly not as popular as some other characters. If all I wanted was money, instead of making Mirai products, I would make products based on popular licensed titles instead like Madoka Magica and make much much more money - I could do what COSPA is doing and *only* manufacture licensed products.

Some folks say I take advantage of my supporters by selling them stuff - thats kinda like saying Starbucks takes advantage of people who want to drink coffee, Tesco’s take advantage of people who need groceries, and Japan Rail takes advantage of people who need to take the train!

This is a Japanese learning set of flashcards called “Moekana” that we have developed. We have sold tens of thousands of packs worldwide (also became the 2nd most popular anime product on Amazon Japan) but I could have sold much more if the characters were other popular titles like K-ON! - and thats what I would have done if the purpose of the product was to solely make money.

If money was my main drive, instead of printing Mirai Suenaga T-shirts, I would only print Hatsune Miku, Sword Art Online or other character T-shirts as they would sell waaaaaay more than Mirai T-shirts - then I would sell them at the same price as other companies because I know that the market would tolerate 6,000 yen for an anime T-shirt.

If I wanted to make sure that as many readers as possible buy Mirai-chan merchandise, I would not distribute the high res photoshop files for free to those who can't afford our stuff so that they can make their own T-shirts or posters.

Culture Japan & Japan Mode

I direct and produce a few TV shows which include Culture Japan and Japan Mode with sponsors being companies such as Panasonic, Toyota, Good Smile Company and Bushiroad.

Some folks say that I only produce these TV shows to make money but suprise suprise, making TV shows *does not* make money!

While other TV shows have large production quotas, the shows that I produce only have a shoestring budget. I don't *make* money by producing TV shows but I’ve learned how to *save* money by doing a lot of the production myself instead of outsourcing. I learned how to use camera and sound equipment and also how to use Final Cut Pro by simply asking Google Sensei.

Products of sponsors do appear in the show from time to time but that makes sense as they are paying for the production - its kinda difficult to say to a sponsor - “Give me your money to pay for production of the show but you won't see any of your products or branding.”

I’ve been spreading Japanese culture through photos on this site for many moons but there are some things which cannot be captured or expressed in a photo and requires video to do so - the sound and atmosphere at a Japanese festival for example. This is the reason why I went into TV.

This photo taken with the Konami team who use a web platform called Mirai Gaia (which is used by this site too) that my team develops and licenses. Konami pay me a license fee and I license and maintain the platform for them - a very simple business transaction.

For some of my clients, we also maintain their social media networks like Facebook and Twitter too. My clients are mostly in the anime industry and include Production IG, King Records, Good Smile Company, Bushiroad, Kadokawa, Ascii Media Works, Yuzu Soft and more.

I often get contacted by companies who offer me money to promote their stuff. While this would be a normal business transaction or business model for other companies, I'm only keen to share things which I personally am fond of and I’m willing to do it for free - it simply goes against my programming to be paid to share something that I have absolutely no interest in.

Since a few years ago, I’ve been working with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on various projects. This year, the Japanese government appointed me as a member of their Creative Industries Internationalization Committee (CIIC) where I gather with the top folks from companies such as Bandai Namco Games, Sony Music Entertainment, Horipro, Kodansha, Isetan, Mitsui Fudousan, TBS etc to decide what measures should be taken to help the proliferation of Japanese content around the world.

I take on this role for free because its an honor that the Japanese government has recognised my work to share Japanese culture with the world which started off as a hobby but turned out to be a business.

The gentleman standing next to my right is Isshu Sugawara - the State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry. The full member list is up at the METI website.

Jimmy Choo

Now I’m going to go over some of my past. Many people know that my father is the shoe designer Jimmy Choo and automatically think that I must be loaded with cash - but just because the people who are saying this would easily accept or ask their parents for cash, it does not mean everybody would.

My parents gave me everything I needed to earn for myself - a pair of arms n legs and a reasonably healthy body - I do have asthma and spinal hernia but not complaining as thats nothing compared to illnesses that some others have to deal with.

The best thing that my dad has ever done for me was to let me achieve and earn on my own - he didn't want me to turn into a vegetable.
He did pay for the foster homes to look after me way back then and I did get a few pounds now and then but I was pretty much on my own since college when I started to live with mum - good thing college and university was covered by a government grant back then. If I wanted pocket money then I had to earn it and I did so initially by working for dad part time.

This photo snapped a couple of years ago when vising the UK.
While working for my dad, I learned everything about the shoe design and the manufacture process. I could design, cut patterns, stitch and last Uppers too. I even made shoes for Lady Diana.

I also worked with fashion journals such as Elle and Vogue to get them samples for their model shoots and attended many of the fashion shows. While the work was interesting, I knew that this wasn't something that I wanted to do in life.

As I continued to learn more Japanese and discover more of the culture through anime, manga, games and spending time with my Japanese friends, I found a purpose in life at last which was to pursue my knowledge of Japan - I knew that I couldn't do that while working part time for my dad. As I was living with my mum, I didn't see my dad for a few years after I left his studio.

You can read more about what happened during this time, how I learned Japanese and how I made it to Japan in the How Discovering Japan Changed My Life post.

Some folks think that I must have a bad relationship with my dad for taking off like that - I was given a bashing labeling me as an embarrassment to my father by becoming an Otaku ^^;
My dad thinks what I do is great and is also a big fan of Mirai Suenaga. He always comes to the events that I participate in when I’m in Malaysia too. This photo taken at Culture Japan Night Penang.

Not working at my dad's studio anymore meant no more income at all which is generally a bad thing ^^;
I signed up to a talent agency called Richard Starnowski. Whenever Asian looking folks were needed, I would be given a call and have been in TV dramas, commercials and documentaries.

A memorable moment while on a shoot in the sticks for a documentary about fireworks for the Discovery Channel was when a bi-plane flew by the cast and camera crew at low speed and altitude. It was a clear blue evening and the sight sent a tingle down my spine. Was an inspiring sight that made me want to do something with this life.

This photo here is for a publication called "Let's Oshaberi" which teaches basic English phrases to Japanese families in the UK - I found part time work with the publisher to translate English to Japanese.

I also started to work part time at a Japanese restaurant called Benihana. Not as one of the chefs who threw around knives which occasionally hospitalized customers but as one of the waiters who ran around the halls carrying dishes, washing dishes and occasionally breaking dishes ^^;

I chose Benihana for a few reasons. One of the reasons was so that I could speak Japanese with the many Japanese customers that Benihana had.
The other reason was so that I could save enough moolah for a ticket to go to the land of the rising sun. I wanted to travel to Japan and absorb as much of the culture as possible.

I remember my first paycheck - worked a tough schedule only to see a couple of digits. But I knew not to expect too much at the beginning. It took a year to save enough cash for a ticket to Japan with some money leftover to spend. I would come back to the UK and continue to work at Benihana to save enough money for a trip the following year.

If my dad loaded cash onto me, I would not have lived in this dingy place in London with my wife - we would have at least got a place where we didn't have to wash our clothes in the kitchen sink. Although I’m not complaining as I’m fully aware of many folks out there who don't even have a roof over their head.

After university, I got a job as an Engineer at Japan Airlines and then moved to Japan managing Web Marketing for the scientific journal called Nature. From there I proceeded to build my career at Amazon and Microsoft.

If my dad was off loading cash onto me and all I cared about was money - there would be absolutely no reason for me to earn for myself and build my own career.

Thank you dad

I recently interviewed a candidate for a full time job. He spoke excellent Japanese which he learnt on his own from playing games and watching anime - but that was about all he could do.
He was going on about how he would improve the Pixiv website user interface - and when I asked him how he could not answer.

He said that he was studying in Japan and was being funded by his parents - his huge collection of anime stuff was also being funded by his parents.

I asked him why he wanted to stay in Japan after his studies - he said so that he can attend anime events to buy stuff using money given to him by his parents.

I gave him a hypothetical question - what would he do if he won 1 billion yen?

He said he would buy a house.

At this point, the interview was over. I paid for his meal, wished him the best of luck and let him go.

I’m soooo glad my dad didn't turn me into a veggie.

When one is not a veggie

I know that some of you are attending school which is being paid by your parents and that you receive pocket money from time to time - this is fine as its only natural for parents wanting to lend a helping hand to their kids.

Just as long as you know where the boundaries are and not to take liberties - your parents didn't create you so that you can live off them for the rest of your life.

Once upon a time, I wrote that one of the immediate goals that I had was to earn enough money so that I could buy what I wanted, eat what I wanted and travel to where I wanted.
These days, I’m neither loaded nor strapped for cash but have come to a stage to realize that what I want from life right now are things which money can't buy which is to achieve goals that I set and improve myself through gaining experience from learnings and failures.

What Motivates Me

My latest project is developing 60cm tall doll robots - a challenge because I have not done it before and don't exactly have a large amount of cash in the company to enable me to move faster than I would prefer - but these are just examples of the challenges that I get to work with which are helping me to grow and I’m learning so much while I join my comrades as a hobby maker.
You can read the latest on this project in the How To Mass Produce Your Own Products post.

Projects like these that I initiate ultimately have a goal that I need to reach. Goals that I set for myself is just one of my sources of motivation and I think I tend to perform better when the odds are bleak and there are a bunch of naysayers for me to prove wrong.

My readers are my motivation

During my early years as a child, times were tough for my parents who both worked hard day n night. As they were both busy trying to make ends meet, they decided to put me in various foster homes which I lived in for most of my childhood. In some of the homes, I wasn't treated incredibly well but didn't say anything to my parents as I knew they were having their own financial and other problems. I ended up living with a white, black and then with an Indian family for what seemed like an eternity.

As luck would have it, one of the foster homes had guardians who would take my clothes and consider it theirs while their kids would constantly bully me - was easy to pick on the boy who had no parents. I was made to feel as unwelcome as possible in their house.
I remember a particular evening where we came back to the house to discover the front door open. We walked in to discover that the place was a mess - burglars had got in. I was scared and started to cry. The eldest child of my foster family shouted at me:-
"What are you crying for?! This isn't even your house!"

I didn't have much fun in school either. Was constantly bullied and most of my memories were of being dragged through gravel, gang beaten up, having my possessions burned, football constantly aimed at my face, and having the big guy in the school playground say to me "If I smash your head with this bat and kill you then I would go to jail. But it would be worth it." I remember having to ask the same person to punch me so that I could be part of his posse.

Back then my only comrade was my imaginary friend Buck Rogers coming to visit me with his trusty robot Twiggy.

The contrast is incredible when I compare today and back then. Today, I have supportive comrades from all over the world who I have connected with through sharing my life and interests on this website and on my TV shows.

This photo taken in Tokyo during a meetup recently where I got to meet readers from all over the world - they were complete strangers at the beginning of the evening and are now comrades.

When I travel abroad for conventions, I get to hook up with comrades in that locale and its great to be able to spend time with them.

While I dont get to reply to all of your comments on my posts - I do read pretty much most of it and seeing your feedback is also another driving factor.

The friendship that I bond with my readers is something that I value and is true motivation for me.

Motivational Wifey

I met my wife when I was working in that Japanese restaurant Benihana and we’ve been together ever since. She has provided me with the support throughout the years and I certainly would not be sane without her!

Retaliation as a motivator

It’s going to sound very childish of me but I’m going to be very open and honest with you. Another one of my motivating drives is to retaliate against my trolls. But rather than spend time to launch a counterattack, I use that energy to aggressively continue to do my best and accomplish goals. This is the most effective form of retaliation as your trolls just *hate* to see you doing well.

I’ll give you an example of how I was motivated to retaliate without launching a direct counterattack.

At London university, I studied Japanese and Korean language. In my Korean class, there was a half Korean/Japanese classmate who was native-ish Japanese but didn't learn Korean as a child.
During class I spoke to him as a friend but learned from others how he would suddenly bring up the subject of "Hey you know that Danny? He's such an idiot. Why does he need to learn Korean?" I was surprised to learn how much he hated me!

One day in class, while I was struggling reading some Korean text, he suddenly stood up in class and shouted (in Japanese) "Look! Why don't you just study more! You are keeping the whole class behind!"

The experience left me embarrassed and shaking with anger. It's an experience that I don't purposely choose to remember but can recall it like it was yesterday. I read somewhere that emotional experiences can be easily recalled because when one is emotional, some sort of hormone is released which makes it easier to remember experiences and fixes that time and space in memory - this is the reason why most of your emotional memories (sorrow, happiness, anger) can be replayed clearly. I’m not an expert on the subject or terminology though.

I was depressed about the experience but the sadness and anger wasn't doing me any good. I decided to use that energy instead to focus on improving my Korean just as the guy suggested.

I spent every ounce of my time learning new grammar patterns and absorbing myself in the language just like I did when learning Japanese. A few weeks after the experience, my effort was beginning to pay off.

The teacher would basically be going over grammar patterns from the textbook that we done homework from but I made sure that I studied a few chapters ahead and also made the use of other textbooks.
I would be asked to complete a sentence using some new grammar pattern but I would always use new stuff which I studied on my own.

"Very good Danny! Chal Haesumnida! Everybody, repeat after Danny..." I felt like a kid back in primary school being praised by the teacher for being able to spell "d-o-l-p-h-i-n."
That guys face would stiffen up and turn bright red as he clenched his pen which dug deep into his notebook and I made sure that he didn't have the pleasure of me not looking at him. I guess those who laugh last really do laugh the longest.

As for this photo - because I learned Japanese first and Korean is like 95% the same in terms of grammar, I actually used Korean books that taught Japanese to reverse learn Korean.

These days, I get trolled for anything and everything - does not really matter until the trolls start to tell malicious lies to gather recognition from their peers.
But as I mentioned earlier - spending my time on a troll means that they have a double win as not only does the troll gain a sense of achievement, they also have taken away my precious time.

One of the reasons why trolls do what they do is because they do not have the ability to accomplish much in real life but gaining your attention gives them a sense of achievement.

Never ever react against a troll - instead of using your anger to counterattack with small clumsy uncalculated blows that will leave you feeling embarrassed afterwards, use your energy to aggressively continue to achieve your goals and live well.

Your trolls just can't get enough of you and are always watching your every step so they will eventually see your success and when they do - well you have just dealt them a calculated fatal blow as your trolls *just hate* to see you do well - it makes them sick and gutted to watch you advance onwards.

I want my trolls to know that whenever I achieve my goals - this is what my face looks like when thinking of you. Please keep up the trolling - it really does me wonders.
Love Danny.

What motivated me in the Past?

In the How Discovering Japan Changed My Life post I extensively talked about all the techniques that I used to learn Japanese.

Self study can be difficult unless there is a motivation to do so - below are some of the factors why I was motivated to be disciplined and spend every ounce of my time studying Japanese.

Knowledge

I loved anime, manga, Japanese dramas and music but couldn't understand the actual content. I didn't have any Chinese education so didn't have a head start with Kanji either.
The more Japanese I studied, the more satisfaction I gained as I realized that I could read and understand stuff that once sounded alien to me.

Escape

London was my home for many years - but I lived in the worst place in London called Hackney and it was such a dump with muggings and stabbings happening all the time. Hackney was also voted the worst place to live in the whole of the UK.
I wanted out and wanted it badly. While I didn't know exactly where my Japanese learning was taking me - I knew that the key was to continue to study as much Japanese as possible - and I think I was right.

Friendship

While learning Japanese, I made a load of Japanese friends in London who I would converse with. They were learning English and while I tried to help them as much as I could, they always tended to default back to Japanese ^^;
For me to convey my feelings and thoughts effectively, I had to learn as much Japanese as possible.

Admiration

I confess - the Idol Nishida Hikaru who I fell in love with was another motivation of study for me - I wanted to know as much about her as possible from the magazines, CD’s and VHS tapes so just had to learn more Japanese!

So how do I rate my level of Japanese now? If I studied for all these years and spoke poor Japanese then that would not have been a good use of time ^^;
Currently my Japanese is good enough to be the only foreigner working for the Japanese government on the Creative Industries Internationalization Committee.
You can also hear be babbling away in Japanese on my TV show Culture Japan.

Belonging

After a few visits to Japan on holiday, I knew that Japan was where I belonged. During those times in Japan, I would record the sounds of Shibuya and capture all the hustle and bustle of the crossing which included conversations of folks standing nearby waiting for friends.

Back in the UK, I set up speakers around my room and played the recordings of Shibuya and closed my eyes - I was transported back to Shibuya instantly.
I knew I could not be in Japan for another year until I saved up enough money at Benihana but listening to the sounds of Shibuya motivated me so much and I would always play it in the background while I continued to self study Japanese.

I would say to myself daily:-

"I must make it to Japan"
"I must make it to Japan"
"I will make it to Japan"

Default Life Template - fine for some but fine for you too?

From various surveys I’ve seen, most people seem to hate mondays and most would quit their job if they won the lottery. From this, I gather that these folks work purely for money and not for anything else.

But lets face it - money is a necessity in this day and age to cover our basic human needs of food and shelter. Family members also need to be looked after and its the money thats going to help do that.

The DNA of living beings is programmed to give us instincts that help us stay alive and to do so for as long as possible through reflex actions and our will to stay alive. In todays society for the case of humans - we need money to do that so it's natural that money becomes a major factor that influences the decisions that shape our lives.

But what happens is that most of us start to only live a life which is based on the concept of money - we start to live the Default Life Template.

The Default Life Template says that we should go to a good school so that we can go to a good university so that we can get a well paying job so that we can pay the bills - this then allows us to go back to work the next day to earn money to pay for the bills. This cycle is repeated until we retire and die.

I’m not saying there is anything wrong with the Default Life Template - I’m sure it's perfectly fine for some - but is it a template that you want to shape the rest of your life?

As for this photo - its some lottery tickets that we buy from time to time just for the heck of it. But my wife and I always say - even if we won - nothing much would change in terms of the work that we do. Probably buy that Nissan Fairlady Z though ^^;

If I don't do it for money, why don't I do everything for free?

Interesting question! But unfortunately maybe not such an intelligent question that I often get asked.

There are 3 construction workers who are building a playground. We ask them what they are doing.

• Construction worker 1 says “I’m working for money.”
• Construction worker 2 says “I’m building a playground.”
• Construction worker 3 says “I’m making a place where children can gather together and play.”

Construction worker 3 is being paid for his work but his perception on what he is doing is more holistic.

Yes money is important to help us not only cover our basic human needs but also to help us cover some of the other stuff that we want that helps compliment our lives.

As mentioned above, money is not a motivating factor for me because if it was I’d be continuing my corporate life printing money and not caring about what goes on in the world - meaning that you would not be reading this post and there would be no website.

Being focused on money would prevent me from having a holistic view to achieve the big world changing goals that I have in mind - changes which would hopefully stand the sands of time.
Money on the other hand only lasts until one dies - no matter how much of it one has.

Have you thought about what motivates and drives you?

I know that achievement, challenge and growth are my main drives but I want to know more about what drives us so am currently doing research on motivation studies. I’ll share what I come up with in the future but I thought of something that can help us start to understand what drives us.

Think back to times in your life where you were working hard towards something - it could have been completion of a goal or a goal to get somewhere or a goal to acquire something. Think what was driving you at that moment in time.

Why did you try to complete that goal?
Why did you try to go to that place?
Why did you try to acquire that object?

How about those of you to participate in competitive sports? Do you do it because you enjoy it and does not matter if you win? Do you do it because you want to better your best? Or do you do it because you want to be better than the other man?
Would it still be interesting if your competition performed badly and it was always easy for you to win?

Since I started my study on motivation, I’ve been consciously thinking about what motivates me to do every single action throughout my daily life - why do I wake up? Why do I eat? Why do I get on the train to head to a meeting?

Some of these motivating factors can be linked to our human instincts which keep us alive and avoid destruction - and then there is the other intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors that I’ll talk about when I learn enough about the subject to share with you in the future.

Hopefully, by spending time to think about what motivates us, we can learn how to better achieve our goals and start to make decisions sooner than later which will shape the rest of our lives.

You can read more of the same in the posts listed up below in the career category.

• Staying Strong When Things Go Bad
• How To Mass Produce Your Own Products
• Are you living the life of others?
• What you can do with a 3D Printer
• How Discovering Japan Changed My Life
• How to write a resume
• Organizing Your Workspace
• How I started to build my career in Japan
• Pursue Your Passion - A Summary
• Dealing with Haters Part 1
• View more

This grid showing anime through the ages starting in the 60's with Uran-chan from Astro Boy Atom and ending just before 2010 with CC from Code Geass. How many of these titles can you recognize?

The first anime I watched was in the 80's when I was still living in the UK - Battle Of The Planets which was also known as G-Force and in Japan known as Gatchaman.

This post contains a video, click here to view.

I was still young at the time and was not of an age to recognize that it was a Japanese production - was dubbed into English.

I ask my Japanese friends and they say the same - when they were young and watched Tom n Jerry - they didn't know that it was not Japanese.

The first anime that I watched and recognised it as being Japanese was Super Dimension Fortress Macross - Do You Remember Love.
I actually watched a cantonese dubbed VHS version that I picked up in Chinatown London.

This post contains a poll, click here to view.

The animation, story, music and cute girls completely captured my soul and together with the Sega Megadrive, I started my journey to self study Japanese so that I could understand what I was watching. You can read the rest of the journey here.

This post contains a video, click here to view.

And here are the lads - my fave from this bunch is Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop and Yagami Light from Death Note.
I was not happy with what happened to Light - to me he was justice! Although his treatment of loved ones and family members was questionable ^^; (all worded to try not to give spoilers ^^;)

What was the first Japanese anime you watched? Which anime era do you prefer?
Has Japanese anime inspired to do something that has altered the direction of your life?
Images from Vipper.

22 Cans' Curiosity: What's Inside the Cube ended today, revealing a live stream of tweets using the hashtag #whatsinsidethecube to the public. Peter Molyneux noted via Twitter that the last person to chip away at the cube is located in the UK, and was the sole person to see what's actually at the middle of the cube, which is seemingly a link to a video and more than just a collection of tweets.

"The winner should have a message on their cube now!!! Asking them to email a special email address, hope they share," Molyneux tweeted.

Curiosity launched in November 2012 on the App Store, and had players around the globe chipping away at pixel-like squares on the multi-layered cube to collectively get to its core. We will update as we learn what was really inside the cube, providing the winner decides to share it with the world.

Update: The video given to the winner of Curiosity has been shared by Molyneux and 22 Cans, and can be seen above.

Update 2: Spoiler alert! The prize for the winner of Curiosity, as outlined in the video by Molyneux himself, is that they "will be the god of all people that are playing Godus. You will intrinsically decide the rules that the game is played by." Godus is a god game in development by 22 Cans, which received over $852,000 in Kickstarter funding for the project in late December 2012.

Molyneux added that the winner, a certain Bryan Henderson of Edinburgh, Scotland, will also "share in the success of the product," in that "every time people spend money on Godus, [he] will get a small piece of that pie." Molyneux said he'll reveal details on how the prize will be carried out at a later date.

Molyneux's Curiosity cube concludes [Update: Winner's video added] originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 26 May 2013 11:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Xbox One will be region-locked, meaning all software must match the region of the console itself, Microsoft confirmed to Digital Trends. This means a US Xbox One won't be able to play games imported from Europe or Japan, for example.

"Similar to the movie and music industry, games must meet country-specific regulatory guidelines before they are cleared for sale," a Microsoft spokesperson said. "We will continue to work with our partners to follow these guidelines with Xbox One."

The Xbox 360 isn't completely region-locked - Microsoft currently allows studios to choose whether their games will work across regions. The PlayStation 3 is region-free, and all games except for Persona 4 Arena work on every console, regardless of spatial location. It's unclear if the PlayStation 4 will be similarly region-free.

Report: Xbox One will be region-locked originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 26 May 2013 23:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NBBJ unveiled plans for Amazon’s Seattle Headquarters back in the fall of 2012 – but they just announced plans to add three striking biospheres to the heart of the 3-block downtown campus. Intended for employees only, the glass spheres will be filled with plants from around the world. The goal is to create a working environment that is more park-like and exciting than a typical ‘vanilla’ office space. Surrounding the LEED Gold-designed biospheres is a much larger and improved public park than was originally part of the plan.

Amazon’s new Seattle campus will revamp three blocks in the Denny Triangle area in between South Lake Union and the commercial core. The plan calls for three 37-story towers complemented with lower volumes, open space, parks, green roofs and art installations. Originally, the heart of the campus contained a public park and a low rectangular volume, which was rather nondescript in design – although it did have a green roof. NBBJ is shaking things up a bit with their more striking plan to add three biospheres to the project.

The Cassette lamp harkens back to a time when hair bands ruled and acid wash jeans were all the rave. Bringing new life to the iconic object, tapes are bound together, repurposed as shades. No two are alike! Even cooler, this lamp is just one of many items in a project called Cassette is Not Dead — Don’t know what to do with your old tapes but can’t seem to let them go?! Send them HERE and get back a hand-crafted gift made of your cassettes!

Designer: OOO My Design

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Rules for Freelancers

"QUANTUM SHOT" #832 Link - article by Avi Abrams "Adventure in Contentment" - Vintage Air Travel Posters and Airline Nostalgia Some will say that we live in the Golden Age of Air Travel today. There are certainly plenty of conveniences and almost limitless choices when it comes to planning your trip on any number of premium airlines. However all this easy availability of air travel comes at a price. A certain measure of glamour and romance associated with air travel has been irrevocably lost, and languishes now in the mists of time... glowing from the pages of vintage magazines or gracing old travel posters. So let us cast a glance back at the day when flying was an event, and airlines treated it accordingly, infusing boundless style and luxury into their "Stratocruisers" and "Super Constellations". The Golden Age of Air Travel, thus defined, will fall between the 1930s and early 1960s - we will never tire of revisiting these glowing times. (vintage TWA ad; on the right is the Douglas DC-4E, serving as a "SuperMainliner", image courtesy LIFE Magazine) Breakfast in bed, President-style? Check! - (image via) Smiling stewardesses with plenty of positive attitude? Check! - ("Fly Girl" from TWA (left) and DC-8, United Airlines (top right) - images via We wrote about slightly mad concepts of early aviation in our article "Those Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines". Today we revisit these glory days and admire their wild ideas, bizarre designs and sheer pluck to reach for the sky in what - quite frankly - could only be described as flimsy, unreliable constructs. A couple of decades later, and we find that aviation has become a glamour affair, capturing the imagination of millions and the hard-earned cash of those lucky few who were able to afford such luxurious travel. Airlines Compete in Luxury and In-Flight Perks Here is the distinctive, luxurious style of a 1930's plane interior: inside the largest, heaviest, and most powerful flying boat in the world in 1930... Dornier-X (more info) (images via 1, 2) Chairs must've been nailed to the floor in case of turbulence, and cups and saucers were probably secured to the table, as well. Still, incredible presentation. This 1950s TWA's "Adventure in Contentment" starts from "all-you-can-fly" menu of premier airlines at the airport. Choose at will, and make your trip memorable: This is the kind of service provided by United Airlines back in 1952 on its Mainliner "Hollywood" and "San Francisco" flights: And check out this glorious mid-afternoon buffet on the right! This was a normal feature on United Airlines flights to Hawaii in the early 1950s. "The Super Constellation" from Northwest Orient Airlines, 1955 This was the Lockheed Super Constellation, 1955 - sporting "restful 5-cabin privacy, congenial Starlight Lounge, spaciousness, meals served in the grand manner, intimate club atmosphere..." - (images via) Boeing "Stratocruiser" Lives Up to its Name Boeing Stratocruiser cutaway ads show the multilevel comforts and design worthy of luxurious hotel establishments: (images via) Sure there was engine noise and slow speed to endure back then, but the Boeing 733 still captured the imagination like a "fortress in the sky", or rather, a stronghold, an island of luxury. This is United Airlines' Mainliner from 1952: (image credit: Plan59) The Honolulu Clipper: the Pinnacle of the Flying Experience Operating between San Francisco and Honolulu throughout the war, the Pan American’s Boeing 314 flying boat featured plethora of incredible amenities: - 7 luxurious sleeping compartments for 40 lucky passengers - a lounge, converting to 14 seat dining room - a private "honeymoon" suite It even had a play room for kids, complete with a babysitter... Here is the cover of a 1937 Pan American’s Hawaiian Clipper brochure: (images via 1, 2) The right image below shows another Clipper, this time serving routes to China and using the Martin M-130 built in 1935 for Pan American Airways: (image via) As you can see, there was choice - and lots of choice - when it came to luxury long-distance air travel, with multiple airlines competing for passengers and depicting their travel experience in the most glorious light possible. Soon, many smaller airlines disappeared, swallowed by bigger and (perhaps less romantically-inclined) corporations. Yet, the Golden Age of Air Travel endured till the end of the 1960s, leaving us with plenty of printed ephemera and (alas, slowly fading) memories. Speaking of airline mergers, check out this tree, courtesy of NoLuckBoston. It lists eleven airlines that have ultimately merged to form Delta - follow from the top, or bottom: Delta Delta - Northwest Delta - Western | Northwest - Republic Delta - Northeast | Western - Pacific Northern Airlines | Northwest | Republic - Hughes Air west - Southern Delta - Chicago & Southern Air Lines | Western | PNA | Northwest | Republic - North Central | Hughes Air West - Bonanza - Pacific Coast - West Coast | Southern This practice of course is continuing today, as airlines struggle to maintain efficiency and relevancy in our tough economic climate. The Thrilling Story of the Luxurious "Catalina" Air Yacht Here is something infinitely more carefree and comfortable than the early 1900s flying machines: an air yacht from the 1950s - actually, a WW2 "Catalina" flying boat converted for luxury trips: (image via) This 1960 issue of LIFE Magazine has the particulars of this incredible conversion story and its trip around the world: (image courtesy LIFE Magazine) For those who admire exotic airplane wrecks, this page has a photo-set of a wrecked Catalina seaboat, left to rust on a beach off the Strait of Tiran in Saudi Arabia for more than 50 years. (images via) "The aircraft is a PBY-5A model and was bought from the US Navy by Thomas W Kendall, a retired businessman who converted it to a luxury flying yacht. In the spring of 1960 Mr Kendall took a pleasure trip around the world with his wife and children together with his secretary and her son. A photographer joined the group to cover part of the trip for Life magazine. On the 22nd March 1960 they landed at the Strait of Tirana and anchored the aircraft a short distance from the shore to spend the night there. They heard someone shouting but did not pay any attention. In the afternoon of the following day they were attacked with machine guns and automatic firearms from a headland nearby. The children were able to swim back to the aircraft. Mr Kendal and his secretary were wounded while trying to start the Catalina but moved it about 800 metres, unfortunately it ran aground on a coral reef. The firing lasted 30 to 40 minutes and no fewer than 300 shots hit the aircraft. The fuel tanks were perforated and 4000 litres of fuel poured from the holes but miraculously the aircraft did not catch fire. The sea was only about 1.5 metres deep and all aboard managed to leave the aircraft and reach the shore. On the beach they were captured by a group of Bedouins attached to the Saudi Arabian army, who had taken them to be Israeli commandos. They were eventually taken to Jeddah, interrogated and finally set free with the help of the American Ambassador. The Ambassador protested to the Saudi Arabian government but they refused to accept any liability for the attack and consequent loss of the aircraft." (source) Vintage Airline Travel Posters Reflect the Glory and Radiate the "Golden Rays" of Romance Hawaiian postcard from United Airlines in 1940 (including wonderfully cheerful hula dancer poster). "Guests to the Hawaiian Islands were greeted by the Hula, an expressive sort of Polynesian dance." (images via 1, 2) On the right is a beautiful painting, a part of advertisement for Pan-American flights to Hawaii - "Fly to South Sea Isles Via PanAmerican"! (buy this poster here). "Fly to Hawaii by Clipper!" is probably the most colorful (while still remaining within the limits of "tasteful") travel poster we've seen so far: (image via) Right image above: the story of Hawaiian Clipper is full of mystery - read the story of its strange disappearance here. United Airlines printed many wonderful, highly collectible airline posters back in the day: (images via) The "America by Clipper" poster can be framed and displayed in any stylish home, what a beautiful poster! (buy it here): (images via 1, 2) The "Western Air Express" flies over San Fransisco (left image) - buy this glorious poster here... While the Braniff Airways poster brings memories of King Kong swiping away pesky biplanes in the Manhattan skies (center image). And then, there is the ultimate luxury treatment - "Fly the Rolls Royce Way to London"! - (images via 1, 2) An overabundance of chrome! An Armstrong Whitworth "Ensign" of Imperial Airways Takes Off (left image) - buy this great poster here. The KLM Royal Dutch Airlines poster is just as beautiful to look at (center image). On the right you see the classic ad by Herbert Matter for "Winter - Luftverkehr", issued in 1935: (images via 1, 2, 3) Lovely (and sometimes strange?) airline printed ads... featuring incredibly helpful crew all-around The "Come Fly with Me" ad from United features wonderfully smiley faces all around... and then there is the "Former Miss Butterfingers"! (the text says: "Two months ago, Sheri Woodruff couldn't even balance a cup of coffee.") - (image via) "No Floor Show"! The ad copy says: "Next trip, come see our working girls work. It's no floor show. But it's funny how you you get to feel like a leading man." (left image). On the right are some winsome-looking graduating stewardesses: (images via 1, 2) And we finish with German-Norwegian actress Wencke Myhre cuddling up to an airplane - pure eye-candy! - (image via) Article by Avi Abrams, Dark Roasted Blend. CONTINUE TO "SEXY STEWARDESSES"! -> CONTINUE TO "MAD CONCEPTS OF EARLY AVIATION" -> Check out our "Amazing Airplanes" category! ->

Many tunnels in Sydney, Australia aren't tall enough to permit tractor trailers to move through safely. This animated gif shows a warning system that informs truck drivers when they're about to crash into a tunnel entrance. When sensors detect a vehicle that is too tall, the system pours water across the entrance to the tunnel and projects a stop sign onto that water curtain.

Link

I love the fun and interactive element given to the GIGS.2.GO, which is a credit-card-sized pack of USB flash drives, with “Tear – and – Share” technology. You just need to tear off a tab and take the handy USB Drive on the go with you! Crafted essentially from 100% post-consumer molded paper pulp, this economical, credit-card-sized data pack is fantastic!

You can even write on the tab directly and label the drive!

Designers: Kurt Rampton and BOLTgroup

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2. Protect Your Identity, Tear It Off
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caution: do not attempt to slide down dinosaur  

for george 

Golden Week refers to a series of public holidays on April 29 (Showa Day), May 3 (Constitution Memorial Day), May 4 (Greenery Day), and May 5 (Children's Day). Many companies close down completely to give their employees a full week off, and many Japanese take the opportunity to travel abroad - but not this year as the strength of the yen is pretty low at the moment - not good for the Japanese but great for foreigners visiting Japan.

As the majority of folks have decided to stay in Japan, the Golden Week has seen more people than usual in Tokyo - its usually much quieter. Every year we decide not to go anywhere for a very good reason as you can see from the report on the TV - the queues for everything are horrendous. 45 kilo tailbacks are the norm. Most folks who want to travel domestically can expect to spend a good % of their holiday queuing up ><

Then when Golden Week is over, there is whats called the "U Turn Rush" where folks queue up again to get back into their home city.

When living back in the UK, I never saw any news of huge masses of people moving about due to any holiday seasons - anything similar exist in your neck of the woods and for what occasion?

Sorry for being late with the May calendar - here it is.
And the previous months Moe Calendar wallpapers in the posts below.

Dan LuVisi is a concept artist who has worked in motion pictures, advertising and comics. He's also done some video game work, for companies like Collission Games and Acony, the now-closed developers of Bullet Run.

A reminder: Fine Art showcases not just an artist's professional work, but their personal projects as well (like his own graphic novel), so not everything you're seeing below is the result of LuVisi working on a Nintendo game or zombie movie. Pro artists are allowed to do fan art too, you know! (Though the Batman piece is from a DC cover).

You can see more of Dan's art at his personal site, DeviantArt page and CGHub profile.

To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so you can save them as wallpaper), click on the “expand” button in the bottom-right corner.

Fine Art is a celebration of the work of video game artists, showcasing the best of both their professional and personal portfolios. If you're in the business and have some concept, environment, promotional or character art you'd like to share, drop us a line!

Sure, it's cool when a talented musician makes an album paying tribute to video game music. But what about when a whole bunch of composers assemble, locking their various musical tics and tricks in place for a single grand collection? That's more or less what's happened with World 1-2, a video game tribute album featuring compositions by video-game greats like Mega Man's Manami Matsumae, Journey's Austin Wintory, and Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka.

The album came out a few days ago, and guess what? It's good. In addition to the composers above, World 1-2 also features work by Ninja Gaiden composer Keiji Yamagishi (!!), Ridiculous Fishing's Eirik Suhrke, Super Hexagon's Chipzel, and many others.

You can pick it up here for ten bucks; proceeds from the album will go towards helping Koopa Soundworks, the impromptu label releasing World 1-2, make more music.

I emailed a bit with the album's director and executive producer, Mohammed Taher, who explained how World 1-2 came to be. He tells me that the album started out as a small EP grown from his Arabic gaming website World 1-2; the EP would feature music from Eirik Suhrke and Agent Whiskers.

He then looped Metroid Metal's Stemage into providing a remixes for the album, then began to ask other musicians. Before long, He'd gotten Yamaoka on board, then tracked down Yamagishi through Facebook. Both Yamagishi and Mega Man's Manami Matsumae have never worked outside of Japan, and Taher tells me that the two famed composers will actually be collaborating on one track on Yamagishi's upcoming album.

It's great to see an album like this come together, and to hear Taher's recounting of how his project attracted a bunch of willing musicians and grew into something much bigger than he'd intended. Here's hoping Koopa Soundworks keeps rolling, and gets even more ambitious with a follow-up.

Give World 1-2 a listen here:

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To contact the author of this post, write to kirk@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @kirkhamilton.

Most janitors are satisfied with keeping things clean. This junior high school custodian might be, too, but also has a hankering to do something else: Draw incredible pictures.

Spotted on a school cafeteria whiteboard, these awesome drawings depict things like Link from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

Here's Midna and Wolf Link from Twilight Princess.

These aren't just eye candy! There's also a friendly reminder about recycling one's trash.

Bravo, Janitor Artist. Bravo. You've impressed more than the lunchroom. You've impressed the whole damn internet.

This was in the lunch room yesterday [)(-EY GURL]

the janitor at the junior high drew these in the cafeteria [Daves of Our Lives via Obvious Winner]

To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter @Brian_Ashcraft.

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UNICEF has launched a bold advertising campaign that takes direct aim at perhaps the most ubiquitous form of online activism — the Facebook "like." Late last month, UNICEF Sweden released three commercials that urge viewers to support humanitarian aid not through posts or shares on social media, but monetary donations. The Swedish-language spots each present different variations on this theme, but by far the most harrowing stars a 10-year-old orphan speaking directly to the camera from inside a dark and decrepit room.

"Sometimes I worry that I will get sick, like my mom got sick," the child says in the captioned ad, his brother playing in the background. "But I think everything will be alright. Today, UNICEF Sweden has 177,000 likes on Facebook."

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The other two ads, also in Swedish, take a relatively more lighthearted approach to the question of online activism, though they underscore the same point: Facebook likes aren't treated as currency in other commercial venues, so they shouldn't be equated with charitable donations. In one, a portly westerner pays for his beers in likes; in the other, a man tells a confused sales clerk that he'd like to purchase a cashmere sweater in social currency. Each ends with the same tag line: "Vaccine[s] can't be bought with likes either."

The campaign, created by ad agency Forsman & Bodenfors, takes a rather bold stance against the awareness campaigns that often spread across Facebook and other social media platforms. UNICEF officials acknowledge that such efforts can help introduce issues to a wider audience, though they fear that for most users, the action stops with the click of a button. To further stress this point, UNICEF Sweden released a bold poster alongside the video clips, saying that every like it receives on Facebook will result in exactly zero vaccinations.

"We like likes, and social media could be a good first step to get involved, but it cannot stop there," Petra Hallebrant, UNICEF Sweden's director of communications, told The Atlantic. "Likes don't save children's lives. We need money to buy vaccines for instance."

Artist Sam Milham, attempting his own swing at the whole "video game characters as hipsters" thing, knocks it out of the park with a range of Mario characters so well realised you'll probably never want to play another Nintendo game in your life.

Some are nice and messy, but man, that Bowser is just perfect. So perfect I can hear him.

Sam Milham [Tumblr]

In Elizabeth, BioShock Infinite gave us the best AI companion since Half-Life 2's Alyx Vance. For the game's upcoming DLC, however, it seems we might be getting a new best bud.

The CV of 2K animator Michael Shahan yesterday mentioned (it's since been removed) that one of his most recent roles was "providing animation and R&D for a new AI companion character" in upcoming BioShock Infinite DLC.

Cue the speculation. Also cue me hoping it's not another emotionally developed and wonderfully-animated accomplice. This time around, I'll take one of those giant armoured Abe Lincolns, thanks.

BioShock Infinite DLC to feature a new companion [Eurogamer]

As reported by Nikkei News and Livedoor News, as part of the new governments initiative to make Japan "the easiest place in the world to do business," the government is considering making the metro (subway / underground) and buses in 5 of the biggest cities in Japan run around the clock 24 hours a day. Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya were designated in the report but only mentioned Toei and not JR lines.

One of the reasons why transport has never run 24 hours is because of the need for periodical safety checks of vehicles, rail lines and equipment which attributes to the incredible service of the spot on service times which you can set your watch by.

One of the bad things about this however is that employees cant use the "Shuden" [終電] excuse anymore. "Shuden" means "Last Train" which is often the only excuse an employee has to go home.

Many Japanese employees feel they cant go home before others as it gives then impression that they are not working. In a previous company I worked at, on a day just like any other day, I spoke to the two ladies who were still at work. I asked "How come you still at work?" They said "Because the boss is still here."
I then asked the boss "Why are you still at work - its late" and he said "Because my staff are still here."

In a situation like this, the only way that anybody can go home is to use the "Last Train" excuse. Companies usually pay for employees transport but it would not be good for an employee to expense the taxi fare back home which is why the Last Train excuse is perfectly fine to use. Taxi's usually increase the fare when the train service has stopped because they know you have no other way of getting home ^^;

Previously working at Amazon and Microsoft, I've not been too bothered about what others think if I leave at 6 or so. Just as long as my team and I meet our goals then its not the amount of time we spend at work that matters - its the amount of work done in the designated time at work that matters.
If you got a boss who openly says that you should stay behind then you are probably working in the wrong place - time to send out your resume!

Back in the UK, while trains stopped at around midnight, busses continued to run through the night at a reduced service. When I was working at a Japanese restaurant, I would often finish work past midnight and running for the bus was always a memorable experience - many bus drivers in London just want to get home - stopping at a bus stop for passengers just means that they are going to get home later ^^;
At the time, busses in London where of the round bus variety meaning that you can just run after a bus and jump on - which is what I often had to do and if I missed that bus then I'd have to wait another hour ><
How about in your neck of the woods? Is there a 24 hour public transport service?

Anyway, as for when the metro in Japan will start its 24 hour service is uncertain and looks like they will implement this initially over the weekends as they figure out their safety inspection schedules - I'll let you know when its all in place.
I know many visitors to Japan who have arrived late at Haneda only to discover there is no more transport meaning a night on a sofa in the lounge. Have you visited Japan only to be caught out by the lack of transport at night?

The following train related photos all taken from posts in the Japan category on this site.

Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>

"QUANTUM SHOT" #829 Link - article by Simon Rose and Avi Abrams Under Pressure - and Enjoying It This time, we thought we’d take an in-depth look at diving suits, those strange looking costumes that many of us have seen before, on TV, in movies or maybe even in real life. The diving suits known as standard diving dress had a metallic helmet, made of brass, bronze or copper, an airline or hose supplying air from the surface, a canvas diving suit, weighted boots and were equipped with a knife, just in case. The suits had other lead weights too, usually fitted on the chest or back, to help the diver descend to the required depth. These types of suits aren’t used that often these days, but although they are the diving suits that most people are familiar with, they weren’t the first ones to be developed. (image credit: Musée Fédéric Dumas Sanary sur Mer) ------- This diving suit (see below) was designed way back in 1715 by Pierre Remy de Beauve. The suit’s iron corset protected the diver’s chest from excessive water pressure and a leather jacket was supposed to make the whole thing waterproof. Two pipes linked the helmet to the surface, from where air was pumped using bellows. The suit also featured weighted shoes, to assist the diver with his submarine explorations: (images credit: Musée Fédéric Dumas Sanary sur Mer) ------- For this suit from 1797, the air would have been pumped down through the weighted air tubes from a turret on the surface. The diver also didn’t wear the weighted boots that became a standard feature of later suits, but appears to have carried a few weights with him, just to keep him from floating back to the surface too early. Still, let’s hope he didn’t step on anything sharp in those bare feet: (image credit: Avi Abrams) ------- Here’s a good selection (left) of some of the early designs, showing something of the evolution of the diving suit. However, at the bottom of the picture, the unsuspecting diver on the left could perhaps be facing an imminent attack from his more robotic counterpart, approaching from the other side. This suit on the right dates from the 1870s and was probably the latest fashion in its day for the professional deep-sea explorer. It certainly seems to have attracted the attention of the two people in the background: (images via) ------- This is the front cover illustration of The Illustrated London News from February 6, 1873 and shows divers preparing to descend to a recently wrecked ship called the Northfleet. The rather bizarre diving suit on the right is from the 1870s too. I can only assume, that the designers assumed, in their wisdom, that there’d be so much for the diver to see under the waves that he wouldn’t know where to look first, hence the helmet’s multiple viewing windows. Either that or this isn’t diving attire at all, but rather a spacesuit, rescued from the wreck of a craft flown by an alien species with multiple eyeballs: (images via 1, 2) ------- In 1906, de Pluvy created one of the very first atmospheric diving suits. He claimed to have completed a number of dives to depths of up to 100 meters. The joints were apparently made of leather and rubber, but the suit does seem to have worked, even it does resemble a robot from a 1950s science fiction movie. This one on the right is also from the early 1900s and seems to be the famous William Walker, who heroically saved Winchester Cathedral from collapsing in 1905 - read the full story here. (images credit: Historical Diving Society, Italy, via; right image: via) ------- Here’s American silent movie comedian Buster Keaton (1895-1966), wearing a diving suit for a scene from The Navigator, released in 1924. Keaton even wears his distinctive hat on top of the helmet, just in case he didn’t stand out enough from the other members of the cast. The Neufeldt-Kuhnke diving suit from 1923 (right) could withstand pressure at depths of 160 meters. The suit’s breathing apparatus was operated in a closed circuit and the diver even had a telephone to stay connected with the surface. Makes you wonder though how he’d make or answer calls with those claws and I wonder where he kept the phone itself? - (images via 1, 2) ------- In 1935, J. Peress’ dive suit, Tritonia, (left) explored the wreck of the Lusitania, which was sunk by a German U-Boat off the coast of Ireland in 1915. Peress’ chief diver was Jim Jarrett, who descended to 95 meters. The suit he used was a forerunner of the JIM suit, which was named after him (see later in article). The two divers on the right look to be either preparing for, or maybe recovering from, an undersea mission of their own. (images via 1, 2) ------- U.S. Navy divers wore the Mark V suit from 1918 right up to the mid 1980s. This suit allowed divers to work at much greater depths than before and was mostly used for deep sea and salvage diving missions. The rubberized-canvas suits protected the diver from cold, contaminated water and when they were working in hazardous environments: (images credit: Maritime Exchange Museum, Carl Purcell) Navy diver George W. McCullough (left) waits to start his dive wearing a Mark V suit. The wrist cuffs and a rubber seal at the neck made everything watertight, and in case you were wondering, wool undergarments layered beneath the suit kept the diver warm and cozy while he was busy beneath the waves. The helmet on the right dates from the 1940s: (image credit: Naval Undersea Museum, Greatest Collectibles) ------- Cool Recent Developments Atmospheric Diving Suits (ADS) were first used in the oil industry then later developed by the Navy for submarine rescue missions. The pressure inside ADS is the same as it is on the surface. This allows divers wearing ADS to work at extreme depths without having to decompress on their return to dry land. The JIM atmospheric diving suit is named after Jim Jarrett, the chief diver of the suit’s designer, J. Peress. The JIM was developed in the late 1960s and was basically a one-person submarine. Divers no longer had to experience freezing water, complex gas mixtures, and potential decompression sickness. They could breath normal air, return to the surface quickly and even dress casually inside the suit, with most divers choosing to wear a thick wool sweater. The JIM was first used in 1974 by the oil industry in the Canary Islands. In 1976, divers used the JIM at an oil well in the Arctic, working for six hours at a depth of 275 meters. In 1979, Sylvia Earle set a world record in the JIM. She descended to 381 meters and walked around on the sea floor for two and a half hours, a record that has never been bettered, so far. The JIMs were still in use during the 1980s, before being surpassed by the WASP suit. (images credit: Naval Undersea Museum, 2) The WASP one atmosphere diving system from Oceaneering (left) allows divers to work for long periods at depths of 700 meters. The manned suit is used to inspect and repair facilities located in deep ocean environments. One of the most recent developments in deep sea diving was Nuytco Research’s launch of the Exosuit (right), designed to be the next generation of atmospheric diving suits: (image credit: Oceaneering, Nuytco Research Ltd.) ------- Deep Diving Media Circus (left: scuba diver with an umbrella, Paris, 1949 via) Imagine if you saw this guy (left image below) emerging from the waves, while you were quietly relaxing on the beach? He almost looks like he’s taking a call too, presumably on his shell phone. And who says those old bulky, cumbersome diving suits were uncomfortable? Here on the right is one of the people involved in the making of Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in 1952, taking an underwater nap during a break in filming. I wonder if this could be referred to as relaxing on the seabed? - (image credit: left: Peter Harris; right: Peter Stockpole for LIFE Magazine, see it bigger) At the International Exposition of Surrealism in 1938 (left), the always guaranteed to be outlandish Salvador Dali decided to appear dressed a little differently to his fellow artists. Can you guess which one he is? Decades later, perhaps in homage to that earlier surreal diving suit incident, this chauffeur wearing a diver’s helmet (right) is on display at the Salvador Dali museum in St. Petersburg Florida. I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure if I’d feel too safe with this guy driving me around: (images credit: Donald Pittenger, 2) Tintin, a heroic Belgian reporter (left) who has had many exciting adventures, first appeared in print in 1929. Tintin was created by Georges Remi (1907-1983), who wrote under the pen name Herge. This modern figurine is based on the Tintin story Red Rackham’s Treasure. With his faithful dog Snowy at his side, Tintin prepares to dive down to explore the wreck of The Unicorn. The August 1933 issue of Modern Mechanix and Inventions also featured undersea treasure hunting, with the hero’s very striking red gear guaranteed to make him stand out amongst the other residents of the ocean floor. (images credit: Big Bad Toy Store, Modern Mechanix 1933 cover) Ever wondered how to meet girls and get dates? According to these pictures, all you need is a trendy diving suit and the rest will follow, although the initial kiss may present something of a challenge. On the right, this was actually part of a campaign by the British Lifeboat Institution to raise funds for important sea rescue missions. Still, the suit certainly attracted attention from young ladies, as shown here on the streets of London. Maybe there’s something to that diving suit dating idea after all? - (right image credit: Modern Mechanix) Diver Dan’s adventures were shown on children’s television in the early 60s. This is the DVD cover (left) from a few years ago, bringing Dan to a whole new audience. I don’t think Dan ever conducted his exciting nautical adventures on a bicycle (right). Still, who knows, it might have been his preferred mode of transportation to travel to the set every day? (right image credit: Rob Jan) ------- Diving deeper as it gets... weirder Maybe these types of designs will be the wave of the future for the well-dressed diver? Characters in the BioShock video game series wear these formidable-looking suits: (images via) This one on the left also looks somewhat futuristic, but is in fact on display at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas. And finally, how about this inflatable diving suit? Not sure I want to consider what kind of gas might be used to inflate the suit though: (image credit: Glenn D, 2) Article by Simon Rose and Avi Abrams, Dark Roasted Blend. CONTINUE TO "AMAZING SUBMARINE CONCEPTS" -> READ THE REST OF OUR POPULAR "BOATS & SHIPS" CATEGORY ->