Japanese coffee artist Kazuki Yamamoto (previously featured here) is still hard at work in Osaka creating cappuccinos that are almost too cute to drink. Lately he’s been perfecting his 3D creations.

Not content with decorative 2D images, under Kazuki’s skilled hands frothy milk rises out of the mugs to resemble any number of pop culture characters that are sure to put a smile on your face.

Order two drinks and your beverages might be served up appearing to interact with each other. Coffee is already a great pick-me-up, but these kawaii beverages might be verging on over-the-counter anti-depressant territory.

Follow Kazuki Yamamoto on twitter to keep up with his delightful, drinkable artwork.

[via Kotaku]

Anyone who has spent time with a guinea pig probably knows how much they love to eat vegetables and endless piles of hay. (Pretty much more than anything.) But did you know that some guinea pigs also like to dress up in stylish clothing and headwear that reflects their unique personalities? Perhaps that’s why Japanese designer Maki Yamada opened an awesome online shop called Guinea Pig Fashion. There you’ll find a variety of clothing and fashion accessories custom-made for cavies. It’s undeniably cute and delightfully strange.

For the cavy who fancies lovely blonde locks topped by an adorable hat there’s the Straw Hat + Blonde Hair Extension.There are all sorts of pretty Dresses and Kimonos. The stealthy pig can don a tiny Ninja Costume while the more generally active and sporty pig has a selection of adorable Tank Tops< from which to choose. There’s even a frilly Guinea Pig Wedding Dress and White Veil, which pairs perfectly with the Guinea Pig Wedding Tuxedo with Base Tank Top. (But we caution you to keep an eye on those brides and grooms. It takes barely the blink of an eye for two guinea pigs to turn into six.)

This is just a small sampling of the guinea pig garments currently available for purchase from Guinea Pig Fashion. Head over to the shop itself to browse the entire collection.

[via Laughing Squid and Dailymail.co.uk]

Nowtoo Sugi lives in Japan and likes to relax by creating awesome and unusually colourful works of latte art. It’s a truly delicious and delightful hobby.

Starting this past February, Sugi began using colored bartender syrups to, as the hobby artist says, “paint” on coffee. Sugi isn’t the only one to create colorful lattes, but is certainly one of the best. 

So, for example, Sugi uses Blue Hawaii syrup for, well, blue and strawberry syrup for red or pink. The colors are mixed with steamed milk for variation.

Head over to Kotaku to view many more examples of Nowtoo Sugi’s awesome latte art. Then visit Nowtoo Sugi’s YouTube channel to watch how some of these amazing works of beverage art were made.

[via Kotaku]

It’s a brand new week, which means it’s about time for a new crazy photo meme from Japan. This time those crazy kids, inspired by a new anime series based on the manga Attack on Titan, are playing with the age-old trick of forced perspective and staging awesome photos in which one giant student is grabbing or about to devour their classmates.

“…Attack on Titan tells the story of a wall city that’s being attacked by human-eating giants. The anime’s opening is utterly mental, and it’s inspiring all sorts of video parodies. 

The show seems to have captured the imagination of Japan’s youth. Since late April, photos of “Pretend Attack on Titan” (進撃の巨人ごっこ or Shingeki no Kyojin gokko) have been popping up online. Using perspective tricks, this photo trend usually depicts teens pretending to hold or even eat other kids. There are also photos of teens “attacking” giant classmates. Over the past few days, the number of pics has really begun to take off.”

So, with all of these fantastic photo memes to play with, when do these students have time for class?

[via Kotaku]

Alright Japan, now you’re just toying with us. Your relentless onslaught of weirdness and cuteness has us glued to our monitors lest we miss the next awesome thing you create or do. We’re putty in your hands. Now you’ve gone and made a series of photographs of cats dressed up as creative interpretations of sushi toppings, resting comfortably atop giant mounds of sushi rice, secured by enormous strips of nori. This one has pretty much rendered us speechless.

These “Sushi Cats” or “Neko-Sushi” are the work of Japan-based company Tange & Nakimushi Peanuts. Who needs to shower or go to work when there is stuff like this to see?

“According to the History of Sushi Cats video, the cats are a magical and historical creature that have been influencing humans since the beginning of time. Tange & Nakimushi Peanuts has released a mobile game app for iPhone and Android phones featuring the Sushi Cats. They also have an online store that offers photo prints, postcards and more (only available in Japan).”

Neko-Sushi is an extremely unusual life-form consisting of a cat on top of a portion of sushi rice. Although several references have come down to us through history from various researchers and witnesses, their existence is still shrouded in mystery and actual sightings remain rare.

There are several academics who have devoted their lives to the study of these creatures. According to a number of these, Neko-Sushi make use of gaps in space to come to us from an alternate dimension. Beyond these “gaps” lies the world of the Neko-Sushi in which, it is recently understood, lies the true identity of the cats that dwell with us here in the human dimension.

We can’t look away. It’s just too cute… too strange… too awesome.

Visit Laughing Squid for even more Neko-Sushi goodness.

Kawaii! We love these awesomely adorable sets of matches illustrated by Japanese artist Hiromi Hirasaka. The matches themselves have been given tiny faces and their respective books and boxes have been illustrated to, well, match their contents. They’re so cute we don’t know how anyone could stand to use them.

“Since 1994, after noticing a resemblance between matches and Kokeshi dolls, Osaka-based artist Hiromi Hirasaka has been handrawing small faces on matches. But it wasn’t until around 2000 when she realized the commercial potential of her hobby and ditched the brush for a rubber stamp, which was soon replaced by a printing press.”

We’re wondering what sorts of conversations take place between fellow matches inside a matchbook or matchbox. And what happens if one of those matches gets really upset?

[via Design Taxi and Spoon & Tamago]

It’s happened again, Japanese schoolgirls have demonstrated that they are still in the vanguard of creating crazy photo memes. Now that they’ve recovered from unleashing Dragon Ball Z attacks on each other, they’re having all sorts of fun playing with perspective in school hallways, making it appear as though they’re hanging on for dear life while desperately trying to scale a steep row of lockers. It’s awesomely clever and we love it.

[via Kotaku]

Kotaku’s Brian Ashcraft recently posted an amazing collection of awesome real life versions of the Catbus from the wonderful anime film My Neighbor Totoro, created by Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki.

If you aren’t familiar with the movie (in which case we highly recommend you seek it out), the Catbus is “a large creature, depicted as a grinning male cat with a hollow body that serves as a bus, complete with windows and seats coated with fur, and a large bushy tail.”

These homemade versions were photographed all over Japan and these are just a few of our favourites. Head over to Kotaku to view them all.

[via Kotaku]

These beautiful sculptures are part of an ongoing figurative series by Japanese artist Mihoko Ogaki entitled Milky Ways. This awesome fusion of the the beauty and mystery of the night sky with the mortal human form is an exploration of the ideas of life, death, and rebirth.

The fibre-reinforced plastic sculptures depict people either dying or already dead. Their forms have been embedded with bright LEDs that project fields of stars against the walls, floor, and ceiling of a darkened space.

“In a bright room, the dying bodies appear morbid and in pain, but, when the lights go off, the suffering seems to disappear into a delightful, twinkling display. One review states, “Ogaki takes the emotions of our human condition and gives them a physical presence.” The sparkling figures create an environment of tranquility, in which viewers are encouraged to calmly, and without distress, contemplate the human condition of life and death.”

Visit Mihoko Ogaki’s website for more images of these marvelous installations.

[via My Modern Metropolis and Colossal]

It’s time for an inspiring visit to the Department of Totally Awesome Coiffures. These portraits were all taken in Japan at a salon called “Trick Store,” which is located in the impressively hip Amerikamura or “Ame-mura” district of Osaka.

These are all amazing heads of hair, but we’re particularly delighted by the top three photos which feature an adorable style called “Ripe Tomato” (“kanjuku tomato” or 完熟トマト), created by a Trick Store stylist known as “Hiro.”

Head over to Kotaku to view more of Trick Store’s fantastic hairdos.