How is Tokyo prepared for an event of a major earthquake or some other natural disaster? For an answer, we need to go underground!

In the video, a city official opens a trapdoor on the sidewalk and descends 20 meters deep down the stairway to huge underground warehouse that stocks emergency supplies meant for the public in an event of a natural disaster.

In this hidden area the size of 1480 square meters (15,930 sq ft) that would make James Bond especially happy, they keep stocks of emergency medical supplies, food, 5000 blankets, 8000 rugs, 4000 candles, 300 cooking pots, 200 t-shirts and various other items. They also built a system of conveyor belts that can transport the supplies up to the street level.

For this city of 13 million people, 300 cooking pots certainly won’t be enough. It is known that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government maintains a number of such warehouses along unnamed stations at the Oedo line which circles around Tokyo in a 40 km loop. Where exactly are these warehouses is kept secret in order to prevent too many people from gathering at the locations after a major disaster. At the end of video, the TV crew exits at one of such stations.

Studio Ghibli’s new animated motion picture titled Karigurashi no Arriety (The Borrower Arrietty) will arrive in Japanese theaters on July 17, 2010. Let’s look at the trailer:

The 80-minute long movie is an adaptation of the British fantasy novel “The Borrowers” by Mary Norton from 1952. The story talks about little people who “borrow” things from normal humans and keep their existence unknown. In contrast to the original story that takes place in England of the 1950’s, the film will be set in present-day Tokyo city of Koganei which is also the home of Studio Ghibli.

Karigurashi no Arrietty was directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi and produced by Suzuki Toshio. The theme song Arrietty’s Song was co-written and performed by French celtic harpist and singer Cecile Corbel. Here is the song in full:

The Cats’ House is an unusual house that was designed by Japanese architectural firm Fauna+DeSIGN for an avid cat lover.

The house, owned by a family with 16 cats and 5 dogs, features beautifully designed modern furniture and various structures that were created especially for cats: shelves and platforms with rounded corners, bookcases that work like stairs, hidden tunnels and passageways, catwalks on the ceilings, a floor-to-ceiling scratching post and all kinds of other goodies meant for discovering, climbing, playing and of course sleeping.

The architecture is very open and invites a lot of natural light to every room.

The owner came up with the idea after a family cat has passed away because of illness. He wanted to build a home that will be enjoyable for cats and people at the same time.

The house was built in August 2009. The owner says he is not 100% sure in his success but is satisfied because he can see that his felines have a lot of fun and enjoy living there. The carpenters also say the cats were very curious and playful while the interior was being built.

Interested in more photos of this house? Head over to The Cats’ House official web site.

The Cats’ House, however, is not the only such house in Japan! Here you can take a look at floorplans and photos of a few other modern houses that were built for cats and dogs in mind.

Japanese publishing company Inforest has published an interesting yearbook that introduces 59 known and less known Japanese digital illustrators for the year 2010 who create art in manga/anime style. In the last few pages there is a short questionnaire where they asked professional artists which graphic programs they use, what operating system they have and which graphic tablets they use for painting.

What graphic programs do you mostly use to make artwork?
1. Adobe Photoshop (50 votes)
2. SAI (36 votes)
3. Corel Painter (7 votes)
4. Adobe Illustrator (5 votes)
5. ComicStudio (2 votes)

Do you use PC with Windows or a Mac?
1. Windows (54 votes)
2. Mac (4 votes)
3. Windows and Mac (1 vote)

Which graphic tablet do you use for painting?
1. Wacom Intuos (34 votes)
2. Other tablets by Wacom (24 votes)
3. Don’t use a tablet (1 vote)

Almost half of those who use Photoshop also use another graphic program in combination.

Among most common programs is SAI (PaintTool SAI) which is less known outside of Japanese market but is a very powerful tool, developed by Systemax (they offer a free 30-day trial version, the full version costs only 5250 yen or about $58). Don’t let their archaic web site fool you! A lot of artists swear that SAI from the illustrator’s point of view in many aspects beats Photoshop because it was made specifically for illustrating. They also say it’s very intuitive and lets them achieve desired results quicker. SAI has become so popular in Japan that there are even monthly magazines and books devoted to this program.

Here you can watch PaintTool SAI in action:

And here is yet another demonstration of PaintTool SAI from sketch to finished artwork.

Roppongi Hills, which was opened in 2003 and is sometimes known as “Artelligent City”, is a modern urban development in Tokyo’s Minato Ward. The large complex incorporates office spaces, apartments, shops, restaurants, movie theaters, galleries, a hotel, an outdoor amphitheater and the studios of TV Asahi.

You’re invited to take a look at modern architecture of Roppongi Hills, interior of the Grand Hyatt Tokyo hotel and Tokyo skyline as viewed from the 54-story Mori Tower.

Gallery: Roppongi Hills, Tokyo
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