I see no reason why my esteemed D+R colleague Mark Frauenfelder should need to apologize for being "obsessed" with Japanese culture; It's perfectly logical, actually.
Remember, D+R's mission statement is to celebrate "authentic, handy, rarefied, disgusting, illuminating, delicious, mysterious, intoxicating, commonplace, historic, intensely personal, entertaining and enlightened objects, both priceless heirlooms and exquisite trash."
Well, that right there is the Japanese consumer experience in a nutshell. What France has done for cuisine, and what America has done for personal mobility, Japan has done for the art of the object. To visit Japan is to realize just how deep that appreciation for objects runs.
The photos above are intended simply to underscore the point, but I'll discuss some of them in more detail in the days ahead.