Tsubaki Traviata

New Origami "Bloom" Patterns, BYU Engineering Innovation YouTube video by Brigham Young University

A new origami structure folds like a blooming flower and collapses flat. It’s used to compactly store large devices like solar panels in space. It’s mesmerising to see this pattern aesthetically, and fascinating how such an analogue tradition is now shaping the future!
youtu.be/YMV43l1nnoM?...

② I feel fear about how fast technology is changing. It’s overwhelming, unpredictable. However, I also respect the innovators, their drive and imagination. The shift is unstoppable anyway. And maybe, just like aviation, what scares us now will seem laughable in hindsight.

① I’ve been learning a bit about the history of aviation. People laughed at those who believed in aeroplanes. But they never gave up, some even sacrificed their lives. That kind of vision and persistence is inspiring and makes me reflect on what’s happening today.

I love it when a man wears a scent that contradicts his profession or daytime persona. A wild fragrance on a clever, erudite gentleman. That contrast is the sexiest thing.

③ What makes Crash so compelling is that horology traditionally chases precision, yet this design embraces warped time and surreal stillness. I like that contradiction.

② That theory suggests time and space can bend and distort, just like the surreal shapes in Dalí’s painting. Some say it also reflects frozen time: past, present, and future suspended. A poetic stillness in the chaos.

① Cartier’s Crash is one of the most cult watches, instantly evoking Dalí’s The Persistence of Memory. Dalí said these clocks were inspired by melting Camembert cheese, but there are many interpretations. One famous reading links it to Einstein’s theory of relativity.

34℃ (93.2°F) in Tokyo today, and some guys are wearing a jacket and a tie. A designer who creates elegant summer formal menswear will be a hero! Fashion has leapt from culottes to suits, corsets to freedom; yet it’s been too long since the last shift. Time for real creativity to take on the heat ☀️

People say diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but for me, it’s always been books and notebooks. Reading and writing shape a woman’s charm and make her shine in ways diamonds never could 💎

This image took me tens of hours and tutorials over a week. Then I saw some AI has launched a feature that does a similar thing in seconds… I’m crying. Trying to remind myself there’s still something unique about what I do. Anyway, I’m opening my favourite wine and moving on🍷◡̈︎

④ No slow decline, just a full life, then a quiet exit. Naked mole-rats might help us get there. And honestly, this makes me believe that no-ageing might actually be possible in the future.

③ A Japanese researcher is studying around 100 ageing-resistance mechanisms found in naked mole-rats. If even a few can be applied to humans, it could change how we age. Living without chronic disease and dying peacefully is a goal often sought in Japanese culture.

Resistance to chemical carcinogenesis induction via a dampened inflammatory response in naked mole-rats - Communications Biology Naked mole rats are found to be resistant to cancer development through dampened inflammatory response due to genetically determined impaired necroptosis, with essential necroptosis genes RIPK3 and ML...

② They don’t get cancer, even when exposed to carcinogens. Their bodies keep functioning like they’re young. Sounds close to immortality. A study showed they lack a type of inflammation that usually helps cancer grow. Damaged cells also die naturally without piling up. www.nature.com/articles/s42...

① Have you ever heard of naked mole-rats? These rodents might hold the key to longevity, according to a Japanese article. They live over 30 yrs, which is 10 x longer than mice, and they stay healthy the whole time. No age-related decline, and mortality rates stay the same across all age groups.

I’m re-reading some of Kazuo Ishiguro’s works. He’s Japanese-British and never lived in Japan, yet the Japan he describes feels more realistic than how most people here would describe it. Same with his characters’ inner voices. Such power of imagination. I admire talented novelists so much.

Pen care & ink blend day today. I know it’s a bit crazy, but I’ve owned and used over 200–300 inks and still couldn’t find my colours, so I blend my own. Weirdly, I can talk about most inks out there like sommeliers talk about wine. It’s a whole sensory world.

Thanks, I use a Japanese keyboard, and it’s a normal way to put numbers in Japanese :) I’ve seen some keyboard extension apps for special symbols or fonts, but I don’t know the names.

I’m a sealed jar of chaos. And what’s visible is just the beginning 😘

I’m seriously into gastronomy. But I won’t lie: after running tens of kilometres, a cheap biscuit tastes better than anything else on Earth. No Michelin star can compete with that moment 🍪

③ Unlike Swiss guild-based watchmaking, Seiko built everything in-house - even materials like Spron for hairsprings - to accelerate research and production. Today, Seiko has museums and factories across Japan that you can visit. I’d be the perfect guide 😘

② This shift was key to Japan’s modernisation. To unify the country under a shared time standard, watches had to be distributed fast and affordably. Seiko was tasked with producing timepieces that were accessible to everyone. It was a national mission.

① Do you know why Swiss and Japanese horology began so differently? Before watches arrived in Japan, time was measured by sunrise and sunset, meaning the length of an hour changed with the seasons. So when watches came, they introduced fixed time itself.

“As day is born or day dies, always joyful in my encounters, to ever-new delights, my thoughts must fly.” - Violetta, La Traviata, Giuseppe Verdi
Feels like my life. Have a great weekend!

Expansion of “Gamma Wave Sound” Initiatives by Pixie Dust Technologies, Inc., Shionogi & Co., Ltd. and Shionogi Healthcare Co., Ltd. to Challenge Dementia with Sound – Toward a Society Where You Can E... ピクシーダストテクノロジーズ株式会社 人類と計算機の共生ソフトウェア基盤を構築する ～計算機時代に適応した産業、文化、学問の更新～

① Japanese companies co-developed earphones designed to support cognitive function. Based on MIT research, they emit 40Hz sound, a frequency shown to reduce amyloid beta in mice brains, the substance linked to Alzheimer’s.
pixiedusttech.com/en/news/news...

② 40Hz is dominant in healthy brain activity but often missing in Alzheimer’s patients. Just wearing these earphones daily might help prevent cognitive decline. I’m also curious to see if this works for younger or neurodivergent brains; the potential is fascinating.

① ‘Almond Blossom’ is one of my favourite Van Gogh works. Painted from his psychiatric hospital room, it’s among his least distorted pieces. I guess it was a sign his mental state was calmer. It was a gift for his brother’s newborn son, carrying peace, warmth, and hope.

② From a dull, monochrome hospital view, I assume almond blossoms brought the bright promise of spring in southern France, a light of hope. Around this time, Van Gogh was also gaining respect from fellow Impressionists like Monet. Perhaps one of the highlights of his life.

③ The blossoms echo Japanese cherry blossoms he admired in ukiyo‑e prints, the composition clearly influenced by them. Originally more vivid, the flowers have faded to a softer white over time - now looking even more like the sakura he imagined.

My biggest regret: I bought Bitcoin around 2015 and spent it all straight away - on adult toys, secretly 😂 Back then, I thought crypto was just an anonymous payment method. No one in Japan saw it as an investment 10 years ago… With today’s value, those toys were absurdly expensive 🤣

① I’ve been into whisky for years (yeah, I’m not that young!) and one of my favourite weekend getaways from Tokyo is visiting a distillery. We have intriguing sake distilleries and wineries too, but Suntory’s Hakushu is such a refreshing place, even if you don’t drink whisky.