Big in Japan: Can’t win the guys? Try anime eyes!!

by Matthew Firestone on

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, which is certainly a good thing given that the human form comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes…

Indeed, first-timers in Japan quickly realize that Japanese standards of beauty are very, very different than those in the West. While individual tastes certainly vary, Japanese men – if you’ll permit me to broadly generalize for a moment – prize cuteness and innocence over sexiness and poise.

In fact, you don’t have to look very hard to find evidence of this statement. Don’t believe me? Just turn on any Japanese anime, and take a good look at the female protagonists. While their bodily dimensions are certainly not based in reality, their physical attributes are nevertheless striking, particularly those big watery eyes set against tiny faces.

Of course, no real woman could ever hope to mirror these graphical representations of idealized beauty…or could they?

On that note, allow me to introduce you to the newest fashion craze over here in Japan, namely contact lens that give you the much sought after ‘anime eyes.’

If you ask Japanese men to describe their perfect face, most will tell you that the answer lies in anime and manga.

While Westerners might find big eyes set against a small face to be comical, in Japan this image is a much sought after standard of beauty. In a country where cuteness is king, there is something irresistible about fluttering lashes, doughy eyes and an expression of childlike innocence.

Sadly, nature doesn’t always endow actual humans with anime traits, though you can still win over the guys by simply popping in some contacts and getting those anime eyes. Recently, a number of companies in Asia are starting to produce extra-wide contacts, which have thicker color bars to give the illusion that your irises are much larger than normal.

While initial reactions to these new contacts run the gamut from sheer horror to swelling envy, you have to admit that they’re a far better alternative to plastic surgery. And after all, Sailor Moon might not be everyone’s idealized image of female beauty, but on a number of fundamental levels, she is preferable to Paris Hilton.

But, why stop there? Color contacts are in amongst Tokyo’s famous Harajuku girls, so you why not try bizarre colors such as fluorescent purple, lime green and electric blue. Or, you can really spice things up with special effects lens – give into your feline side by flashing cat eyes, or show your Slytherin House pride with lizard eye slits.

Anime-inspired beauty and fashion might not be sweeping across the runways of Paris and Milan, but it’s all the rage in a fair number of spots in Japan and across Asia. So, if you’ve already got the platform shoes, the blue hair, the crazy pigtails and a good complement of kawaii (cute) accessories, why not round out the package with some anime eyes?

After all, 60 million Japanese men can’t be wrong! (^_^)

Behind the Olympics: An architectural tour of the venues

by Jerry Guo on

If you’re watching the Olympics on TV, you’re quite familiar with the over-the-top athletic venues here. To say they boast a “wow” factor is an understatement. These testaments to China’s growing architectural prowess (or at least their deepening wallets, as most of the designs are by foreign architects) are sure to be tourist destinations long after the end of these Games.

But if you’re a bit confused as to what’s the bird’s nest versus the bird’s egg or whether the water cube is made out of water, here’s a cheat-sheet for you.

  • Bird’s nest. Its official name is the National Stadium, but locals and foreigners alike will forever call it by what it looks like. This venue hosted the epic opening ceremony, which culminated in a torch lighting never seen before (Chinese gymnast Li Ning “ran” or “flew”, depending on how you see it, around the stadium’s rim on wires). Now it’s host to the track and field competitions along with some soccer bouts.
  • Water cube. An iconic venue in its own right, the water cube sits right next to the nest. Again, its official name is more staid: the Aquatics Center, which houses some 17,000 people here too watch swimming and diving. And those bubbles? No water inside–they’re made out of ETFE (ethylene tetrafluoroethylene), a plastic.
  • National Indoor Stadium. The lack of a cute name should clue you in. Not much of an architectural gem here, unless you’re into the whole communism school of thought. You’ll be stuck here if you have tickets for gymanstics, handball, or something called trampoline (and no, this stadium isn’t in someone’s backyard).
  • Shunyi Rowing-Canoeing Park. Considering that China makes its first Olympic debut in rowing–a sport it’s literally invested millions upon millions–this facility is quite remarkable and worth a visit, if nothing else to do some kayaking or rowing and escape the fumes in the city.
  • Peking University Gymnasium. Possibly the poshest college gym ever, this new facility–get this–holds nothing else but ping pong matches. It’s well worth the visit because you’ll be on the campus of historic Peking University, the Harvard of China, with its spectacular Asian scenery and little temples on lakes.
  • Terminal 3. Host of the hang-gliding events (OK, I wish), terminal 3 is the newest addition to Beijing’s rather flimsy airport. But Norman Foster’s newest creation, in the shape of a giant plane, boasts some 60 restaurants and 80 restaurants. It’s also the biggest terminal in the world. You might have to fly here just to see an airport.

Talking travel with founder of globorati.com

by Jerry Guo on

I’m here with Mark Jolly, founder and editor of globorati, the top luxury travel site for the stylish jet set. Mark is also a contributing editor at Conde Nast Traveler, having reported from over 60 countries and lived on four continents. He’s here to talk about everything from which diamond-infused lotion is appropriate for your next getaway to Miami to the next big luxury destination (in South America, but not Brazil or Argentina).

globorati has covered some pretty over-the-top vacation packages. Are such experiences becoming more prevalent. What are some particularly extravagant ones coming up?

Most of what globorati covers is focused on useful, up-to-the-moment stories that capture the thrill and beauty of travel. But every now and again we’ll run something on a big-ticket, through-the-roof, ultra-luxe experience. The sort of stuff I call “sick travel” – stuff like a $700 breakfast at the new Ritz-Carlton Moscow, or a $30,000 private-jet expedition to Antarctica, or a $50,000 one-night package at the Four Seasons Miami (the massage uses lotion infused with ground diamonds). The other day, we ran a story on a $1 million vacation to Dubai. You can file that one under “vacations for the cash-rich, sense-poor traveler.”

What’s been the cushiest trip you’ve ever splurged on?

Sounds like an odd thing to say, but I’m a professional traveler: I normally get paid to travel and experience different cultures. The most singular journey I’ve ever taken has to be the Concorde. The experience was a thing of beauty: the captain invited me to sit in the cockpit, and from my seat, at 60,000 feet, I saw a panoramic sky that was an incomparably richer, darker blue than anything I’d seen at subsonic altitude. And at 23 miles-per-minute, I could make out the curvature of the earth. For the foreseeable future there’s absolutely nothing in commercial aviation that will come close to the Concorde.
There’s been a rise in luxury accommodations in some very unexpected places: Easter Island, Antarctica, Bhutan. Are there any particular cases that come up in your mind?

Welcome to “extreme luxury.” We’re seeing the term used more and more now, and by some measure it relates to those once-in-a-lifetime adrenaline adventures that come with the pampering and the personalized attention usually reserved for five-star experience. Some of the set-ups that have caught globorati’s attention are the no- to low-footprint projects sprinkled throughout the world’s remote destinations. Malikha Lodge, for example, is Myanmar’s only upscale retreat in the foothills of the Himalayas and backs on to Asia’s largest tiger reserve. Perfect Earth Tours has a hideaway in the Yukon, which touts “the world’s first organic canvas teepees,” with queen-size beds and private bathrooms. Abercrombie & Kent – which has a whole new program dedicated to extreme adventures starting this fall – has even created the world’s first wilderness camp in Antarctica.

Glamping, jetrosexuals, flashpackers, and of course, Globoratis. Can you help us sort out these demographics?

It’s funny how fixated the media is on the new buzzwords of luxury travel.

Our first big media splash was a New York Post piece that interviewed us about glamping, and since then, that’s normally been the first thing people ask us! globorati.com is though, I concede, part of the circus too: I concocted the name as a way to allude to a new breed of luxury traveler who values the experience, not the price tag, of the world’s best travel possibilities. You’ve got the glitterati, the literati and now the globorati – whom I like to think of as stylish, intellectually curious world travelers rather than big-ticket consumers.

Tell us a bit about how you came to start globorati.com. You already landed your cushy gig at CNT right?

I still wear my contributing-editor cap for Conde Nast Traveler and, even after 10 years, it’s a privilege to be given the resources and trust to explore a destination so thoroughly. But there’s no escaping the fact it’s a monthly magazine. The world of luxury travel moves much faster than that and so I wanted to find a voice that spoke to those travelers searching for a daily scoop on the world’s hottest new hotels and travel experiences. Before globorati there was absolutely nowhere for people to go for this.

Speaking of cushy gigs, how did you get your start in travel writing? I heard that you’ve never accepted a guide book commission. Is that an overrated path to cracking into travel journalism?

I wrote my first paid travel story in college, when I was the editor of Oxford’s magazine, Isis – I got a university travel grant to hitch-hike from New Hampshire to New Mexico and write about the experience. But there’s this misguided notion that the path to travel writing is routed through travel. I believe the key is the lonely, exacting, painstaking discipline of writing. And rewriting. And rewriting.

If we’re talking about getting into and learning the craft of travel journalism, I’d say guidebook writing isn’t so much overrated as it is pointless. (The fact it’s poorly paid is a separate issue altogether.) The craft of quality travel journalism is based on the same writing and reporting rudiments common to all feature journalism, and there’s little way to learn that from filing a book full of listings (of course some guidebooks offer more than this but the foundation of all guidebooks is really the listings element).

What’s the next big luxury destination/region?

Peru has lain for a long time in the shadows of its two sexier neighbors, Brazil and Argentina. But now the smart-set is waking up to Peru’s riches beyond Machu Picchu.

What about three trends you see in this upscale market?

The growth of green travel and the rising cost of air travel will be even bigger stories in 2009. But what’s interesting is how these two factors have sparked the romance of train travel again. The Eurostar has dramatically reversed the air-domination of journeying from London to Paris. And just look at Spain: the new high-speed train from Madrid to Barcelona has already stolen one-fifth of Iberia’s business. In the luxe market, we’re seeing more and more one-of-a-kind train journeys – often billed as overland “cruises” – which pile on the pampering and customized services but without the guilt of longhaul air travel. This includes the new Danube Express, the Great Brazil Express (Brazil’s first ever luxury train), and Australia’s coast-to-coast Platinum service on Great Southern Rail.

And lastly, what are some tips you have for pulling off a luxury trip without breaking the bank?

Isolate which is the one experience you value most when you travel: where you eat or where you lay your head or how you get there or whatever… and then splurge on that one thing as you tighten the budget everywhere else. For my firs
t time in Venice I decided I had to book a romantic room right on the Grand Canal, despite the cost. But we ate cheap, walked everywhere and ditched the gondola option. It was heaven.

Chaos in Punta Cana: Armed guards evict stranded U.S. Airways passengers from Dominican airport

by Jeffrey White on

There’s still no word on whether U.S. Airways has managed to sort out a horrific customer relations breakdown, after it kicked 274 of its passengers out of the Punta Cana International Airport in the Dominican Republic’s last Friday in the face of Tropical Storm Fay.

U.S. Airways had to cancel its flight from Punta Cana to Philadelphia due to the storm, which had caused the delays of several other flights. Also, some passengers have told television stations that U.S. Airways reps said crew members had run out of hours and therefore could not fly.

Now, the airline will certainly point to its contract of carriage, which states that it is under no obligation to put up stranded passengers and pay for their food in the event of weather delays.

However, it appears the manner in which passengers were treated could have been handled a bit, well, better.

Armed guards were sent in to evict the passengers from the airport, even though none had other accommodation secured. Reportedly one passenger came close to getting arrested after demanding answers from airline staff.

There were no hotel rooms available in the area, and passengers reportedly slept on a bus.

This weekend they were still struggling to get back to Philadelphia as U.S. Airways flights from the Dominican were severely overbooked.

The Consumerist has some video and a few eye witness reports.

Photo of the Day (08.17.08)

by Jeremy Kressmann on

It’s been a long week at work, and I’m spent. Somehow I think this napping sea lion, taken by Flickr user goalielax, would probably agree with me. Goalielax caught this guy snoozing on Isla Española, one of the many islands that make up the Galapagos National Park in Ecuador. Take the rest of this lazy summer Sunday to rest up people, there’s another week ahead of us!

Have any great images you’ve taken during your travels? Why not share them with Gadling? Add them to the Gadling group pool on Flickr and we just might select your shot as our Photo of the Day.