Running Red Lights

  • Kojo Moe

    Japanese industrial tourism — also known as kojo moe, roughly translated as factory passion or factory infatuation — was a smallish fad in Japan a couple years ago. Factories and oil refineries became tourist attractions and people would take night trips to experience and photograph the industrial sights of heavy industry. This kind of stuff is right up my alley, I love the rough, brutal, functional aesthetic of factories, and nighttime lighting adds a whole other dimension.

    Kojo MoeThe fad started in 2007 after the publication of a book called Kojo Moe by Ken Oyama. It’s hard to find in the US but I got a copy off Ebay along with the follow-up book. They’re filled with fantastic photos of factories, lots of pipes, scaffolding, chimneys, furnaces, smokestacks, railings, etc. They have a certain industrial, cyberpunk beauty which I love. And they’re just dense with so much factory stuff.

    When I was in Tokyo a few years ago I tried to book a Yokohama night cruise which passed through some industrial zones along Tokyo Bay, but I couldn’t go because it’s only for Japanese. Apparently the boat captain gives emergency instructions in Japanese only, so as a safety precaution you have to be able to understand the instructions. Oh well.

  • Mickey Mouse Park was Walt Disney’s unbuilt idea for a theme park that pre-dates Disneyland. It was a compact park envisioned for the vacant lot across the street from Disney Studios in Burbank. Back in the ’30s, as Disney movies became more popular fans would send letters asking to meet characters and tour the studios like at nearby Universal Studios. Mickey Mouse Park was Walt’s idea to satisfy people who wanted to visit the studios.

    On this small plot of land they managed to fit a narrow-gauge railway, a lake and an island, a Main St and Town Square, a farm, a Western-themed town, a carnival, a railroad station, shops, restaurants, and some small rides. Ultimately, Disney’s ambition outgrew the small site, and, along with opposition from Burbank, led to abandoning the idea. Instead he built the Disneyland that we all know today. As for the Burbank land, they built office buildings instead and it can still be seen on Google Maps today (image below). It looks like they built the 134 freeway across the bottom part of the land.

    I really like the small-scale of the concept, it seems quaint and relaxing and good for spontaneous spur-of-the-moment visits, unlike modern Disney resorts where you’re encouraged to plan everything weeks or months ahead. Mickey Mouse Park seems more like your neighborhood park (with a $100 million budget.)

  • I’m digging these limited edition Lego sets that will be open for pre-order tomorrow. These are the winners of Series 1 of the Bricklink Designer Program, where Lego fans design sets that are voted on. Winning sets go into limited production and apparently the winners get 5% of the proceeds. There’s Parisian Street, Mountain Fortress, Old Train Shed, General Store, and Snack Shack. They’re really cool and highly detailed, I especially like the Western-themed General Store, the weathering of the mismatched wood planks and missing shingles are a great touch. And the Snack Shack is so cute, that palm tree’s so awesome!

  • And related to the last post is Lost Epcot, a website dedicated to documenting the lost and changed pieces of Epcot history. It looks really comprehensive, they cover old attractions, renamed attractions, old souvenirs, restaurants, etc. Lots of vintage pictures too.

  • I should’ve done some more digging when I posted that World of Motion recreation video. Turns out it’s from Futureport ’82, a digital recreation of the Future World part of Epcot Center as it was on opening day in 1982. It’s built in Unreal Engine and available for download. It looks really impressive.

    I went to Epcot when I was 8 years old and the park has changed so much now that it’s a total nostalgia trip to be able to (digitally) walk around Epcot like it was when I was a kid. For example the Communicore buildings were turned into shopping/restaurants, and just recently they’ve torn down half of Communicore West and built a garden, so it’s awesome to see the science and technology exhibits that used to be in there. And I distinctly remember watching the “Backstage Magic” show in the little theater but I forgot where it was actually located.

  • Dystopika is a new city-building game like SimCity and Cities Skylines except here you’re building a futuristic cyberpunk city. It has tons of neon, moody weather, flying cars, everything you’d expect. Apparently this game just focuses on the fun of city building cause there is no management, goals, budgets, etc. unlike in SimCity.