New Hacoa goodies plus Mokulock bricks arrived!

Today some new wooden goodies arrived straight from Japan! My order included a Donguri Korokoro Toy (どんぐりころころ) in green, a LongTray Sumimaru out of alder wood, same as the one arrived last month (earlier post), a Wasurena (勿忘)  out of walnut and Mokulock (モクロック) wooden bricks!

The Wasurena is very impressive item and it’s a shame that the photos don’t do it justice. The Mokulock bricks are made out of different tree species (e.g. maple, cherry, birch, hornbeam) and they are simply amazing to look at!!!

Lexus LS L-Select program: Escape Journey

There many beautiful items produced in Japan that unfortunately are not available outside the country. The same implies for the L-Select customization program available for the Lexus LS.

As part of the L-Select program (more info), there are six ‘worlds’ from which to choose the look and feel of your interior. Those "worlds" are the Presidential Suite, Escape Journey, Japanese Modern (my personal favourite), Royal Therapy, Wild Beauty and Passionate Spirit. The most distinct ones are definately the Escape Journey and the Passionate Spirit and although they may seem as extreme at first glance, the craftmanship and colour combinations are simply amazing.

The Escape Journey (more info) in particular conjures the image of a Mediterranean style yacht. The Marine Blue (マリンブルー) leather on the dashboard is spread in such a way that reproduces the scene of a steering cruiser aiming at the horizon (Kajiwokiru 舵を切る)! The aluminium trim also conjures the image of how the water reflects light.

Source of photos: Luxury TV

Source of price list: kotakunのページ

nanoblock Tengu

Kawada releases every year some special New Year themed sets and for 2014, the Fukusuke and White Horse sets were released.

Kawada has released, as part of the Kumikae Collection, building instructions for a Tengu (天狗), based on the White Horse set. The Tengu set was the winner of the nanoblock award 2013-2014 and it was designed by DaraKero (@DaraKero on twitter)!

nanoblock Manta Ray

A nice and simple set with around 150 bricks. The Manta Ray will be placed along with the Whale Shark, the Great White Shark and the Zero Fighter sets. I now only need some MokuLock bricks and the display box will be completed!

New Nissan Murano

Japanese automakers have started teaching Europeans some serious lessons when it comes to design. The all-new Nissan Murano is yet another impressive Japanese SUV! The current-gen model was a very nice car and its successor continues to be very stylish and dynamic. Nissan's designers have tried to hide the D-pillar and it does look the part when you look the car from far away. For sure it's not as clean and sharp as the new Lexus NX, my favourite SUV, but it remains nevertheless one of the best looking SUVs I have seen the last few years.

The interior also looks very impressive with interesting materials and surfaces. Again, Lexus NX is the benchmark for me when it comes to design, but I definitaly like the unusual white striated "wood" trim.

nanoblock Great White Shark

Just finished the Great White Shark. A nice set, but the Whale Shark is my favourite nanoblock fish :-)

nanoblock Whale Shark

This Whale Shark set is being sold exculsively inside the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan and I was lucky enought to have it sent from Japan! Building this set was fairly easy with no surpirses and it comes with some “L” shape bricks that I haven’t seen before.

Lexus officially reveals all-new NX

Today’s automotive industry is a disappointed in my view. There is an endless fight, especially between the premium manufacturers, of how many models each maker can introduce in the market, while true quality and design are left behind. The only companies that have chosen to stay out of this fight is Lexus and Volvo.

Lexus is a company that I really respect and admire, although some of their past models didn’t have a clear character. This has changed over the recent years and they have managed to come up with an impressive design language! It is bold and unique, while at the same time differs between their models, although the principles are the same. I am really impressed by the new IS, the amazing RC and now with the all-new NX.

Since road conditions are far from ideal where I live, an SUV would be the best type of car to drive and for sure the NX would be my choice. As soon as Lexus introduces a configurator, it will be only a matter of shorting out the financial bit...

First nanoGauge sets arrived!

A big box arrived a couple of days ago including my first nanoGauge sets! Shinkansen 0 was left out, but it is definately coming with the next order as it is my favourite one. More motor and bogie units will be needed, after finding first a suitable space to build the track.

Oh, I got also some special sets - Whal Shark, Sea Otter and King Penguin - which are sold exclusively inside the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan!!!