Amy Richardson

Mini plastic food
I know I should've stopped buying toys a loooooong time ago, but how could I resist the Re-Ment Disney 1950s Cafe Set? Re-Ment makes collectable mini plastic food sets in blind boxed containers in hundreds of themes, from Family Diner to Airline Meals to Panda Kindergarten. In the Disney 1950s Cafe Set, options included the Mickey Mouse shaped fried eggs set, Mickey's Cafe club sandwich set, Mickey's Cafe donuts set, and so on, but I must admit I was holding out for the Mickey Mouse burger, fries and onion rings set, so how excited was I when I opened the box! I'm now religiously checking the Re-Ment website (www.re-ment.us) and Flickr Re-Ment Addicts photo pool for more mini plastic collectable cuteness.

Women-only train carriages
I jump on board one of these (often pink) subway carriages when I travel in the rush hour. There are pink signs on the platform to indicate where to board. They were introduced in Tokyo and Osaka in 2000 after a high level of complaints from women about being groped by chikan (male perverts) on crowded trains. Even though they're designated women-only at certain hours of the day, guys tend to avoid them the rest of the day anyway, and they're often less crowded than other carriages.

Macro mode on my camera
I will be eternally in debt to my always-in-the-technology-know friend Stef for recommending the Canon Powershot G9 when I was shopping for a new digi-cam. The macro mode is perfect for taking pictures of food and cute mini things, ideal for living in Japan. My BF and I have just discovered the stop-motion mode which allows you to make cool stop-motion videos easily. The G9 rocks!



Botchan by Soseki Natsume
I am trying to branch out into Japanese authors other than Haruki Murakami while I am living here. Since I am working in Japanese high schools teaching English, I found this book, about a college graduate who moves to the island of Shikoku to teach Maths to unruly high school boys, hilarious. It was written in 1904, so it's also an interesting way to learn about Japanese life during the Meiji period (1868-1912).

Perfume - Love the World
If this isn't the catchiest J-Pop since Perfume's last hit, Chocolate Disco, then I didn't just buy a Hello Kitty tap decorator for my bathroom sink. (I totally did, and she waves her arms when the water runs. Did I mention how much I love Japan?)

Amy Richardson is always discovering bright and beautiful things. A former staffer on magazines such as Home Beautiful and Girlfriend, she's since landed in Japan to do everything from make umeshu plum wine, teach English, master capoeira and document every hyper-coloured piece of pop culture and eye-stunning bite of food there is. She took those awesome pics above and you can check out her other cool shots here.

Will Bond

Bruschetta
I made it twice this week – once because we had company and again because I made it so well the first time. It’s not anything new, but it’s one of those magical concoctions that tastes amazing, takes about five minutes to prepare and impresses guests because it looks kinda fancy. Don’t cheap out - use good parmesan and it becomes a revelation.

Diet Coke
From the lower end of the culinary scale, there’s times where approximately 20% of my body weight is this mysterious black drink. Usually on Saturdays.

Ghostface Killah
“Catch the blast of a hype verse, my glock burst, leave in a hearse, I did worse” – the first lines of the opening track from Wu Tang’s classic 1993 album 36 Chambers came from Ghostface and since then he hasn’t stopped. There’s always at least one album of his on my iPod, usually a couple. 15 years on and he’s prolific – three albums in the last 18 months. Who does that?

Vans
I had a brief flirtation with fancy sneakers but then came to my senses. Vans Half Cabs and Chukkas are doing it for me now - they’re simple and comfortable.

Japan
I don't think I'm the first list-contributor to nominate this country. I’m going back to Japan with my girl in October. After my first visit last year I just dream of being there. The people, the food (especially the food), the shopping, the all-you-can-drink karaoke – it’s amazing.

Will Bond has a heatseeking ability to find the most judicious beats for your dancefloor. You can check out his bullseye musical precision when he runs Favela Rock. You can also get all mouseclicky with the Opulent magazine blog where Will tracks his thoughts on everything from R Kelly to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Menu-wise, he's also managed to conquer gozleme, tapas and vegan cheesecake, which is pretty impressive.

Mark Drew

Cafe Ish
Excellent coffee and menu, excellent people. Plus I have two paintings hanging in there right now.
Shop 2, 102 Albion Street, Surry Hills NSW (02) 9281 1688.

Japan
36° north of the equator. Love it. Miss the convenience.

Print Gocco: Toy screenprinting kit
Analogue technology and painless process makes me the happiest. Perfect addition to any zine workshop.

Old 'Peanuts' books
Man's inhumanity to man - Charlie Brown tells it like it is.

Twin Peaks
I wasn't interested in the TV show the first time round, but just
getting stuck into the DVDs. Finally I get Homer Simpson's reference!

Mark Drew is a zine magnate, whose stapled projects include Long Story Short (with Beccy Joe Stuart), My Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades (with Tristan Serps) and several miniature zines of screen shots from 80s films that slug you with a huge bout of nostalgia. He also runs China Heights gallery, which got so popular it had to move to a new address: 257 Crown Street, Darlinghurst NSW.