GIANT ENEMY CRAB DOT NET

Speaking for myself, as well as everyone else who contributes to this site, we were born and grew up in a particular era of mixed cold-war trepidation and militarism, mixed with a fine sense of optimism and a fascination with the future. That in itself might help to explain part of our continuing fascination with Japan (equal parts doom and happiness, traveling at high speed, 15 minutes into the future). To that end, Japan, during that particular era - the late 1970s through the 1980s - left an indelible impression on many of our generation through its own brand of imported pop culture.

Famed white guy in Japan, Matt Alt, along with fellow author, Robert Duban, and photographer, Tim Brisko, have captured a slice of that pop culture pie that Japan sent our way in the form of die-cast metal and plastic in their book, Super #1 Robot.

Having recently found the book while browsing Amazon.com, I felt it necessary to post something about it as the topic the book covers pushes so many buttons for myself and likely does the same for my like-minded friends. The gorgeous photos highlight a particularly weird corner of a sub-set of a generation's cross-cultural fascinations. It's definitely the geekiest coffee table book I've ever seen and its now officially on my Christmas wish list.