JAPAN’S STRANGEST THEME RESTAURANTS (11.09.12)

Whether you fancy dining with cats, bio-engineered zombies or kawaii maids, you’ll never forget a meal at one of these unusual concept eateries.

Hey foodies, planning a trip to Japan any time soon? Well, even if you’re not, one look at the country’s strangest theme restaurants will make you wish you were. In a country known for its unique, intriguing and sometimes truly bizarre customs and trends, the recent rise in theme restaurants will come as no surprise to many. Taking an intensely creative approach to dining out, these restaurants are big on setting and atmosphere, transporting customers on mystical culinary adventures populated by monsters, robots or even, erm, a lot of cats.

ART/CULTURE: TERRY O’NEILL INTERVIEW (DON’T PANIC MARCH 2012)

Along with fellow photographers David Bailey and Brian Duffy, Terry O’Neill’s images defined the Sixties era, and the last six decades have seen him shoot every star-studded name from Churchill and Brigitte Bardot to The Rolling Stones. We talk to Terry about his upcoming Reworked exhibition at London’s Rook & Raven gallery, and what it means to truly be an icon.

Your upcoming Reworked exhibition will see a range of contemporary artists reinterpret your work. What made you decide to go for the reworked format?

Working with Rook & Raven’s eclectic mix of contemporary artists really appealed to me; I love feeling excited about what young talent can do with my images. This project has given me a real buzz. It reminds me of the sixties, because there’s no reason or plan – it’s organic, interesting and not clichéd. It’s anarchic, which is what the sixties were all about. 

CULTURE/ART/MUSIC: SLIMEPUNK (SUPERSUPER! VOL 2 #004)

There’s a new Internet meme on the horizon. It’s thick. It’s green. It OOZES. It’s… slimepunk! Starting off as a trolling game on Facebook and shaped by ‘likes’, #slimepunk is set to take 2k12 – and your Tumblr page – by storm…

While #seapunk gave us turquoise hair, idyllic ocean scenes and an almost disturbing love of dolphins last year, slimepunk is all about getting greener, grimier and naaastier – think noxious colours, polluted sounds and, above all, LETHAL DOSES OF SLIME.

CULTURE: NEW NEW YORK (SUPERSUPER! VOL 1 #23)

New York, New York. Whether or not we’ve actually set foot there, everybody has an archetypal image of ‘The Big Apple’ – be it a snow-shaker globe of towering skyscrapers and gridlocked yellow taxis, a blood-stained Patrick Bateman shopping in Bergdorf’s, or 40+ women sashaying down ‘sidewalks’ in haute couture. But New New York? What’s that?

‘New New York’ is SUPERSUPER!’s take on the collective spirit defining the most inspiring and creative innovative talent to have come out of the city over the last few years, leaving its star-spangled mark on every artistic field (from fashion to media to music). Names like stylist Jason Farrer, the TELFAR label, and newer entities like DIS magazine are part of an aesthetic community that is slowly but surely starting to grab the attention of the rest of the world, with their collective creative efforts distinguishing NYC’s first steps into the new cultural decade.

CULTURE: PETER, DEPTFORD MARKET (ARTHUR AND ALBERT #2, 2010)

Passing through the forest of children’s windmill toys that marks the entrance to Deptford Market, I enter a noisy, colourful metropolis of vintage treasures, second-hand finds, and bizarre, confounding and sometimes hilarious pieces of stuff.

CULTURE: RAVERS RETURN (SUPERSUPER! MAGAZINE VOL 1 #23)

Bored of everything that clubs, pubs and X Factor have to offer you on a Saturday night? Maybe the latest wave of free parties is the way forward! Charlotte McManus sets out to discover what makes them great, and if they’re really worth all the trouble…

CALLING ALL RAVING CREWS! REJOICE! THE ORIGINAL ‘88 PARTY SPIRIT IS BACK!