Hasta La Ideas

Yesterday, Kickstarter opened up its platform to Japan, further expanding its reach to welcome creators in the incredibly innovative country. Not only are they opening their platform, they are also making the backend experience easier for Japanese creators through offering customer service, the website and mobile app in Japanese. 

For the launch of the expanded platform, Kickstarter filled its roster with some rather exciting campaigns. Our favorites include those that rethink transportation methods and update traditional Japanese craft:

A snowboard accessory that transforms your board into a bike. Merging X Game sports seems to be a trend amongst transportation designers, and we’re along for the ride.

CrossHelmet is a smart motorcycle helmet with sound control and 360 degree visibility. We can’t help but picture the motorcycle gang of the future wearing these and communicating during rides.

These traditional Japanese woodblock prints depicting epic video game character battles brings together two things worth nerding out over—video games and process porn.

Given this taste of what we can expect from Japanese designers, engineers and entrepreneurs, we’re excited to see what the country brings to the crowdfunding table next.