About

最.  That’s a Chinese character. About 1200 years ago, Japanese people decided to start writing stuff down and the only people they knew who could write were Chinese. They borrowed Chinese. So it’s also a word in Japanese. In Japanese, it’s pronounced “motto.” What does it mean? “motto” means “more” or “most.”

In Japan when a child wants more of something, the familiar cry is “motto motto!” It is this sound, this expression of longing for more, that initially inspired the first half of our name. Words like “sube sube” (silky) “labu labu” (in love) and my favorite, “doki doki” (heartbeat) are Japanese double-words, onomatopoeia words. “Motto motto” is like that.

When Americans say “motto”, it has a different meaning. It refers to “a short sentence or phrase chosen as encapsulating the beliefs or ideals guiding an individual, family, or institution”.  We have a motto, too. It’s this: Who doesn’t want more?

More what?  Lots of things. Culture, art & design, science and technology, photography, history, pulp covers, science fiction, vintage comics, and illustration. Our content is transpacific, because of who we are.

We feature a mix of international news and analysis, occasional original feature writing, as well as TV and movie reviews.

Go here for more about us.