Chinza Dopeness
I just discovered this artist, Chinza Dopeness, after revisiting the Wieden + Kennedy Tokyo Lab site. He’s got a pretty interesting style to say the least and the fact that he’s got the likes of the W+K crew backing him up I look forward to seeing more things from this guy in the future. For now, cop the new release, 100% RAP
Inoue Takehiko piece for Gendai Art Museum
Inoue Takehiko’s entrance space project for the 井上雄彦 最後のマンガ展 (Inoue Takehiko Last Manga Exhibition) at Gendai Art Museum. My humble translation of the text at the end of the film is as follows:
“I had been working from on top of the piece the whole time, and it was a strange feeling at first to see it lifted up. Since I couldn’t really see the piece as a whole from a distance, I was sure there would be places I would have to fix. But after we raised the painting up, it felt like it was something that no longer belonged to me and to put forth my brush any further would be inappropriate. Also, thinking back, during the process I never felt frustrated and in the end I unexpectedly didn’t feel like, ‘Yes, I did it!’ Thank you again for this precious experience!”
Takehiko’s exhibition is taking place in several locations here in Japan, hopefully I can make it to the one in Sendai. On a last note, I want to know what he was listening to…
Japan – The Strange Country
I’ve really enjoyed the recent influx of information related design that’s been popping up. This piece about Japan exemplifies some of my favorite characteristics.
Created by Kenichi Tanaka
Kami Kami ♪
I saw this on the news over here a while back and for some reason it popped into my head again. So I figured I might as well share the ridiculousness of the Kami Kami Sensor with the rest of you. Why should I have all the fun? Basically it’s a bite counter being used in some schools and I think even available for the public. But wait, there’s more. Not only does it count how many times you chew your food, it beeps when you hit 30 bites and then plays a melody at 1000 bites, YEAY! Unfortunately the way I eat it would probably take about three months to hear that melody….
image via: Mainichi
池田 学 (Manabu Ikeda)
When I first came across Ikeda’s work in Illust-note’s January publication I was blown away. Not only are his subjects surreal and invite a playful yet distorted view of the familiar, the detail in his work is like nothing I’ve seen. On the whole his pieces seem to embody one particular subject like an ocean wave or cherry blossom tree but actually the story is about all these tiny pieces that make up the larger entity. Unfortunately there is very little of his work online to view. Some of it can be seen here at Mizuma Art Gallery, but the pictures aren’t the best quality. I’m heading to Tokyo next month and I’m excited to stop by and see these works in person, and hopefully I can either snap a couple pics in detail or pick up a good book there and share a closer look at his work.
バガボンド and 墨 (Vagabond and Sumi)
I’ve never really been into manga, but I mentioned to my friend that I wanted to find some books to help step up my Japanese and I was lent the first few editions of Takehiko Inoue’s Vagabond (left pic). Since then I haven’t been able to put it down. My friend will lend me a few at a time, and I end up going back for more every time like a junkie chasing his fix. It’s been around for a bit and won some major awards, but if you don’t already know, Vagabond is a fictionalized historical graphic novel about the most famous swordsman in Japan, Musashi Miyamoto, and the struggle he shared (or rather competed) with many other sword fighters to reach 天下無双 (tenka musou), which literally means “to be peerless in the whole world”. I haven’t had a chance to check out the English translations of the series done by Viz Media, but from reviews I’ve read that it’s been very popular. I highly recommend this series not only as an entertaining look into feudal Japan, but also for it’s compelling illustrations. If that’s more your style then I would also recommend checking out Sumi (right pic) to take a look at Inoue’s pen and brush sketches.
Enjoy!
Hello! and Breathpod
For my first post I’d like to thank the Baron for the kindly intro, I think he got most of the facts right. At any rate, I’ll be keeping my eyes and ears on alert here in Japan to try and bring another perspective to the table.
First up is the debut self-titled release by Mono and DJ Serita of Breathpod. They hail from Sendai, the biggest city in northern Japan. I was able to meet Mono randomly at a wedding and he hit me up with a copy of his album, which I’m still working through the lyrics (it’s like an enigma wrapped in a puzzle, wrapped in a haiku), but I was sold on the album as a whole after the first listen. They’re still developing their personal site, but you can take a listen at their MySpace page.
New Contributor
Hailing all of the way from the Yamagata prefecture in Japan, please welcome our newest collaborator, Alex Carter! I’ve known Alex for about 20 years and know a lot of random shit about him, most of which is probably kind of useless in speaking to what sort of content he’ll share with us all. I could go on about his sushi swordmanship, his infatuation with teaching English to small Asian children, his artsy superpowers or even how he has a cobra tattooed on his chest. Most of which are fairly interesting, only some of which are true (I’ll let him explain) and should all lend an interesting perspective to our, somewhat culturally singular point of view on this blog.
Cohort Name: Alex Carter (brsly)
Location: Yamagata, Japan (By way of many places)
Special Powers: Knives / Tentacle Obsession
Website: brsly.com
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