PingMag talked to Yuki Hikosaka and Izumi Morito of Hikosaka Woodblock Print Workshop to find out more about their “baking” skills.

First off, how did you start making woodblock prints?

It started when I made woodblock prints at primary and middle school. I think they were both monochrome self portraits, but I remember that I really enjoyed making them, and my teacher was really impressed. Then I went on to art college, and at first I enrolled in the painting degree, but there happened to be a woodblock printing course and my prints were admired then, too. So, to be honest, I guess it was the praise from other people around me that led me to wood block printing.

Can you explain simply how you make a woodblock print?

​ 1) Draw you image 2) Carve it 3) Print it. Those are the three stages. In the first stage, I imagine the final image as I draw, but at the same time I also figure out how many layers it will be split into, and how many colors. So in a way it’s more like making a blueprint than simply drawing a picture. In stage two, you transfer your drawing onto a wooden board, and then carve away the parts that you don’t need. And in stage three, you ink up the board with paint, place Japanese paper on top of it and use a tool called a baren to rub over it and transfer the ink to the paper. You can see from the images below that the croissant, for example, is divided into four boards, and needs to be printed four times.

What made you choose bread as your motif?

​ When I was at college, I had a part time job at a bakery, and the bread there was really beautiful. I thought it looked great, so I tried drawing it. When it came to actually making the prints, though, it turned out that more than just being pretty, the natural inconsistencies in the woodblocks was very similar to the uneven way bread browns in the oven, so from then on I’ve been printing bread.

My image of woodblock prints is that the colors are pretty obviously separated, but in your bread prints the gradations are really smooth. How do you achieve gradations like that with a wood print?

You put ink onto the block only where it will be darkest, and then work it into a natural gradation with a paintbrush. To get the breadth of gradation I want, sometimes I print the same block two, or even three times.

What is the hardest part of drawing and printing bread?

The cut edge of french bread is the most difficult to get right. If you carve the block at random with your chisels, you can get a look in the wood similar to the inside of a baguette. Then you print and carve and print and carve again and again, making minute adjustments until the carving looks just like inside of cut bread. It can take a whole day just to get that bit right.

The prints are wonderful pictures, but they also look like they’d be great to eat. Do think it is because you use woodblock printing that you can get that “deliciousness”?

​ I think there are two reasons the bread looks delicious. First is the similarities between the inconsistencies in the wood, and in baked bread. And the other is that even though you know it’s a picture, it doesn’t look as though it has been drawn. One of the features of woodblock printing is that, unlike paintings or drawing, or some other printing techniques, there are no traces of a brush or pen. Also, when you rub to transfer the print with the baren, the ink isn’t transfered to the surface of the Japanese paper, but it soaks right into the paper’s fibres, so the color is actually in the paper itself. I think that’s what makes it possible to imagine the prints as real, delicious bread.

In the past you have printed things other than bread. Do you want to keep working on bread prints, or have you any other ideas for the future?

​ I’m thinking of doing a series of vegetables. Actually, I’ve already started working on them. I’m drawing vegetables we eat every day like tomatoes, bell peppers, cabbage and things. Each vegetable has a completely different color and shape, so I’m hoping I can bring out those qualities and make a series quite different to the bread prints.

Thank you, Yuki Hikosaka and Izumi Morito!

Hikosaka Woodblock Print Workshop currently has a show in Hyogo Prefecture, but will be taking part in an event in Tokyo on May 24th! There will be actual bread on sale too, so head along to feed both your eyes and your stomach!

Hikosaka Woodblock Print Workshop
http://www.facebook.com/hicohan

Pancore
Venue: Tokyu Hands Ikebukuro, 1F Event Space
Address: 1-28-10 Ikebukuro, Toshimaku, Tokyo
Tel: 03-3980-6111 (Tokyu Hands)
PanLab

Yuki Hikosaka ‘Bakery Himuka Bread Exhibition’
Venue: TRONCO
Times: May 11th (Sat) to May 26th (Sun) 2013, 11:30-19:00
Address: 202-2 Inuishinmachi, Sasayama, Hyogo
Tel: 079-552-3680
http://www.troncotronco.com/

Yuki Hikosaka ‘Bread and Woodprints’ book event at bookstores across Tokyo
Utrecht
http://www.nowidea.info/

B&B
http://bookandbeer.com/

Koenji Shorin
http://kouenjishorin.jugem.jp/?pid=1

Some of the answers can perhaps be found in the Democratic Party of Japan Public Review Session.

The event was open to members of the public aged thirty or under. Organized by the Party’s youth committee as a chance to consider seriously why the DPJ government ended in failure, five hundred people turned up to listen to the panel: former Prime Minister Naoto Kan, former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, and Akira Nagatsuma, former Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare. The event was divided into three parts, the first an open talk session between the three politicians and the audience, and the second a group discussion between the young audience members. And it then ended in a meet-and-greet mingling event.

The event was streamed live on Nico Nico Douga and Ustream, with over 10,000 users watching it online. It also trended on Twitter (#daihansei), meaning it all felt much bigger than the confines of the venue space itself.

PingMag took a seat in the audience for the evening

The day of the event was rainy. In spite of the wet weather, though, the venue was packed with members of the press, as well as the hundreds of participants. Each seat had the log-in details with which you could post questions to an online message board anonymously. Before the proceedings got started, everyone could be seen earnestly punching in their questions via their smartphones. There were also hardcore participants who had their computers open, simultaneously typing in questions while also watching the Nico Nico Douga broadcast. All in all, the air was bristling with expectation and excitement for what was about to happen.

Although you had to have the ID and password that were left on participants’ seats at the venue to contribute questions, anyone could still log in and view the content of the special forum. This meant that the people watching via Nico Nico Douga or Ustream could participate but, unlike the people actually there in the flesh, were not able to offer their own questions to the panelists.

The moment the three veteran legislators say down, the debate immediately ignited. As announced in advance, there was to be no speech or address from the trio, just answers to the questions selected immediately from the forum. The facilitator was Yujun Wakashin, who seemed to want to throw lots of questions at the panelists but struggled from the start when they overtalked.

Well, I posted a question and by chance it was quickly selected.

Q. To be blunt, what’s the relationship like between the LDP and DPJ? Good or bad?

There’s something pretty exciting about being able to ask a question directly to a former prime minister! And no matter what you ask, it seems you can trust a politician to give a serious answer.

The bulletin board saw over twenty questions and comments added every minute, a non-stop surge of questions. There was a “like” button which you could click to indicate your preference for a question, but the pace of the log was so fast it seemed like it was hard for Wakashin to keep up.

The content of the board ranged from serious questions to the less so (“Are you an alien?”), as well as plain criticisms. At times it seemed to be collapsing into a forum more like 2channel. Regardless of whether your questions would be picked or not, there was simply no holding back for the posters as it was all anonymous.

Things were exploding on Twitter as well, as the participants and people watching the livestream tweeted furiously, turning the social media channel to all intents and purposes into a second question board.

It was all over before you knew it. With the first session finished, the panelists departed and then the press was asked to leave. There was also a significant exodus of the general participants at this point, whittling numbers down to something like half. Comments like “Disappointing! I’m going home!” suddenly sprang up on the bulletin board, presumably posted by the people leaving early. The press pack was waiting outside keen to harvest negative quotes from the premature departures and interview them with leading questions. The livestream broadcast also finished with the first session and the rest of the event was not open to the public.

Online, the response seemed to be that the supposed highlight of the event, making effective use of the internet, had not been a success.

During the event there were many comments posted to the message board calling for improvements to how it was being run. Comments mentioned the need for a more efficient way of selecting the questions, since the flow of the board was so fast and more people were needed to collate the content. Another idea suggested was that every panelist could have had a screen in front of them so they could spontaneously pick out and answer questions themselves.

Part Two: Group Discussion

After a short break there followed a discussion in groups of ten on a fixed topic, facilitated by a regional assembly member.

The topic for debate was territorial disputes, which had featured a lot in the first part. With the recent issues surrounding conflicting claims to islands between Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan, this delicate subject was understandably tough to discuss in such a short time, but the participants gave it their all. The group that this writer took part in examined the dangerous influence that national sentiments can have on foreign diplomacy.

After fifteen minutes each group shared what they had discussed with everyone else, and then DPJ members of the House of Councillors took the podium for a discussion that proved franker that the previous one.

Even though the length of the talk here was shorter, this latter section of the event actually seemed to be the most fulfilling. In the first part the panelists were perhaps influenced by the presence of the media and in the face of delicate topics they frequently retreated into self-vindicatory statements. Maybe because there was no media or online audience, it was in the second part that we finally seemed to hear what the politicians really thought.

Part Three: Small Talk

For the last part, we moved rooms for a laid-back chance to mingle with the other people. There were snacks and soft drinks, so we could chat and look back on the whole event along with the regional assembly members. Members of the DPJ youth committee also went around and asked how people how it had gone.

Someone was wearing what appeared to be a school uniform. When I asked, it turned out he was a high school first grader. “I’ve been interested in politics since a young age, so straightaway I wanted to take part in this event,” he said.

“The event was less about reviewing and reflecting (hansei), and more about vindicating. It was a bit different to what I expected from the name.”

We heard the same opinion from other participants. One male fourth-year student attending a college in Tokyo said that usually the only chance to get in touch with politics was by watching the news. “I didn’t hear what I wanted to in the first part. The responses by Mr Kan were also innocuous. It was that weird thing where politicians answer any question without actually saying anything.”

Moderator Yujun Wakashin reflects on how it went

Last week PingMag interviewed Yujun Wakashin, who served as the moderator this time and is a senior researcher at Keio University. Wakashin is involved in a range of activities supporting Japanese youth, so we wondered how he felt the event had gone.

It is still only around one month since the ban on the use of the internet in election campaigning was lifted. As the flow of information constantly accelerates, the internet is sure to make politics into something more intimately connected to our lives in the future. As a first step towards that, it’s probably fair to say that there are still many improvements to be made to the way the event was set up, and the politicians’ response to it.

All around the world, leaders are now attempting to speak more directly with their people. If the Japanese people and their politicians could clarify what they expect from an event such as the DPJ’s, and if they are both looking for the same thing, then the day may well come when even in Japan we can speak seriously with our Prime Minister over Twitter.

The first part of the event can been viewed on the following website (Japanese only):
http://seiji.yahoo.co.jp/close_up/1290

The message board can also still be viewed (Japanese only):
http://dpj-reflection2013.herokuapp.com/speaks

Who (or what) is the Avatar Man? And just what is he doing running around Omotesando? We spoke with Maaserhit Honda to find our more.

Was is the basic concept behind the “I AM MODEL” series?

​ ​It’s a very simple concept. We wanted to poke fun at the modeling and show-business industry. Our character is a lost model in Tokyo, and we see the world through his eyes. It’s a comedy but it’s also a documentary (or rather, mockumentary) that tells the true story about the whole industry in Japan.

How did you and Dean come to meet and know each other?

​​ I met Dean back when I was a model manager — I was his manager, and I witnessed what he was experiencing. We bonded over that, became friends and later when I stopped working as a model manager I wanted to make a laugh out of it. I came from a documentary filmmaking background, so it was an experience for me as a filmmaker to poke fun at it.

It’s rare to see a mockumentary in Japan. Although it all looks very chic and nicely made, you’re not taking things seriously, are you?

​​ I was in so many ridiculous situations and so was Dean as a model, so we wanted to re-create that into a half documentary, half mockumentary film. I used to live in the UK, so I picked up the sarcastic sense of humor.

And the inspiration and ideas for the humor comes directly from the industry? It’s a sort of satire?

​ Whenever Dean and I meet, we just joke around and both of our experiences and background in the industry inspired us to make something positive out of it. Instead of complaining about it, we turned it into a fun, playful thing.

It is certainly playful but nonetheless we were impressed by the production values. Was it tough to shoot the third episode, ‘Avatar Man’, in Omotesando?

​ ​Yes and no. The production crew is very limited. I’m the producer, DOP, director, editor and music composer, and Dean is the actor. There’s no production value whatsoever, we don’t have any kind of budget. We’re really busy, this is not our main job — but we both have a passion and we just made it happen. It’s a very exciting style of filmmaking, but also very difficult because we can only do so much with limited resources. Shooting in a busy place with unexpected circumstances is quite hard, but the concept was just to see how it goes naturally, we didn’t worry so much about what was going to happen.

It’s kind of guerilla, then. Did you get any strange responses? Or did you have any problems?

​​ Definitely. Some people did mention things and got irritated while we were shooting, but that’s part of the whole essence of the movie. We were expecting to have problems but we liked capturing those reactions and included them, and the surprise factor. But at the same time, we understand the moral and culture, so the question is how to make the right judgment in every frame.
​ ​

The make-up and hair styling is incredible. Can you tell us where the idea came from? Why such a costume?

​ ​The styling and makeup originally came from Dean’s actual modeling job. He was part of a show that night in Shibuya, all styled and made up already as that character. So whenever Dean has to undergo those kinds of insane costumes or makeup as part of his job, he calls me up and we start shooting. So basically we wanted to take it a step further — Dean couldn’t just go home and shower, we had to do something with it through the idea of ‘I AM MODEL’ in Japan.

What are your future plans for the series?

​ ​We’re aiming to turn this into a TV series, and we’re definitely planning to continue the series. It’s interesting to see the cultural point of view in Japan, and also Japanese trends. The upcoming episodes will feature Dean (and other models) in those absurd situations, which relate to daily life in Japan.

Thank you, Maaserhit Honda!

Look out for further episodes of the ‘I AM MODEL’ series very soon!

I AM MODEL
Music: Named Red
Body Paint Artist: Kenji Sato
Body Paint Artist: Setsuko Kakurai Umennachi
Hair Styling: ZA/ZA
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IAMODEL/info

Projection mapping typically takes as its subject a giant building that doesn’t change form and can be seen by lots of people. But this time it’s different. This was an attempt to create the “world’s smallest” projection mapping — on a shimeji mushroom!

In the past we have seen music videos using projection mapping with robots and pico projectors, courtesy of Rhizomatiks (Daido Manabe and Motoi Ishibashi), as well as projection mapping onto grains of rice by the AR Three Brothers. But this is the first micro projection of its kind to be seen in public by a lot of people.

Over two days on April 27th and 28th, Nico Nico Douga, Japan’s popular video-sharing website, held its second Nico Nico Chokaigi fan event at the Makuhari Messe event center. One of the exhibits which got a lot of attention from visitors was Simejection Mapping, the projection mapping onto a roughly 6cm-tall shimeji mushroom at the booth for search engine Baidu.

At the core of the shimeji exhibit was a popular kana-kanji conversion software used on Japanese language input apps for Android smartphones, called Simeji. To promote the new version of Simeji the makers released an April Fools’ video that was well received, which then lead to this Simejection Mapping project. It was shown live in the venue, as well as being tried out around 4,000 times, including by regular visitors.

What is the concept behind Simejection Mapping?

​ ​(Yano) Simeji is a texting app that we developed. It converts hiragana into kanji. It started from trying to change characters to Nagano prefecture shimeji.

​ (Yano) A shimeji is a living thing, so we saw character inputting as resembling spores, and this lead us to think of the kanji text output as fungal. The things connected by nodes to the overall process form clusters. We thought of several versions and the movement of the spores was important, so we planned very precisely the distance and range in order to bring out a strong sense of floating.

​ (Yano) Shimeji express the joy of living things and type conversion!

How did the Simejection Mapping work?

Simeji is a kana-kanji conversion software used on Japanese language input apps for Android devices, an indispensable tool for the many users currently enjoying the boom in smartphones. Simejection Mapping then was an interactive artwork that demonstrated the quality of the software.

(Rokutan) With Simejection Mapping the converted text characters are reflected in the projection video. All we decided first was that we should show something that’s interactive. From this we had shimeji + projection mapping = Simejection Mapping, and that created what we have now.

(Adachi) ​When you input kana text into a smartphone, the Simeji cloud conversion service converts it into kanji characters and then returns several conversion options to your handset. The mapping made use of these conversion options to create projection video.

(Rokutan) For example, if you input “ame” you get the kanji characters for “rain”, “sweets” and “heaven” [all can have the same reading of ame] and these are then expressed like mold. How many or how few the number of conversion options you have and how interesting the conversions are is what makes this so special. It’s something where unless you try it out, you won’t know how interesting it is. It’s fun to see not only correct conversion results but also input errors and how you get things wrong.

(Adachi) ​At first someone suggested shooting down characters with a gatling gun, but then by adding shimeji to “projection mapping” we had a phrase that led us to the most Simeji-like idea, where we would convert what was inputted onto a shimeji mushroom.

There are around 60 kinds of geometric patterns that can be projected onto the mushrooms. The system emphasizes the fun in how the different patterns link up, so it can stream patterns one after the other in a pre-determined edit.

Simejection Mapping

Pocari Pickles: In order to preserve the mushrooms they were pickled in the sports drink, Pocari Sweat. During a day the mushrooms would be sprayed with water and replaced several times.

Shape: The makers bought around twenty packs of shimeji from a Shibuya supermarket that came from five different produce areas. They lined them up and then chose the most typically “shimeji”-looking one that they could replicate.

Ideal Form: When testing it out they used a 3D printer to create the “ideal” shimeji.

What was important was a shape that was common as a shimeji and that also had good proportions. The slightly larger mushrooms that you can buy in any Japanese supermarket seemed the most appropriate. A bromide print was made of the shimeji with the ideal proportions and then the designers went “mushroom-picking” — looking for the shimeji that matched this. This turned out to be mushrooms from the Shinsu no chikara brand.

For the exhibition at the Nico Nico Douga event, time was tight so the focus was just on projection mapping that was as small as possible, but in the future the team want to make a permanent installation and a system where you can view the mushroom from 360-degrees.

Mujuryoku Inc was a central part of producing Simejection Mapping but what does the company do?

​ (Rokutan) It’s a design company set up by people working in the advertising industry. Ad work is very interesting and there is lots you can experience. But however good the ad is, one day it will finish and it will be lost, and this is really sad. We wanted to create things that didn’t end, that could continue for a long time.

Current Mujuryoku Inc is running the Smile Meter, a system for measuring comedy, made by analyzing the volume of laughter from audiences at comedy events and then digitalizing the degree to which the gag worked. Comedians are then checking this after gigs to review their performance. Considering the timing of the gag and choice of joke, they can then try again at another gig to get the audience involved. The project is full of new discoveries each time, with the comic timing differing between manzai stand-up and comedy skits.

Populated by creative talents under thirty, Mujuryoku Inc is also expanding laterally into a variety of spheres, including the service industry, music-related areas and even wedding ceremonies.

​ (Rokutan) ​For Simejection Mapping as well, when the first idea came to mind, so too did the face of someone who can make it happen, and then they got involved and the work proceeded. This brings in more people and concepts, so the ideas evolved and our network of people expanded.

Not only advertising, Mujuryoku Inc wants to expand its partnerships with people who agree with their way of working.

Simejection Mapping was just a two-day event project but was so popular the organizers ran out of their distribution merchandise on the first day. The event promoters and marketing staff were shocked by how many visitors were flocking to the booth. Though these days you can see all kinds of stuff easily online via YouTube et al, it seems there are still things that if we don’t see for ourselves in the flesh, we won’t truly experience how cool they are.

Visitors at the event said that the mushroom mapping was a total mystery. We can also surely expect further things from the kana-kanji conversation software that lay at the heart of the experiment.

Simeji

Simejection Mapping

Sanada Himo‘s name comes from the samurai family Sanada, a famous ninja dynasty that is said to have developed the ribbon weaving technique in the Edo period. It is very tightly woven string made of cotton, sometimes with silk. It began as material to tie weapons and armor — both in a decorative and practical way, and also a badge of allegiance — and later developed into being an accessory that was part of the tea ceremony and for wrapping gifts.

The “samurai string” is today still created by Orimoto Sumiya, a crafts company based in Kanazawa and the last manufacturer of Sanada Himo in the world. Needless to say, there are no more samurai and for various other inevitable cultural and social reasons, the demand for the ribbon is shrinking in the domestic market. Just as samurai in Japanese history were both loyal protectors of their way of life, so too were they often the pioneers of change and internationalism in the country. In the same way, now the artisans have to think big to survive.

“Sanada Himo was used as string for wooden boxes such as for tea ceremony utensils, but as time has gone by, its usage has dramatically declined,” Orimoto Sumiya’s CEO Taro Sumiya tells us. “However, we are striving to continue making it in the spirit of keeping the tradition going and also for our customers who even today buy it. But it’s very tough to do this so we are hoping to develop new uses for it.”

At the end of 2012 Orimoto Sumiya worked with the London College of Fashion (LCF) to come up with re-designs for the ribbon of samurai for a new era.

The broader aim of this collaboration was to revitalize the Japanese craft industry and open it up to new markets, especially luxury markets, who have recently begun to notice what an untapped resource Japan’s craft world is. After all, why not have Japanese crafts integrated in a sophisticated way into the branded bags, belts, footwear and other accessories that we buy in high-class stores? Why should crafts be relegated only to “craft shops” and museums?

For LCF’s first project with a traditional Japanese artisan studio, students from the BA Cordwainers Footwear and BA Cordwainers Accessories courses were set the challenge of developing “must have” products for the European luxury goods market. The two best designers would then be invited for an expenses-paid internship and cultural experience tour in Kanazawa.

The winners selected by an industry panel were Mathilde Heintz and Jack McNamara. Orimoto Sumiya supplied five meters of the Sanada Himo ribbon of different color and pattern to each participating student, and these are the spectacular results by the two finalists.

Heintz’s design is a quasi-bondage-style neck accessory, while McNamara has made incredible high-heel footwear. Both items are a far, far cry from the original military use of Sanada Himo ribbons. The leap from being string that was used to tie armor or in the tea ceremony to these almost cyberpunk designs is pretty massive.

“My immediate impression of the product was to do do with its quality — the extremely dense weave and fine thread make the ribbon both beautiful and highly durable. This is why it is so interesting for footwear and accessories; it looks great and can take a beating,” Jack McNamara tells us. While non-designers might simply notice the aesthetic of the string, both McNamara and Heintz remarked on its robust nature. “They really inspired me,” Heintz says. “I wanted to put wire inside to make them stiff and build 3D structures. I also noticed their strength.”

And yet neither design seems to hark back to Sanada Himo’s connection with weaponry, or at least, not overtly. “I wanted to understand the origins of the textile to get a sense of its traditional application, but then take it in a direction that was not explicitly Japanese,” says McNamara. “Stanley Kubrick’s ’2001: A Space Odyssey’ served as a jump-off point for much of my visual research.”

Actually, Kubrick was a source for all the students, since the college had them use the Stanley Kubrick archives at London College of Communication Research Space for ideas, making this a truly cross-cultural and international smorgasbord. If McNamara went the route of science fiction, Heintz chose a different genre entirely. “I chose the film ‘The Shining’,” she says. “I used the ribbon as my raw material. My concept was about madness and evil (like Jack, the main character). I made an object that constrains the body, that is uncomfortable to wear, like madness.”

Of the two, likely Heintz’s design is the most provocative and challenging. Were people put off by its erotic undertones? “People were surprised because it is a very edgy product, not usual at all,” she says. “Some thought is was an S&M accessory, which it could be. I would say that people were intrigued most of the time.”

But how did Orimoto Sumiya respond? “When I first saw [McNamara's design], I had the impression that this was a very modern design,” says Taro Sumiya. “It was very high quality and with Sanada Himo used discreetly.” He also wasn’t fazed by Heintz’s even more avant-garde approach. “She had used Sanada Himo in a way I had not expected at all and it was very mysterious what it would be used for. I asked her and she told me she had made it to be a mask of something disharmonious. I could see by looking at the design work she had done up to finishing the product that she had considered a lot, and could feel the efforts she had made to complete her work seriously.”

The two winning young designers visited Japan in March. “Our visit to Japan was unbelievable,” says Jack McNamara. “Everyone at Orimoto Sumiya was extremely generous with us — we were able to see the production processes involved with creating the Sanada Himo ribbon, which was really impressive.”

Heintz was likewise very inspired by her internship. “The visit to Japan has been an experience of a lifetime. It was the first time I went there and I was really excited about it. We met many people and I think this was the most interesting part of it. It was really about sharing moments, ideas, impressions with people from the other side of the world. In a way, it made me more open-minded.”

As part of the project, LCF organized a business consultation for Orimoto Sumiya in London with luxury fashion industry reps. Of course, things are not going to change overnight for Sanada Himo but after all, this is a tradition that has survived centuries by innovating and adapting, so there’s little reason why we should not expect new applications and ideas for the string very soon.

“Things are going slowly, but we hope to move into the overseas market,” says Taro Sumiya. “I hope that Sanada Himo becomes widely recognized abroad.” Certainly conservatives need not be worried about damaging the reputation of their historical products by such cross-generational, cross-border adventures. “I can feel that the recognition for Sanada Himo in my area or from those around me has changed,” Taro Sumiya beams. “I’m very grateful that by being noticed overseas we may also be noticed again in Japan.”

“To gain first-hand experience with new cultures and strange cities is always beneficial to a designer’s practice,” says Jack McNamara. “But in a place like Japan it’s another level. It’s so saturated by craft and design, both traditional and cutting-edge contemporary, that you just don’t know where to look. I can’t wait to go back.”

Perhaps then we can look forward to more unique collaborations with other traditional materials.

Sanada Himo

At times he might be jaunting around university campuses with three people in panda suits in tow, at others holding a debate with a former Prime Minister. He is also Washiki, the drummer who performs in a Japanese style room and who made a big splash on Nico Nico Douga.

Just who is Yujun Wakashin? Well, he’s a guru for communication between individuals and organizations, someone impossible to measure by conventional standards. Always moving onto the next interesting project, just some of the recent examples include recruitment events for “outlaws and geeks”, as well as acting as moderator for the upcoming Democratic Party of Japan Public Review Session.

The more you look at Wakashin’s website, the less you understand. We decided the only thing to be done was to meet and speak with him directly!

Yujun Wakashin, you have lots of job titles — “communication consultant”, “industrial counsellor” and so on — but what is it that you actually do?

​ ​Well, to explain it simply, I’m questioning the things we take for granted in society, and presenting completely new ways to communicate with people and organizations, and this will help liberate everyone from autonomic growth and the existing social systems.

Wow! That’s pretty ambitious!

​ ​Yes, it sounds really heavy. But for example, job-hunting is one kind of communication between individuals and organizations. Corporations sell themselves through company orientation sessions. Students then communicate their experiences and fortes to corporations through filling out forms, visit alumni to get connections, and then go through interview rounds with firms. In Japan the procedure of job-hunting is perfectly unified and it all starts at the same time.

Yes, whenever spring begins we can see lots of students doing the rounds of corporate interviews in their “job-hunting suits”.

​ ​Yes, but no one decided that’s what everyone has to do!

Having to wear the “job interview suit” or guys having to have their hair cut only short and black is just something that Japanese society today takes for granted, but I always look at it and think it’s really odd. People come in all shapes and sizes, so it’s natural that there should be all kinds of ways to look for a job, that rather it’s strange if there wasn’t a variety.

Well, this is how the obvious things are peculiar.

So this sort of questioning led to your job-hunting event, Outlaw Recruitment & Geek Recruitment 2013 then? It’s suggesting a way to look for a job that is different to the system that is customary in Japan, right?

​ ​When doing their job-hunting and going to the interviews, there are many people among students and companies who sense something strange about just pushing their good points. It’s not the case that these kind of students are simply not used to the system or have poor capabilities. Actually I think they possess excellent personal qualities.

With this in mind I held the Outlaw Recruitment & Geek Recruitment 2013 event for fourth year college students who have given up on mainstream job-hunting, and for “ronin” job-hunters or those who have already graduated. I used Facebook to get applicants for the event and around sixty students took part. Company people and the students all just came in ordinary clothes and talked in a relaxed environment on a range of topics.

From this, thirteen people were chosen as prospective employees, among whom there was someone who had spent close to two years as a hikikomori recluse. I think it was a recruitment event where you didn’t just bounce off each other’s tatemae, but where both corporations and students could flex their characters and communicate more deeply, and which was convincing for both sides.

So, it was a big success, then?

​ ​Of course, it’s wonderful that some people got jobs but it was important that at the same time the human resources recruitment reps for the companies also understood how there are other ways to recruit the new staff intake.

I wanted to ask about NEET Inc, the company you run. So, you got a group of NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) together and made them all company directors?

​ There are many NEET that are people who for some reason or other did not conform to existing social norms. But being a “recruitment outlaw” does not mean you lack distinction. The company is not about gathering those kind of people together and forcing something out, but rather thinking of new things through conversation.

Sounds like quite a challenge. And did it work out?

​ ​Of course, I support them as much as I can. But to a certain extent I am leaving it up to them; I believe that some sort of new value will be born out of it. Making them all directors aims to encourage independence through becoming a business proprietor, transcending the concept of being “hired”.

Actually I’m still looking for participants for the company orientation and so on, so if there’s anyone interested out there, please do join in!

You’re doing so many things. Is there a kind of keyword that forms an axis for your activities?

​ ​Oh, without doubt my keyword is “emancipation”.

“Emancipation” from what?

​ There is a lot but surely it’s being emancipated from the binds of existing norms and social structures.

Why is that so important?

​ ​Japan is a country with incredible potential, but the Japanese are tied down socially by concepts and so cannot try new things. Japan is very rich, so it’s totally fine to fail or take detours, but we cannot do daring things since we are tied down by the norms.

My job is to emancipate people from those social concepts and show the way towards a freer society.

You have a kind of sense of crisis about Japan’s future?

​ ​Yes, I think Japanese people should have more of this crisis mentality. It is precisely a country as mature as Japan that needs new and diverse forms of expression.

Japan in the time of high economic growth was like an adolescent during their growth spurt, and just kept on growing and growing. What was necessary in that period was the continuation of doing what was going well. And yet in the Nineties, Japan’s growth rapidly decreased.

This was due to society having fully developed, but simultaneously it shows us that you cannot grow if you just continue doing the same thing as before. For a developed society to continue growing, it must value diversity.

And if there is diversity, does the world move in a better direction?

​ ​Well, with diversity there are good things and bad things. But when values expand, things with value will spontaneously come about.

In a society that prizes personality and diversity, things like my Outlaw Recruitment event and NEET Inc will enable each individual to realize their abilities.

I see! But what was it that first led you to question and challenge these things?

​ ​If I look back, I have always had this feeling of reaction against the things that are taken for granted in society. For example, I didn’t really fit in at my school club during high school.

I always remember how when I joined the volleyball club, at first we were made to collect the balls. We were ordered by the teacher to stand by the wall to do this. A volleyball has quite a bit of bounce so if it hits a wall, it will return by itself. In other words, we had nothing to do. Since there were no balls to pick up, I’d talk to my friend next to me. The teacher suddenly came over and called me “human trash”.

I wasn’t causing trouble to anyone else so why was I being called this? In the end I couldn’t understand the point of going to school, attending class, doing after-school clubs and then going home: why was this “normal”?

So your work today was born out your experiences?

​ ​Yes, and my experience of starting a business after graduating was decisive. During my time in college I didn’t find a job with a company like most people, but instead started a business providing welfare for the disabled with an older peer. I thought that since it was a company we had started we would be able to work in our own way, just as we wanted to.

And were things different in reality?

​ ​Well, yes, in reality things weren’t like that. Fortunately the company continued to grow. But people who joined the company from a big corporation criticized my hair [Yujun Wakashin is a massive fan of visual-kei music and has dyed brown shoulder-length hair] and that I wasn’t punctual, and eventually I got kicked out of the company I had started myself.

That must have been a shock.

​ ​Yes, it was, but it was more that it just felt strange. I wasn’t causing anyone any problems so why did I have to be repudiated? I joined graduate school in order to pursue this feeling and that brought me to where I am now.

Lastly, I wanted to ask you about the upcoming Democratic Party of Japan Public Review Session, which you will be moderating.

​ ​On May 11th, I will be joined by former Prime Minister Naoto Kan, former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, and Akira Nagatsuma, former Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare. We will be collecting questions anonymously from the floor in a venue which can hold 600 people. It won’t be a place for politicians to make speeches but rather for them to think about politics together with the attendees. There will be no keynote address from Mr Kan at all, just question after question right from the start.

The event is being called a “big review session” (daihanseikai), but its aim is to think about just what is politics, together with the specialists who have been in power. In politics the structure of “speaker” and “listener” is particularly pronounced, and there hasn’t been much dialogue that is fluid, so through this kind of experiment I want to challenge conventional social structures.

I did a similar kind of event last November with Mr Kan and 100 people, and he expressed a surprising amount of his ideas on lots of things. I think Mr Kan probably also realizes that through fluid communication completely new values can come about.

What kind of discussion can we expect on the day?

​ ​Of course, Edano and Kan were the two politicians who most lived through the Tohoku disaster, so we will talk about that. I want people to ask straight questions about things they thought were wrong.

While understanding properly that just because these people are “political professionals” doesn’t mean they have all the answers, I hope it will be an event where we can think together about Japanese politics.

Thank you, Yujun Wakashin!

NEET Inc
www.wakashin.com

We spoke with exhibition curator Yuumi Shishido about the background to the festival and the scroll painting.

​ What was the Kanda Matsuri? How did it originally start?
​ ​It started as a festival to give thanks to a shrine through Noh theatre. In order to pray for peace, the townspeople would hold Noh performances. In Noh you act out the gods; it is something made by faith in beseeching the gods for help.

​ But there was also the Tenka Matsuri. How was that different to the Kanda Matsuri?
​​ During the Edo period the Kanda Matsuri entered the precincts of Edo Castle where the Shogun watched the procession. That’s why it came to be known as the Edo Tenka Matsuri. [Tenka, literally "under the heavens", means "power" and refers to the Shogun here.] There are actually other festivals called Tenka Matsuri, such as Hie Shrine’s Sanno Matsuri and Nezu Shrine’s festival.

In the parade there are all sorts of interesting floats, including Kintaro, wild boars, and the giant catfish Namazu. Of course, these aren’t the real thing! What were they originally made of?
​ ​They are said to have been made out of wood and paper, like papier-mâché.

​ When was the scroll painting created? Was it ever exhibited somewhere?
​​ It was painted in the late Edo period and Meiji period. It was painted to be a record for what the festival was like. A part of it has been exhibited before at the Kanda Myojin Shrine but this is the first time for all the scroll to be shown in its entire length. However, the scroll shown at 3331 is a version printed from a high-definition digitalized scan of the actual scroll. It is said to depict the Edo era festival accurately.

So this is a very special chance to see the scroll painting, then. The images of the dashi are really cute. Is there something unique about the scroll painting that other similar scrolls don’t have?
​​​ All thirty-six dashi are depicted in the scroll and you can see how the tsukematsuri looked at the time. You are unlikely to find another scroll painting with that many floats depicted all together.

Is there a part of the scroll that you personally like the most?
​​ I like the part with Taro Urashima. There’s a person with a fish on their head. It always makes me laugh.

​ And we love the tatebanko paper craft models. If only there were more toys like this today! The exhibition features some complete examples of tatebanko, but how long does it take to make one?
​ ​It takes around one hour and a half to make one. There are no instructions so you have to make it using your imagination, so it takes quite some time to work out where to cut and where to join things up, and then make all the detailed cuts. (But this is why it’s interesting!) I think for small children it would take longer.

​
​​ We heard that the “Kumasaka” dashi was a puppet float that was also partly karakuri automaton. And there’s an apocryphal story about the Shogun disliking it right?
​ ​Yes, its eyes are karakuri. When it was shown to the Shogun it was accidentally set to stare right at him, and afterwards it is said to have been placed at the back of the procession. All the puppet floats had special characteristics so it’s hard to talk about what made the Kumasaka dashi float unique, but there was someone hiding in the back and who moved the karakuri eyes with string attached to the head while the float was being pulled.

Thank you, Yuumi Shishido!

The Kanda Matsuri will start on May 9th, starting at 9 a.m and lasts several days. There are also special workshops and talk events through the exhibition period where you can learn more about Tokyo history.

‘Scroll Painting of Traditional Festival: The Style and Culture of Edo’
Until May 19
Venue: 3331 Arts Chiyoda

Held at METEOR in Kichijoji, the historic ‘My Famicase’ exhibition is already in its ninth year. Each time submissions of Famicon cartridges [famikon kasetto or famikase] are open to the public, and the best of them are selected for the show. This year there were eighty-nine designs chosen for the exhibition. PingMag went along to check them out, so here is our own PingMag selection!

Neko Stallion All Japan Version

You are the breeder, and your job is to raise the strongest — race-cat (neko)! Based on the legendary horse race game ‘Derby Stallion’, ikkynone’s 2013 version features not racing horses, but racing cats. Purrfect for a little viral fun, eh?

Heisei MOTHER E-ko

According to the designer, apparently this game aims to improve the problem of computer literacy worldwide. It’s split into a training section with lectures on IT stuff, and a shooting part where you can blast away at evil computer organisations (like MXcrosXft etc) that lurk in CyberSpace. But apparently it’s very tough to win…

Family lung capacity measure

Using the mystery mic on the Famicom 2 player controller, this game allows you to, you guessed it, measure your lung capacity. Now you can check out your puff and wheeze in the comfort of your own home! Neat!

When I win the lottery

Just as the title says, a game that lets you live out the fantasy of winning the lottery. Now you can make your dreams come true — in a game, at least.

CAT TAKES THE BREAKFAST

You are a cat, and the goal of this action game is to wake your lazy owner and get breakfast. Apparently it’s a promotional game for that well-known (?) breakfast cat food, “BREAKFAST”. Cat punching, plate-smashing and cat flap escape okay! But be careful, if you overdo it you could end up in the cat pound.

Unknown — just what is this anyway?

This one’s a mystery. Here’s what the designer has to say: “What? You brought back the game I lent you?… Erm… did I lend you something? Must have been ages ago… Eh!? What IS this!!!!? Your sister doodled on it? … Looks to me like you tried to clean it, then cover it up… you gave up pretty quick, though — what IS this picture of? Hey, hey no wait, don’t do that, get up off your knees, you don’t need to apologize like that…. And just what is this game anyway?”

Dot Album

A very sophisticated game that transforms your photos into dot pictures. Full wireless LAN support, of course. Look out, Instagram?

8-bit Picture Diary

Facebook? Old! Time to write your blog in 8-bit, and keep all your favorite memories safe with this state-of-the-art Famicom game.

Bear Fishing

A new take on those dull old fishing games — you’re a bear! Use your tact and cunning to catch those pesky salmon.

Diagonal Radar 3D

3D Famicom has arrived! True, the system is pretty analogue, though. Simply cross your eyes and see the game jump right out at you! Cool!

Hope you enjoyed our little round-up of ‘Famicase 2013’. There are lots more games on display at METEOR, so why not go along and check them out?

PingMag went along to one of the events over the weekend, the 4th Nico Nico Gakkai Beta Symposium, and selected a few highlights.

Koichiro Eto, head of the Nico Nico Gakkai Beta Committee Chair, says that Nico Nico Gakkai is made up not just of university and corporate researchers, but also spotlights niche yet interesting research being done by more minor industry people. It is a conference for facilitating a new future through interactive and participatory research, a new type of academic meeting for spreading the word about pioneering research that ordinarily would not get publicized. It got part of its funding for the event via crowdfunding, which indicates its eagerness for experimenting with new models.

The Nico Nico Gakkai Beta is just that, a “beta” version of a conference. It’s not meant to be perfect or ready to be used, but something that is eternally heading towards completion, always being re-made and revised by trial and error. It’s in a state of constant evolution through listening to everyone’s opinions.

Soft monozukuri

Maker Faire, the Maker Media event, was held in Japan in 2012. Now you can also get your hands on 3D printers and laser cutter equipment at comparatively low prices, which has seen the rise of places like FabLab and FabCafe where ordinary people can also use the tools. All in all, these days there are lots of creative monozukuri (“making things”) environments getting attention.

But as opposed to the rather rigid image of the monozukuri of metals and plastics, wood or electronics, this time the focus was on softer materials, with guests such as “knitting master” 203gow, Kosuke Tsumura from survival wear brand FINAL HOME, and Kao Kanamori of apparel brand THEATRE PRODUCTS, introducing uses of cotton, wool and fashion accessories.

“Knitting master” 203gow

203gow sees all the things in the world as knitting, creating realistic everyday landscapes. Other than ones in the photos above, she has also made such seemingly un-knittable items as graduation certificates, and models of the space probe Hayabusa and asteroid Itokawa.

Another one her activities is “guerilla knitting”, where knitting twines around places where you wouldn’t expect there to be any, such as bicycles, benches, clothes stands and so on. 203gow held a workshop and in it knitted around a chair. She even demonstrated what she meant by knitting around a notice in the venue in just a few minutes.

Kosuke Tsumura (FINAL HOME)

FINAL HOME is a fashion brand that presents the eponymous “final shelter” for when you have lost yours, such as nylon coats and other products born out of the concept of protecting humanity.

A regular fashion designer does a fashion show twice a year and creates clothing for daily wear, right? Well, Kosuke Tsumura decided instead to start FINAL HOME’s range of nylon coats, one of which he was wearing at the event.

(Tsumura) This coat is entirely pockets. If you unzip it you can put all kinds of things between the outer and inner materials. You can put emergency items in the pockets and also use it as an emergency rucksack. It is warm if you scrunch up newspapers and you can put the things that are important to you inside it.

He is also developing new kinds of fashion items as well.

(Tsumura) I made clothes out of “air cushions” for the last Roppongi Art Night. I wondered if I could make a fashion item out of something used to protect freight, and I called it “air cushion”. I never said to make clothes, just a sculpture, so after I’d made it I wondered just how it could be worn. It’s a different shape to regular clothes, and this made it unexpectedly interesting. You decorate to protect yourself. It’s a new concept for fashion. But not just clothes, you decorate to protect things. Protecting and decorating. I’m working as a designer not to present a final form but rather asking if making something freely is effective.

He is also taking part in the ‘All You Need is Love’ exhibition, which started at the Mori Art Museum on April 26th.

‘All You Need is Love’ Exhibition
April 26th to September 1st
Venue: Mori Art Museum


Kao Kanamori (THEATRE PRODUCTS)

THEATRE PRODUCTS was founded in 2001 with the principle that “fashion creates a theatre wherever it goes”.

(Kanamori) In our CUT & SEWN workshops we have made patchwork and dress pattern stencils to make clothes in Indonesia, Iceland and in university classes. It’s a project where everyone can actually get close to dress patterns and try to make them yourselves. First you choose the pattern and then the material; it’s like dressmaking, and the project is trying to go back to that kind of thing again. There are many things you can learn from the workshops but people in the fashion world worry if it’s okay to make your dress patterns public. They are thought of as a corporate secret, so many people were surprised that we are exchanging dress patterns so others can make things. In the workshops I want people to understand what is good about a ready-made product and a handmade one, and why a ready-made product can have this quality and yet at this price.

WRAPPLE WRAPPING & D.I.Y. is, as the name suggests, a shop themed around wrapping and DIY.

(Kanamori) There are workshops almost every day. Art directors and people from the fashion industry come and do workshops using craft materials. Even though fashion and dressmaking seem close there is this gap between them. You can choose the print on a computer and the dress pattern, and then make the material. The material then arrives at the customer’s, and they then do the sewing themselves. It changes the angle of what is a product, it’s a new experiment.

You can also post layouts you like for t-shirts and bags online at WORK SHOP STORE, as well as buy things, such as cloth, patterns and other necessary materials. It’s good to create an environment for creating.

Hardware Madness

Shikomi iPhone (Shota Mori)

This was extremely popular over the weekend, a ‘Taxi Driver’-inspired “gun sleeve” device by Shota Mori so you can pull out your iPhone super fast. Unless you hear his explanations it’s likely impossible to understand his seriousness and calculated nonsense.

Hugging Jacket

Here we saw research that went in the strange direction as imagined by university students unpopular with girls: a device created by pipe and headphones that is automatically controlled to resemble a girlfriend’s arms hugging and her voice calling to you from behind.

Battle with the Ultimate Self-Switching-Off Robot

A contemporary version of the Ultimate Machine developed in the Fifties by mathematician Claude Shannon, this machine automatically switches itself off if turned on. A gloriously, utterly pointless machine.

Six String Sonics, The (Gil Kuno)

A six-string guitar is played by six performers, one string each, creating a new instrument impossible to perform alone, and with video art visualizing that performance.

Mad Science

This section of the event featured ten presentations of “obsessive” research.

Almost visible but not (Yuki Koyama)

In the CGI world they often talk about the so-called “bunny problem”. In Japan this is like Suneo Honekawa’s hair or Astro Boy’s wig: whichever direction you look at it, it always looks the same shape, so how do you then show that it is 3D? Koyama introduced a ground-breaking way to resolve the problem with a skirt that you definitely cannot peep under.

Sound System by Abstract Art, Using the Eye Lines of People Looking at Art

This device measures the line of sight for people looking at a picture and then produces sound from the co-ordinates of where they are looking. There is the sensation of synesthesia where if you hear sound you see video images, and if you see video images you can hear sound. The painter Kandinsky could feel this kind of sensation and is said to have projected it into his art. This system is a way to recreate an experience close to synesthesia for people who cannot feel it.

2.5 Dimension Video Editing Software (Ryuya Kurihara)

This software allows you to composite video just by drag-and-drop. You can also freely set camera angles after shooting. http://ddm25.blogspot.jp/ (Windows 7 only)

FAB 100: 100 kinds of Fabrication

This was a distinctly Nico Nico Gakkai-esque segment, where several presenters introduced 100 different projects in a short period of time. Although it was easy to get lost in the flood, there were also plenty of new ideas to be discovered. The presenters were the heads of FabLab Kamakura, FabLab Shibuya, FabLab Tsukuba, FabCafe and f.Labo.

FabCafe’s Kotaro Iwaoka & Daiki Kanaoka

FabCafe is a space for monozukuri (making things) and for new people to get together. Currently it is located on Shibuya’s Dogenzaka as a cafe where you can also make use of a laser cutter and 3D printer. They plan to open othe spaces in Taipei, Barcelona and London to spread the FabCafe concept around the world. In the middle of the cafe is the equipment like the laser cutter. When someone is doing work with it the other people in the cafe having a drink will get interested and gather round, and an event is born naturally. By setting up equipment and a place to make things, the fun of creation is communicated to lots of people, which then leads to a sharing of know-how. One of the recent activities at FabCafe has been to turn the laser on the OSORO crockery used in the cafe.

​(Iwaoka) At FabCafe we always have special food for these kinds of creative events. At a regular party, you start eating and you can’t concentrate on work, but at FabCafe that never happened. Everyone was a designer so they would just do work and not eat. (Laughs)
​ ​
​ (Iwaoka) For Valentine’s Day 2012 we tried this experiment where girls could get a 3D scan of their faces and then make it into chocolate. Everyone from around the world said it was “creepy”!

​(Kanaoka) We held a tower contest using paper. You could only use one sheet of A2 size paper and without any adhesives, and see how high you could go. Everyone did so brilliantly, they even reached the ceiling. It was impossible to call the winner!

360°book snow white (Yusuke Oono)

This book is truly three-dimensional, each page opening up to form a 360-degree circle, and made using paper and a laser cutter. It creates a diorama of Snow White.

f.Labo (Shigeru Kobayshi)

​ (Kobayashi) You can get hold of equipment like 3D printers and laser cutters quite cheaply now, but there is then this large hurdle between understanding things a bit and being able to actually make something yourself. When you are up against a brick wall you can take leaps into new areas through taking part in workshops.
​

There were many, many other projects introduced during the other parts of the 4th Nico Nico Gakkai Beta Symposium, which in total featured eight different sessions. The main Nico Nico Chokaigi has already been announced for 2014. Nico Nico Gakkai Beta is also planning to hold sessions on August 17th and August 18th looking at the future of tech and creative research in Japan.

Nico Nico Gakkai Beta

After starting to read, you will be immediately overwhelmed by its energy, even if you do not understand it. Upon finishing it, you are assaulted by a feeling hard to put into words. It is both a manga and also something that goes beyond the usual bounds of a comic. You find yourself wondering just what is it you’re reading! To try to solve this mystery, we spoke to the author, Mitsuhiko Sasaki.

​ ‘interw@//’ was first published on a website. What was it that made you think to put it online?

​ The catalyst for starting the manga was initially because I was depressed. (Laughs) When I was around twenty I was writing ‘interw@//’ as a novel. I was working at Starbucks and couldn’t become a full company employee, and then afterwards I entered the design industry and didn’t continue it. When I was around twenty-five I was really alone. I wasn’t a full working member of society and it was a period when I almost gave up on life. I wanted to make something so I had the idea to turn ‘interw@//’ into a manga. I started writing it in spring 2009 and published the final part in spring 2012.

​ You received a Japan Media Arts Festival award in 2011 for the parts of ‘interw@//’ published online up to the third installment. After that you stayed at home for a year and wrote Part Four, right?

​ ​After starting ‘interw@//’ when I was twenty-five, I drew the first three parts over around three years while working as a company employee. But for the fourth installment I wanted to get right into it so I quit my job and stayed at home for a year to do it. I’d drawn up to the third part and had the draft of the novel, but I actually hadn’t decided how it would end. I wanted to complete it with the fourth part so I felt that I really wanted to concentrate on it. In the end, just that part became 250 pages, about the same as the previous three parts all together.

​ When you were writing the fourth part, it wasn’t fixed that ‘interw@//’ would be published, so it must have been quite a decision to quit your job and dedicate yourself just to your manga.

​ Well, it’s because I’m the protagonist in the story. There are also actual models for the other characters (Amihoshi, Mogura, Tanai), and the cafe that appears in the manga is based on the Starbucks where I worked. It’s a very personal manga, so I wanted to finish it properly. It’s not a true story but there are real-life experiences in it, so I had a sense for how it should end. It’s like a manga I wrote for myself.

All the publishers I showed the finished manga to said no, but then I got contacted out of the blue by another one, Pie Books. I’d given up on getting it published so I was very glad that it could be.

​ Perhaps it’s because it didn’t pass through the filter of third parties like existing media or a publisher before it was published, but ‘interw@//’ feels more like a novel than a manga. Is it that it has a kind of purity?

​ Yes, that’s right. I published it online but there wasn’t much of a response, like readers’ comments, so it also wasn’t especially influenced by that. I started to get reader comments almost only after it was published, so I didn’t hear any serious impressions on the art or the story till then. For the publication, I spoke with the editor, and supplemented parts where there wasn’t enough explanation and added pictures. But apart from one or two places, it was me who decided what to add.

​ The art style also has this very nostalgia, “Japanese” feel to it it.

​ Yes, people often say that. They ask me if I’m a fan of Leiji Matsumoto. It’s the feel of the lines, the way I draw faces. I was trying to draw something new, though! (Laughs)

​ The two-page spreads are amazingly detailed. This kind of manga style is very special, isn’t it? It must take a lot of effort and time.

​ I took photos as I was making it and when I show these at talk events, everyone is always surprised. For one page on a two-page spread it would typically take two or three days, which I’d then scan into the computer and add colors, which would take another two or three days. I was working on the premise of publishing in color so I tried as much as I could not to have too many detailed lines. I decided to have ‘interw@//’ in full color from the start, so I drew it like this.

​ While it’s on the one hand drawn in a lot of detail, there are some parts without many lines so you can add color. There are places, such as the story itself, the background and the character’s eyes, where the style of portrayal is extremely minimal.

​ Before I started drawing the first part I thought about the character design. This is like a first-person narrative novel and I thought that if there were eyes it would fix the characters, so I decided to have no eyes for the main character. For the other characters’ design I tried to draw eyes but in the end I couldn’t decide, so thought that I’d do it with all characters with no eyes (Laughs), since there are no other manga like that and it’d be interesting. Before I started drawing the only thing I was thinking about was doing something new, so I decided some rules by myself, such as putting all characters’ dialogue except the protagonist’s in kagikakko [a type of parenthesis in Japanese used to show speech], since this was a first-person manga, and also not using frames [komawari] or onomatopoeia [gion], and doing it all in full color. I just decided to try things that had never been done.

​ Why did you try so hard to do something new?

​ Well, because I wasn’t working with a publisher, I was doing it all myself, and because it was my story, my ‘interw@//’.

​ The framing is also very special, aren’t they? Each spread has a sense of being complete, a view of a world, like you are looking at graphic art rather than a page in a comic. The framing is really different to typical manga koma.

​ Normally with manga you draw the right and left pages on separate pieces of paper, but for ‘interw@//’ I thought of a two-page spread as a single unit. For pages that I didn’t draw as one spread I drew each frame on one sheet of paper, scanned this into my computer, and later put them together. I don’t think this is normal but it was the only way I could do it. After I’d scanned it I then trimmed the images, so actually I cut a lot of the detail. And it wasn’t just one frame for one sheet, I drew the background and main character on separate sheets, layering them up like in anime. Layering then wastes parts of the background you draw but I thought that doing this would create a feeling of reality in the art.

​ While reading it I thought this was a manga that doesn’t give much information to the reader, but it’s not just the reader who doesn’t know anything, it is also “Boku”, the protagonist. The reader synchronizes with the protagonist, which drives the story forward, and this is perhaps the appeal of the manga.

​ Yes, I also thought that this was a manga with a lot of secrets. The protagonist is based on me and there are also models for the other characters, and for the reader, whether they know this or don’t know it doesn’t matter. There are lots of places that aren’t made clear but I thought that would deepen the story.

​ In this way we could say that this manga is a mystery story, a fantasy story and also a love story.

​ Well, I was actually trying to write something heavy but my editor told me it was a boy-meets-girl manga.

​ ‘interw@//’ is certainly in many ways a manga of the kind you wouldn’t have read before, something that is hard to describe. Are you currently writing a new manga?

​ I’m having a little rest. If I’m to write a story in the way as ‘interw@//’, I’ll start writing after I’ve thought of the story, so I think it’s going to take me a while before I write a manga.

​ Is there something you want to write in the future?

​ I’m thinking of a few things, perhaps something for children or a story like ‘interw@//’. For now, ‘interw@//’ is finally over, so I think I’d next like to do something different so I don’t become just known for ‘interw@//’. Perhaps a comedy manga! (Laughs)

​ Thank you, Mitsuhiko Sasaki!

Read the first part of ‘interw@//’ online