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Private Notes
In this episode, we will spend the day with ShiShi Yamazaki, an animation artist based in Tokyo. First, we will head towards Machida, located in Tokyo's suburbs, where ShiShi was born and raised. Machida, located in the southwest of Tokyo, is a peaceful commuting town surrounded by nature. ShiShi mentions she often comes here to find inspiration, walking alongside the Sakai river while listening to music.
ShiShi, now based in the city, works in Nakameguro, one of Tokyo's most popular and trendy areas. She will tell us more about her work and how she discovered the rotoscoping technique, which consists of tracing over live footage frame by frame. Due to her unique animation style, ShiShi has worked for multiple large brands in Japan, in addition to music videos and other animation work. Most of her work showcases a character named ShiShi Girl, made in her image, which she will tell us more about...
In this episode, we will spend the day with contemporary artist Kazuki Umezawa, also known as UmeLabo, where he will tell us about his inspirations and his work. First, we will follow him to the Chaos*Lounge Gotanda Atelier, a space shared of the Chaos*Lounge artist group, which Umezawa is part of. The multipurpose space is used by the artists as an atelier, but it is also used as a gallery or as event space.
Umezawa’s style, strongly influenced by otaku culture and its characters, mixes both analog and digital techniques to create digital collages and paintings. We will learn more about his style at CASHI, an art gallery that represents Umezawa, where he will tell us about the state of collage in Japan, and his positioning as an artist.
Our last stop will be at Umezawa’s home atelier, to take another glimpse in his universe and to hear his visions about characters.
In this episode, we spend the day with Manao Kagawa, a young shogi professional player. Shogi, that we can simply describe as Japanese chess, is a Japanese board strategy game that shares the same roots as chess. Kagawa started playing in 3rd grade and turned pro when she was still 15 years old.
As it is a traditional game, players, especially professionals, wear a kimono when playing. Our first stop with Kagawa will be at Shirataki Gofukuten, a kimono shop that traditionally provides kimonos for shogi players since more than 150 years. It also organizes a yearly shogi tournament for women, where the winner is awarded with a kimono.
We will then head towards the Sendagaya area to the Hatonomori shrine, which is a shrine dedicated to shogi. Many shogi players gather here at the start of each year for a traditional ceremony where they pray to the shogi gods.
Close to the shrine lies the Shogi Kaikan, which are the headquarters of the Japan Shogi Association and the main practice center for most shogi players, including Kagawa. As a pro, she now plays on the upper floors of the building, where each of her game results is archived and contributes to her rank.
Our last stop will be at the Jinro room in Shibuya, one of the rare spaces in Tokyo dedicated to the Werewolf game, one of Kagawa’s passions. She will tell us more about her vision about games and the importance they play in her life.
In this episode, we follow Enami Masaaki, creator and designer at EDITMODE, which produces THE KING OF GAMES brand, and Chikano, who handles photography and the brand’s website. THE KING OF GAMES is a brand that creates original apparel under an official Nintendo license, ranging from tee shirts, to various types of hoodies or shirts.
Our first stop will be at Hedgehog Book and Gallery, a shop showcasing books from various countries overseas, in addition to a gallery space that organizes exhibitions for artists from Kyoto and other regions, including THE KING OF GAMES.
We will then head towards the NISHITOMIYA Croquette STORE, a restaurant close to EDITMODE’s offices where the two often go, sometimes together with clients. Our last stop will be at EDITMODE’s offices, where we will learn more about their brand’s origins, and its creative approach and style.
In this episode, we spend the day with Etsuko Ichihara, media artist and self-proclaimed “fantasy director”. Ichihara has worked on various projects combining Japanese tradition to modern technologies to create unique interactive experiences.
Our first stop will be in the Kawashima shopping street, where Ichihara handled art direction for a local festival, curating and showcasing some of her original works, such as her unconventional “Sexual Harassment Interface”.
We will then follow her to the Akasaka Hikawa shrine, where we will hear more about her “Digital Shaman Project”, a project that combines humanoid robots to the mourning process, which was heavily influenced by Buddhism and her personal experience.
Ichihara also takes her inspiration from Japanese traditional folklore; she will tell us more about her “Namahage in Tokyo” project, which unleashes a Japanese traditional creature in the streets of Tokyo.
