It’s the Modern World, the End of Times, the Decline of the West, the Revolt of the Masses. It’s the 1920’s. It’s going to be Very Silly.
My favourite Japanese era is Taisho, as you might know. Without this short period of social radicalism, political turmoil, democratic experiments and general cultural craziness, the early 20th century history of Japan would look unbearably monolithic. Of course, the other epochs have their charm, as well as their dark sides, but they lasted much longer [...]
My favourite design from a little book about Taisho era graphics that I found in Japan. Unfortunately I feel too sick to entirely decipher the artist’s name - Tatsuo *something*-zawa. Japanese names are often really difficult to read because they can be written with very rare kanji that might not be pronounced according to the [...]
I have been in Japan for over a week now, and it’s been terribly inspiring. I have developed so many new ideas that I don’t quite know what’s going on. The amount of cheap and pretty manga available in used book stores (such as Mandarake) is offensive. The postal services will have to carry tons [...]