TOKYOMANGO

Illustrator Yuko Shimizu's new book = perfect for your artsy coffee table

Yuko Shimizu is a super-talented illustrator who lives in NYC. Her self-titled monograph came out about a month ago, and is full of provocative surrealistic comic art drawn first with traditional calligraphy brushes, overlaid with digital color and background to look like graphic prints. Super cool. I first met Yuko when I was working on the Studio360 piece about women artists in Japan. She told me that she had always drawn erotic women, but didn't realize she was a feminist until she came to the US for art school and her teachers asked her to analyze her own art for the first time. (The Western tendency to analyze is different from Japan, where it's more common to simply appreciate the aesthetic value of a piece.)

Get it here!

Haruki Murakami's earthquake speech in Spain

Haruki Murakami gave a lovely speech when he received the Cataluña International Prize in June.

In Japanese, we have the word “mujō (無常)”. It means that everything is ephemeral. Everything born into this world changes, and will ultimately disappear. There is nothing that can be considered eternal or immutable. This view of the world was derived from Buddhism, but the idea of “mujo” was burned into the spirit of Japanese people beyond the strictly religious context, taking root in the common ethnic consciousness from ancient times.

The idea that all things are transient is an expression of resignation. We believe that it serves no purpose to go against nature. On the contrary, Japanese people have found positive expressions of beauty in this resignation.

If we think about nature, for example, we cherish the cherry blossoms of spring, the fireflies of summer and the red leaves of autumn. For us, it is natural to observe them passionately, collectively and as a tradition. It can be difficult to find a hotel room near the best known sites of cherry blossoms, fireflies and red leaves in their respective seasons, as such places are invariably milling with visitors.

Why is this so?

The answer may be found in the fact that cherry blossoms, fireflies and red leaves all lose their beauty within a very short space of time. We travel from afar to witness this glorious moment. And we are somehow relieved to confirm that they are not merely beautiful, but are already beginning to fall to the ground, to lose their small lights or their vivid beauty. We find peace of mind in the fact that the peak of beauty has been reached and is already starting to fade.

Full text translated into English is here.

(Thanks, Jason!)

Facebook for Japanese people

This is a Facebook how-to guide for Japanese people, for people from age 10 to 70.

Photography book features hot girls posing with gadgets

At the Kinokuniya bookstore the other day, I started flipping through a slightly porny (and in later pages, very much more porny) photography book featuring hot Japanese girls posing amidst lots and lots of gadgets. There's one more after the jump, of a girl with a fuzzy hat in a room full of vintage game consoles.

Everything you ever wanted to know about fuzzy mascots

Now you can learn everything you ever wanted to know about fuzzy Japanese mascots and kigurumi from this book.

Fuzz and Fur: Japan's Costumed Characters