Tokyo.点 x Zongy

Posted on May 26, 2008
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Two distinct Tokyos exist for me. But it is its initial mark that has forever made an impression on me.

My first introduction to Tokyo was coupled with my launch into adolescence. Under the influence of pubescent energy and its unbridaled tendency for discovery, I navigated the spaces and shapes of both the city and the topography of my own self.

The aesthetic experience of being in Japan submerged my imagination with everything exquisite, from the garish colors and sounds of pachinko parlors to the placid nature and european city guide NHK programs set to classical music, from the perfect packaging at every purchase to the hyper-pure, cosmetic-only advertising and publishing industries. I grew with the swelling of the Bubble – unaware of the affluent economy and its emerging society ravaging the status quo of economic prowess, its own cultural integrity and sense of identity – until it burst, and I coincidentally left. And for nearly a decade I managed to maintain not merely nostalgia but a real archive of all that Tokyo had provided me with who I am and what I do. When I watch Marker’s Sans Soleil or Wender’s Tokyo-ga or read Barthe’s Empire of Signs, I feel they are my memories recorded.

I think if making something particular to Tokyo means returning to my original experience of it, then I will return to my original if not innocent and unguarded source of inspiration and expression: words.

•••

Posted on May 17, 2008
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seeeeing dots all over tokyo…

Tokyo.点 POSTER WIP

Posted on May 15, 2008
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We are in the midst of making a poster for the book. Here are some sketches.

Tokyo.点 × Genki Ito II

Posted on May 13, 2008
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Tokyo = Chaos

Genki Ito

Tokyo.点 x +cruz_v2

Posted on May 10, 2008
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Tokyo.点 x Aleksandra Domanovic

Posted on May 10, 2008
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Tokyo.点 x Jemapur + Kosai Sekine : Maledict Car PV.04 : Making Of

Posted on May 6, 2008
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Kosai working on the final edit of Jemapur’s new video. He says he was so into this video that he himself felt like a Maledict Car driving around Tokyo’s streets.

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otsukare! to the team. I am very happy about the video to say the least! stay tuned for the teaser… +cruz

Tokyo.点 x +cruz

Posted on May 5, 2008
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Tokyo.点 x Paul Hwang / Nanospore

Posted on April 29, 2008
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Tokyo.点 x Sun An

Posted on April 15, 2008
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When I first came to Tokyo it was for work. I had moved right after school for a little bit to work at W+K. I would stay up working, dreaming of when I will do my “own thing”. The idea of “own thing” at that point was a huge empty vast space filled with mostly angst, vague things like identity as a designer, identity as a creative person, and other thoughts during working late into the night. Fast forward to now and somehow I am doing my own thing in LA and it isn’t as complex or mysterious as I thought it would be. If anything, it made me realize when I work, I work with people who are doing their own thing and I’m doing my own thing. For this book I wanted to illustrate time spent thinking of the idea of “own thing” in Tokyo with my own thing now.

I wanted to find a good starting point to make an image. I started with a music reference. I had these chuck berry lyrics as a txt file in my hard drive for a long time, and it started to come together piece by piece. I knew I wanted to add a music reference in it because I am doing music now. I thought I would just typeset the lyrics to make it look a little more like California since Los Angeles is where I live now, as the “ending” to my story.

For the typesetting I also wanted to use all-caps courier to reference a laser-printed receipt-something I kept a lot of in Tokyo for taxes.

After I did that, it made sense as the final image looks more like the beginning of the story because the end of my story references something in the past.

sun an

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