Talk show at Aoyama Book Center. From left to right: Sugatsuke, Kodaira, Hirabayashi, Mizuno

March 8

A talk show on the theme of "new possibilities in communication and design with paper" takes place at Aoyama Book Center to commemorate the publication of "Paper Show" (The Mainichi Newspapers), which I was involved in as an editor. Guests are art directors Kodaira Masayoshi, Hirabayashi Naomi and Mizuno Manabu, plus myself. Tickets for the event were sold online and sold out quickly, so in the end there aren't enough seats for everyone. It’s a good sign of high spirit that many of the visitors bring pens and note books.

"Paper Show" (The Mainichi Newspapers)

The book summarizes last year’s "Takeo Paper Show". The exhibition was quite a tricky affair showcasing 26 results of collaborations between 26 international top creators and 26 shops/companies in the Marunouchi area, using 26 types of fine paper. After several rounds of repeated trial-and-error, the attempt to file those 26 actual creations in a book finally took the shape of what just hit the shelves. The idea was to create something you can browse through as a sample book of the latest paper types, or keep as a creators' file. I do feel proud that, as a publication, we put together something pretty extraordinary.

Although this talk show initially takes off from the publication, it gradually transforms into a serious and energetic discussion of the question, "what is design?" Kodaira’s explanation of the difference between design and art, "design is a profession and art an expression", is a rather uncharacteristic remark for the one who is probably the most artistic of those present at this occasion. From there the conversation shifts to a discussion of "the difference between design and self-expression", whereas it is interesting to hear that most speakers are "not interested in self-expression". I don't really consider editing as a form of self-expression myself, but I rather tend to believe that the editing job fascinates me so much just because it is not a form of self-expression.

However, both design and editing do certainly involve some kind of expression of some kind of self, and it’s that clashing of the self and the other, the individual and the professional sides, that make the whole thing at once exciting and troubling. Not only visitors take something back home from such intellectual verbal sparring, but so do the participants.

March 10-26

Theatre Products show on 3/14, Studio Mouris, Roppongi

The Tokyo Collection season has begun. The official name is now "Japan Fashion Week in Tokyo", which sounds very political, but is not surprising considering that it’s sponsored by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. This season’s sixth installment features notably many debuts of new designers. Like in the case of musicians and artists, fashion designers' debuts often reveal the person’s true nature in a straight manner, which is why I'm trying to catch as many debut shows as possible.

I see shows by Hidenobu Yasui, Zetia, Motonari Ono, Mikio Sakabe, Ne-net, Matohu, Aguri Sagimori, Suzuki Takayuki, Somarta, Theatre Products, Fur Fur, Naoki Takizawa, Merci beaucoup, Y’s Red label, and Satoru Tanaka. Six of them (Yasui, Zetia, Ono, Sakabe, Sagimori and Fut Fur) make their debuts here.

Among the new designers are many graduates of famous overseas fashion colleges, which explains why the overall technical quality is immensely high. However, my first, forthright comment would be that they're all too tame, and not challenging at all. According to my experience, creators who don't present something challenging in their first works never get really challenging even after that. Well, in the case of these designers, I hope they'll prove me wrong and come up with something that laughs my concern away.

Ne-net show on 3/11, Ebisu Liquid Room

The one I personally like most is Ne-net. Inspired by the movie "Donnie Darko" and revolving around a rather odd rabbit motif, the collection presents a sophisticated hybrid of casual and high fashion, which looks to me like it could only come out of Tokyo. It is neither European-style luxury nor American casual wear, but something different altogether. That’s where I believe the potential of Tokyo fashion lies. At the venue of the Ne-net show I meet Yodogawa Miyoko, the former editor-in-chief of "Olive", "An-An" and "Ginza", who appeared also in my book "The Edit of Tokyo". She tells me that I should watch the Tokyo Collection with a supportive mindset, because "if the Paris Collection shows the perfect, the Tokyo Collection shows the possible." A good statement I think.