Some Japan Photos

I just returned from Philadelphia on a weekend vacation. Stephanie and I are slowly putting together the pieces for the new KOSS2 website. Stay tuned for www.koss2.com!

I've opened up a facebook page to keep in touch with friends and colleagues. I must say, however, I'm not quite used to having personal interactions over the web. I guess I'm old fashioned in that regards.

Upcoming Event: I will be doing a drawing lecture at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden in the first weekend of May.

I'm very pleased to announce that I am now a proud father . . . of a mac book pro! I've been waiting for this for quite some time. I'm looking forwards to finally being mobile with my work.


At a Akihabara Unagi Restaurant

Can you believe that Ramen Noodles now are served in a can?

The busy streets of Ginza!

On the top of Roppongi Hills, Tokyo. Funny story behind this one. I was told to meet some acquaintances underneath this statue of a spider. However, "spider" can also mean "cloud" in Japanese. Needless to say when I asked for directions at the police station, they were very confused.

Here above I'm at an art opening at Ginza. One of my relatives, Kato Yutaka, who is a graphic designer is on my left. The artist is on my right.

...and yeah, if you thought driving through New Jersey was crazy try navigating through a small section of Nakano in Tokyo. Now imagine this being the layout for the entire Tokyo region!

Back to NY Mode

It's nice to be back in USA. Japan was a great experience and in some ways, a culture shock. One interesting thing that I noticed is that people are polite and expected to be sensitive and considerate to the surrounding public. For example, usage of mobile phones are not allowed on public transportation. You must set your phone to "Manner Mode (essentially vibration)." Another interesting thing is that a lot of the men have the same haircut. It's the disheveled long hairstyle which you would typically see worn by your favorite anime/manga character. Veerrry interesting!

On the creative side, I met up with one of my editors, Doug Jackson, with whom I worked with on The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. He introduced me to folks at Eat Creative. I also got to hang out with one of my relatives, Kato Yutaka, who is a graphic designer and a Japanese match collector. We visited couple of art openings in Ginza where his friends were having an art gallery opening. I also met a Japanese illustrator, Yasumistu, who's illustration style is very distinctly Japanese (especially where he uses the Japanese wood block tecniques.)

I will be posting photos tomorrow. For now, it's trying to cope with my jet lag which is proving to be more difficult that I initially anticipated!