The Journey of Bookshops in London3 -Antiquarian bookshops-

I have been to Leicester Square many times, but I didn't know there were so many antiquarian bookshops there, although I knew there are theaters and great Chinese restaurants(in China town).

■Quinto Bookshop
It was very clean and well-organized. The downstairs were bigger than I expected.

■Any Amount of Books 
It was the closest one to tube station and there were many custmers when I visited the shop.

■Henry Pordes Books
They had many books about movies, musical and fairy tales!!
well...because they had many beautiful classical children's books, this shop will be today's my my favorite;)

The journey of bookshops in London2- Koenig Books-

I went to Koenig Books.
It's an German-owned independent book shop.
They mainly had many design, architecture and art books.
I really enjoyed the downstairs, there were many artist's books from around the world. As you see, the interior of the book shop is so stylish.

The journey of book shops in London1-DONLON BOOKS&bookartbookshop-

As a part of my research for my project, I have decided to visit different kinds of book shops in London.
This book shop's journey is also helping me to give some idea what kind of area there are as some of the places are new for me. especially, it's a good timing as I am looking for a flat now.

Today, I went to DONLON BOOKS and bookartbook shop.

In Donlon books, there were many photography books. I was surprised to see there are many Japanese photography books. I asked the shop staff and she told me because the manager of the shop mainly interested in photography and he collected those antique Japanese photography books from Japan. And now he is in Tokyo.

In bookartbook shops, there were many art book. I mean is not the book writing about art, the book which is art. It was like a small gallery, they had various kinds of books which was made by artist and all books had strong personalities. There were many books made by hands. I really enjoyed them:)

Looking for flats in London is a big journey...

My contract ends in a few weeks, so I have been trying to find a cheap flat to move.
After many many viewings, I finally found a flat and I had a few offer from other places, but I declined them as I decided to move there.

However, suddenly I've got a phone call today that the landlady's niece had a trouble at her student hall and she had no place to stay in London, so she is taking over the room.
I had hardly imagined this kind of thing would happen, so I was very shocked by this news. And I was very stressed that I had to start from zero to find flats  as I already declined other offers. This kind of things merely happens in Japan but since private landlord/lady are major here in UK, I should expect anything can happen.

So, while I was researching for my project, I have started again for look for a flat.

And I went to viewing again.

I really hope I find somewhere to stay soon...

But maybe it will be ok since I have some experience of camping with tents:)

I did "dry point" other day... but my head was full of "house"!lol

NIGHT museum -animal sex-

I went to science museum tonight.
The event is called "Lates" and every last wednesday of the month has a free night for adults.
My image of science museum was full of family and kids. but tonight, there were people with a bottle of bear and dancing.
There were silent disco.

It reminded me of Roppongi art night in Tokyo, which is on every spring.
But here, it's not once a year, they are organizing this crazily fun events every month.
The theme of this month's lates were sexuality.
I was going to meet my friend there, but it seemed he would be very late, I decided to join the lecture about the sex in animals. The lecturer was London zoo's keeper. He was really good at presentation, I felt like I was watching one of Ted presentation. And I learned about the sex for animals.

And In the end, I met my friend at the exit of museum when the museum closed.
I enjoyed it anyway.

Trying "Mono Print"!!

I've tried monoprint, It was easy to draw pictures on the plate, but my picture that I drew in detail vanished when I printed it out as I used wrong paper to print. The technician suggested that it’s not a good method for very detailed pictures and I also felt it is risky to lose images.
So, I decided not to use this method for my book this time.

It's gone now...lol

Okonomiyaki night!!!

As a part of my friend's project research, I took him to Japanese supermarket in Golders Green and we had Okonomiyaki together.

He is doing a project about "food" as he loves food.
well...everyone loves food of course, but maybe he loves food more than others do as his face shine when he talks about some of his favorite food or the experience when he ate something delicious. I think he choose a right topic for his project!!

And I was honored to be able to introduce Japanese foods in a shop and teach how we cook okonomiyaki for the person who passionates about food, though there are various ways of cooking for okonomiyaki.

I guess he will be really good at cooking in the future.

We packed the leftover and had okonomiyaki lunch!

Library reminds me of my home

Today, I did research in a library after lecture,.
I think I really love library wherever I am.

Honestly, I don't think I read so many books, though I don't know the average amounts.
My parents love reading and I guess they use their income for books more than anything. This is crazy, but I remember that whenever we go out weekend, we ended up staying in a book shop for hours. And I was so bored sometimes and also I got lost in the bookshop in "Kinokuniya"(A famous Japanese book shop) so many times as my parents forget about their daughter while they concentrated in reading books.
So, my house is obviously full of books although my father sold out tens of box of books when we moved.
I guess it's one of the reason why I feel comfortable when I was surrounded by books and why I like books visually, not only texts.

Anyway, I focused on researching what kind of children's book illustrator there are today. And there were many books which was like a dictionary with full color page of illustrators works. I felt like I have been to many museum or galleries in one day.

My great private travel agency:)

When I started to think about making a children's book, I naturally thought this is the time to visit Bologna Children's Book fair!!

It's in Italy but I have been knowing the book fair for a long time. Because they organize the exhibition in Itabashi art museum, Tokyo Japan. My mother used to take me to the exhibition as she loved Children's picture books and she also draw pictures for it.
So, I thought if I'm living in UK now, maybe it's cheaper to go directly to the bookfair in Bologna rather than visiting the museum in Japan.

But I have already faced the problem today when I started searching fright ticket.
There were so many websites which show the price of frights and I had no idea which one I should use.

then, my friend came to see me. He saw what I was doing and he just took over my keyboard and typed some names of website in google search box. And in a second, he reached to the list of cheap frights and calender with prices. I was just amazed to see what he was doing by sitting next to him. He was like a travel agency and he also told me he enjoys checking the price of tickets.
He is my best friend at school but I sometimes feel we are completely opposite in a way. I hate checking a price or booking tickets online. Even if it was in Japanese, I feel as if I was drawn in the big sea of information.

But maybe, to talk about booking fright ticket, I finds European people are got used to doing well. I guess it's more common things to travel to another countries since many countries are gathering in one places in Europe.
Of course, Japanese people also love traveling, but for us, I think traveling to another countries are still special things.

Anyway thanks to my great private travel agency, I have got some information about cheap fright companies in Europe!!!
But I have realized it's still expensive for me!! hahaha

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do."

Research memo- Beatrix Potter-

As I'm going to make a children book, I've been researching children's book author. And I was reading about Beatrix Potter who is the author of "Peter Rabbit". I have already seen the movie "Ms potter", but there were still so many things I didn't know.
My image of Ms potter was the woman who loves animals, who enjoy staying  natures and very relaxing. But it seemed she was also the person who was well organized and  very clever.  The surprising thing I found today was that she enjoyed keeping diaries but she had written in a special code which she created, so that no body can understand.
I wish I could do the same thing. I have kept writing my diary in my notebook, but so far everyone can understand very easily as long as they were able to understand Japanese.

These are recommended books to read if you are interested in her story.


■Susan E. Meyer, 1997. A Treasury of the Great Children's Book Illustrators. Reprint Edition. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers.

■Margaret Lane, 1978. The Magic Years of Beatrix Potter. Library Binding Edition. Warne.

SAATCHI Gallery -Gu Wenda-

I went to Saatchi Gallery.
My friend whose name is "Sachi" recommended me to go there before.
And today, Finally I have been there.

I was surprised to find it was FREE entrance.
But the exhibition "United Nations - Man and Space" were so interesting.
All flags were made by human hairs.
Shanghai-born artist Gu Wenda made them.
I could see the varieties of hairs in each pieces of works.

Bye Bye Grandpa...

It's my dad's birthday today. But I received the message from my dad that my grandpa passed away today in Japan.
He was getting old, but he has been ok for last few weeks. It was very sudden.

He was really my favorite person and I really loved him.
I hope he is enjoying Japanese sake in heaven.  

Stone Lithography

I have tried stone lithography today.
There were supposed to be more people in the workshop, but somehow there were only me and Richard who is may favorite technician .

So, he taught me everything about stone lithography one to one. Although it requires a lot of preparation to get ready to print on stone, all the methods were like a science experiment and which was exciting.

stoooooone!!

materials to draw pictures.

put white powder after drawing

mix powder and some gel

covering by the liquid

printing!!

the use of water is important!

great technician, Richard!!

★Starting Final Major Project!!★

I have been joining the one year Graphic Design course in London College of Communication(University of the Arts London) since last September.

As part of the curriculum, we were allowed to choose any topic we want do for our Final Major Project(FMP)!!
And I would love to make an another Children's picture book as my final major project!!!!

Thanks to my great tutor at college, she has been letting us to try a lot of experimentation and we really didn't have to stick to the genre of "Graphic Design", which made us discovering ourselves more. I feel so lucky that my tutor was her.
So, In last six months, I have made a sound movie installation, children's picture book(illustration), e-book(painting),branding posters and cups(Lino-cut&digital) while I have still been doing my own project at the same time.

Before I joined this course, I wasn't really sure what the best way to combine my writing and illustrations. But after making my first book "My place" last year, I finally felt "this is what I have wanted to do"!!!! So, I now know what I want to do in the future, and I would like to take this final project as practical as I can.

Therefore, I have decided to make new children's picture book as my final major project. It's 2 months project (by middle of April).

I will start the project from researching what kind of successful children’s bookmaker there are. Mainly I plan to focus on the area in Europe as I plan to make a book in English this time. I will see what kind of narrative and design were used. Also I plan to visit bookshop as many as I can to find out the current children’s book market and what kind of bookshop there are in London.

At the same time, I will keep making the life journal, as I tend to get inspirations of stories from my daily life. What is more, In end of this project, I'm planing to go to Bologna Children's Bookfair in Italy with the new book, if I could managed to finish making it by then. The one of my dream is to publish my book, so I guess it's important to get contact with professionals such as publishers, other illustrators and writer, and get feedback from them.

Anyway, I will try to keep updating my project on this blog, so I hope you enjoy it;)

The label will be #FMP, #learning!