

Unearthed outside of the city of Sano in Tochigi-ken, this portrait photography series documents Japan as it engaged with modernization and commercial photography in the Meiji and Taishō Periods.
Ian Lynam is a graphic designer living in Tokyo and the art director of Neojaponisme. His website is located at
ianlynam.com. His new book,
Parallel Strokes, on the intersection of graffiti and typography is available now.
Posted in Conceptions of Japan, History, Meeting Modernity, Photography, The Past, Visual Art 1 Comment »


Unearthed outside of the city of Sano in Tochigi-ken, this portrait photography series documents Japan as it engaged with modernization and commercial photography in the Meiji and Taishō Periods.
Ian Lynam is a graphic designer living in Tokyo and the art director of Neojaponisme. His website is located at
ianlynam.com. His new book,
Parallel Strokes, on the intersection of graffiti and typography is available now.
Posted in Conceptions of Japan, History, Meeting Modernity, Photography, Visual Art No Comments »


Unearthed outside of the city of Sano in Tochigi-ken, this portrait photography series documents Japan as it engaged with modernization and commercial photography in the Meiji and Taishō Periods.
Ian Lynam is a graphic designer living in Tokyo and the art director of Neojaponisme. His website is located at
ianlynam.com. His new book,
Parallel Strokes, on the intersection of graffiti and typography is available now.
Posted in Conceptions of Japan, History, Meeting Modernity, Photography, Visual Art No Comments »


A new cut-paper illustration by Tokyo-based American illustrator, Patrick Gannon.
Patrick Gannon is an artist whose illustrations and artwork are made entirely of cut-paper (and often wood). His studio is in Tokyo, Japan, where he lives with his amazing wife and a very, very large collection of paper from all over the world.
Mixing bold whimsy with a subtle conceptual streak, his artwork combines influences from his life in Japan and his upbringing on a farm in New Jersey where he was surrounded by animals and the natural world. His interest in myths and fables drove him to study literature as an undergrad at Providence College, Rhode Island. All these elements come together to invent a unique mythology for the current world.
Patrick has an MFA in illustration from the Savannah College of Art and Design. His work can be seen internationally in books, magazines, newspapers and more.
His website is
http://www.pgannon.com
Posted in The Future, Visual Art 1 Comment »


The first in a series of visual excerpts from the out-of-print book 和英文字レタリング (Japanese and English Lettering) by Tsunetoshi Hurusawa (古沢恒敏), a collection of assorted lettering styles culled from history.
Originally published in 1978, the book is a great study of the types of lettering used by typical “fancy”/ファンシー businesses (many cafes, snacks, cake shops, and assorted post-WWII through pre-1990s service-oriented businesses). A number of the lettering styles within are the blueprints for these types of businesses’ lettering.
和英文字レタリング helps explain much of the Tokyo letterscape of recent history.
Ian Lynam is a graphic designer living in Tokyo and the art director of Neojaponisme. His website is located at
ianlynam.com. His new book,
Parallel Strokes, on the intersection of graffiti and typography is available now.
Posted in Conceptions of Japan, Features, History, Language, Moji Salvage, Visual Art No Comments »