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Detailed view of Hideji Terada’s “Tamiga” exhibition
Interview with Artist Hideji Terada
Of People, Characters and Layers of Time
Before Hideji Terada began his artistic career in 2022, he was a highly regarded graphic designer whose work had been featured, among other places, in the Tokyo issue of Slanted Magazine. In recent years, the artist, whose background lies in graphic design and lettering, has focused on expressive black-and-white forms and figures.
Double-page spread from Manami Okazaki’s book “Kokeshi from Tohoku with Love”
Interview with Author Manami Okazaki
From Shitamachi with pride
Her articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Japan Times, and the South China Morning Post. Given the breadth of her work, the author Manami Okazaki can justifiably be described as tireless. I meet Manami in the historic district of Kyojima, at her studio which is housed in a traditional nagaya (row house). A conversation about traditional crafts, transformation, and cultural continuity, seated on tatami mats and surrounded by books.
Anti-gentrification protest in Kōenji, 2018. Photo: Andhika Faisal
Interview with SUBstore Founder Andhika Faisal
Koenji, Tokyo’s Defiant Neighbourhood
Just a few stops west of Shibuya in western Tokyo, the neighbourhood of Koenji feels like a different world. While the capitals famous entertainment districts are defined by neon lights and constant redevelopment, this corner of the city has long maintained a more independent spirit. Few people embody that connection between music, community and activism better than Andhika Faisal (Andy), founder of SUBstore. I met him to talk about the neighbourhoods unique character, its long-running anti-gentrification movement and why zines remain an important tool for documenting communities before they disappear.
Nike Shinjuku, façade. Photo: Nike
Shūetsu Satō’s adhesive tape lettering
Tokyo Tape Type: From the Underground to the Flagship Store
In April 2026, a new NIKE flagship store opened on the east side of Shinjuku Station. In an environment that all but overwhelms the viewer with advertising messages, the creative team led by the Creative director Shuichi Narita (Nike) and art director Shun Sasaki (Ayond) achieved a move that was as engaging as it was clever: for the branding, they drew on the iconic adhesive-tape lettering Shūetsu-tai by security guard Shūetsu Satō, which for over twenty years has been inseparably associated with Tokyo’s busiest railway station—and indeed the busiest in the world.
The Verein Stadtschrift in Vienna
The Typographic DNA of the City
Television repair, photographic studios, taverns: not only the design of the lettering itself, but also the services once advertised by these signs now appear curiously antiquated. Yet it is neither nostalgia nor a longing for a “better past” that motivates the association Stadtschrift, which collects, preserves, and reintroduces these Viennese signages into the public realm.
Albert Cuyp Markt, Amsterdam
The Market Signpainter: Henry van der Horst
A November morning at the Albert Cuyp Market in Amsterdam. The distinctive style of the price signs at many stalls immediately catches the eye. Responsible for them is the market signwriter Henry van der Horst, who has been producing hand-lettered price cards for nearly four decades.
Mumbai Taxi Art
Sameer Mistry, artist with a fine blade
In 2009, the magazine Creative Review appeared with a cover that brought sudden attention in the West to an art form that had hitherto remained almost entirely unknown: the ornate typographic embellishments adorning Mumbai’s kaali peeli taxis. A decade later, I set out in search of the artists behind these “Mumbai Typo Taxis,” seeking to discover what, if anything, has endured of their once resplendent decorations.
Signpainter Documentary
When Better Letters met ... Josef Samuel, Vienna’s Last Signpainter
Vienna-based graphic designer Tom Koch teamed up with Better Letters to produce the second in their series of biopics about veteran sign painters. This short film celebrates the life and times of Vienna’s last sign painter, Josef Samuel.