Stories
Main content
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.
On display in the Japan Poster Shop showroom: the huge B0 billboard for Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, a monumental survivor from the era of roadshow science fiction.
The World of Japanese Film Posters
Designed to Disappear
In the second half of the nineteenth century, Europe fell under the spell of Japonisme. The visual language of a country that had only recently opened its doors to the West transformed painting, graphic design, fashion and the decorative arts. More than 150 years later, Japan is once again inspiring a renewed fascination around the world. A glance at today’s social media makes it clear that a new generation has developed an appreciation not only for Japanese pop culture, but also for the country’s everyday aesthetics, craftsmanship and design heritage. One indication of this shift came during Asian Art Week at Christie’s in New York last spring. Under the title Anime Starts Here: Japanese Subculture Reimagines Tradition, the auction house presented anime, manga, film posters and popular culture within the broader context of Japanese art and design. It marked a significant moment: for perhaps the first time, original Japanese film posters were presented not merely as collectibles, but as cultural artefacts worthy of standing alongside more established forms of Japanese art.
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.
Museum Documentary
The Remarkable Rescue of a Historic Advertising Wall
In 2019, the Vienna Museum commissioned us to document the removal of a historic advertising wall on Favoritenstraße. Over the course of the week-long filming, a quiet tension accompanied the entire team, as uncertainty lingered over whether the severely deteriorated wall could, in fact, be preserved.
In the Wien Museum Depot
A Visit to the Prater Whale
The inn Zum Walfisch, founded as early as 1782, was a true Prater institution and, for generations, a cherished destination for Viennese patrons. Above its entrance, a nine-metre-long whale—installed in the early 1950s—delighted visitors with its playful water fountain, captivating not least the younger among them. In 2013, however, the restaurant closed its doors, and with it seemed to come the end of the whale.
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.
Alone in the Wiener Prater
Lockdown in the Amusement Park
Vienna’s Prater looks back on more than 250 years as a place of recreation on the city’s doorstep. The Wurstelprater in particular, with its array of attractions, has long been a favoured destination for Viennese families and a place of longing for generations of children. In spring, the Prater enters its high season, when tourists and local families alike crowd around its stalls. In April 2020, however, everything was different. During the first lockdown, the deserted Prater revealed itself as both captivating and eerily uncanny.
Chinatown on the Eve of the Pandemic
Chinese New Year
Yaowarat, Bangkok’s Chinatown, is in itself a visual challenge. Yet as the turn of the year approaches, the already dense interplay of Chinese, Thai, and English scripts acquires an additional layer: the red-and-gold aura of the Chinese New Year begins to cast its glow.
Awnings as Advertising Space
Extreme Scale 3D-Typography
In Ho Chi Minh City, the prolific use of awnings as advertising surfaces is a defining feature of the urban landscape. Smaller shops and restaurants, in particular, make use of these large-format displays to attract attention, often prominently presenting the house number in oversized numerals.