#03
AUGUST 2020
How did you meet "Yukio"?
It was my first year on my own.
I think it was about 12 years ago.
I had some time off from my work in Ueno, so I wandered over to the Ueno Zoo.
It's been a long time since I've been to the zoo, but it was very quiet and everyone was asleep.
I had a negative impression of the zoo until then.
I guess my bitterness about "feeling sorry for them in a cage" was greater at that time.
Thinking about this, we continued on, and arrived at the polar bear area.
When I looked up, I saw a polar bear standing upright.
Isn't he cute?
Earlier I had been worried about the zoo, but this encounter changed everything.
That was our first encounter with Yukio, the polar bear.
At first, I simply thought, "Yukio is cute," and
I went to the zoo for a very simple reason.
And as I went there several times, I gradually accumulated information on the biology of each animal.
Over time, I came to understand the character of each individual animal and so on.
You became more and more beloved.
As you became more and more interested in each animal
One by one, the negative feelings I had about the zoo disappeared.
Then, little by little, I started researching "why zoos were born" and "what the zoo's true role is" and so on.
So you naturally came to know about it from the activity reports and other signs and handouts that you saw in the park?
It's an important part of life in society, and it's an important part of life as a creator.
Earning money and producing results are inseparable parts of life.
But the truth is, while the activities are full of stimulation, they are not the only way to make money.
It's a very busy, exhausting and exhausting daily grind.
That's the "other important thing" that I want.
So, in a way, it's a day of sacrifice.
I felt like going to the zoo would free my mind and body.
I could see and touch and feel it in my mind and
You can take a big deep breath and spend time with nothing to hold you captive.
It's so simple to come here and remember the most important thing.
It's unspeakable, invisible, and so warm...
The beauty and joy of this world, that we live and eventually die.
The unexplainable, mysterious events and the mysterious power of nature.
This is the "other important thing" that I have been searching for.
And to tour this zoo and capture the animals on camera.
So it became my life's work one step at a time.
Thinking back, I chose this job on an "idea".
I joined the company with an ambition, to design cars.
During a training period at the company where I was working as a CAD engineer.
It was a wonder idea that came down to me like a big, very bright energy.
Suddenly one morning, "I'm going to be a photographer! I decided to do this.
I realize that life is a series of opportunities to choose a path or to make some choices.
I think it's up to each of us to decide what we will always look to for guidance and reliance in those situations.
Of course, some choices require a great deal of energy in the form of experience, but
What you need to do when you choose to make a decision that you have no experience with is
Isn't there such a thing as this kind of mysterious power in action?
To me, it's exactly like this.
So there's always an experience where you have a sense of "sense of wonder" to show you the way.
The experience of living as an actor
I worked as an actor from second grade through college.
When I was in second grade, I was recruited to perform in the musical "Annie
My parents applied for an audition, and to my surprise, I passed.
I was a young girl with no experience in the acting industry, and everything I had to do was a huge barrier to me.
I had to leave school early and miss school trips.
It wasn't just acting, singing and dancing, because I had zero experience at all.
Yet, six months later, I was still singing and performing in front of many customers.
I was in the spotlight and I still can't forget the excitement I felt at that time.
Even though I was small, I was desperately learning every day how to get out of the situation.
I think I was trying to figure out what to do, and I was making trial and error every day.
The instructors and staff who guided me were the ones who gave me the answers to the questions I was trying to answer.
I think I was struggling to master it somehow.
The clumsy trial and error was something I got to experience around this time.
Later, as a freelance photographer and
I feel that I have been able to turn the walls that I have encountered in my work and projects into strength to overcome them.
And what I experienced there has made me realize that I can handle it, even when I encounter problems.
It's led me to where I am today, where I feel like "there's nothing I can't do.
Maybe it's a great energy and confidence boost for your life right now.
New life
I have a little life in my belly right now.
I am six months into a stable pregnancy.
I think there has always been a big desire for me to become a man.
The desire to fully savor my sexuality as a woman and
Even with that, I feel the extremes of wanting to live out my life freely.
I feel as if I have always fought against my own selfishness.
Maybe it's a feeling I've been dragging around since I was a child.
When I finally reached the age of old childbirth.
We didn't want to have any regrets, so we decided to try to get pregnant.
In light of the current environment for child-rearing in Japanese society, the world situation and the natural environment, we decided to try
It's true that instinctively I've been hesitant to procreate in recent years.
It's just that the next generation is going to have the next set of values and
I feel like it's a different evolutionary process.
I also felt that individuals should not be allowed to make their own judgments about whether it was good or bad for them.
In addition, here's one more difficult barrier to fertility.
My husband's job requires him to go overseas for more than half a year, 3/4 of the time when he's on a business trip in a year
You've been finding it difficult to find the right timing for a natural pregnancy.
You had to take a gamble on one or two of the few chances you had.
I knew it was a gamble I couldn't win now that I was older.
We are going to a specialist clinic where IVF can be done in the summer of 2019.
At the time, I was 37 and my husband was 41.
When we first got married, we were hoping that one day we could conceive naturally.
Their lives themselves are often separated by time and distance.
We wanted to start IVF without any resistance from the beginning, rather than using the timing method or artificial insemination.
We ended up going with ICSI, but we tried the shortest course possible.
I was able to get pregnant this year in March 2020.
I was pregnant and spending time with my baby in my belly.
I am now savoring the time of change that is slowly making me a mother.
The strange sensation of a knock on my belly and
Every day I can't help but wonder if they're still growing well today.
To think that I'm in the middle of this mysterious and wonderful experience of nurturing life.
I'm so glad I took the plunge and took the plunge into fertility.
Sense of Wonder
Until now, I've just loved it and made it my life's work.
It's a natural connection to my work.
I am gradually getting more and more precious time and opportunities to get involved with zoos.
I have learned about various issues related to zoos and their related environments.
And I've learned that there are many issues that are too numerous to list.
You also learn that there are a lot of zoo people who are still working in the field as best they can.
I'm always thinking about what I can do to help them.
Anyway, I thought the only thing I could do was to "go to the zoo again today".
Just going to see the cute guys you've been recommended to meet gives you energy.
It's time to get back to the point of origin.
We'll continue to increase the number of opportunities to meet animals and zoos through books, magazines, apps and photography classes.
The only way for me to convey the joy and wonder of it was through photography, so
I want to continue to work to share the appeal of this project with as many people as possible, even if it's just a little bit at a time.
I also think that after the birth of my child, I will encounter a different set of values.
Even after I return to work, I'm going to change my way of working from the frantic way I used to work.
You can schedule your child to grow and
I'm wondering if my work and what I'm shooting will possibly change.
I've been talking to my husband about how I want to get the word out about my kids through photos and videos.
The content of social networking sites may be changing again.
In the past, the content of social networking sites has naturally turned to work in response to our interests.
It has led to my next meeting and I am confident that I will see some different changes again after the birth.
That's what I'm looking forward to now.
I've lived my life thinking that the only thing that will happen in my life is what I need to happen to myself.
At the optimal time, we may have met and broken up and lost and gained something.
So I'm going to struggle with the present to the fullest in this way, and cherish every moment.
And I hope to encounter a "sense of wonder" again there.
This sense of wonder will probably continue to guide me in the future.
PEOPLE
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Sense of wonder
Yurica Terashima
8.2 2020
photographer
センス・オブ・ワンダー
text and photographs - Yurica Terashima
photographer
Yurica Terashima
寺島由里佳
Focusing on portraits, she is active in advertising and magazine media. Her lifelong dream is to visit zoos all over Japan and the world to take pictures of animals in zoos. In addition to developing postcards, iPhone cases and other collaborative goods with companies, she is also a lecturer at Rikkyo University and plans events with companies and government agencies.
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When you forgive yourself,
no one can take it away from you
自分を許すと誰にも奪われない
*
I've been reckless, not inherited by my parents, and I've been losing a lot of money growing up.
Suddenly, she decided to get into the flower business.
It had been about 10 years since I had worked there and about 7 years since I had become a freelancer.
I had never even worked a part-time job at a flower shop before.
Despite the fact that it was a completely different type of job, just tinkering with computers.
I came up with the idea that my mind was literally in a state of flux.
Maybe it's because there was a big change in my feelings at the time.
*
When I was in my 20s, I hadn't even started working yet.
At one point, people around me disagreed with my plan for improvement in a meeting, and it was rejected.
A few minutes later, however, everyone agreed with another person's statement.
It was the exact same thing I had said earlier.
I disagreed, almost falling out of my chair at the return of his palm before the roots of his tongue had even dried up.
Yeah, people don't look at what you say, they look at who you say it to.
I remember being shocked.
I had no track record, and I hadn't earned the trust of those around me.
Even if I have something useful to say, they say nothing compelling.
Well, then, I'll have to get more life experience myself.
I need to be someone who has more weight to be able to take the words I say head on!
That's how primitive I was to begin to think.
*
Now, after that, I've spent a long time
You'll be completing a series of so-called sour and sweet quests that many people go through.
Marriage, childbirth, divorce, parenting depression, job changes, independence.
A business partner in Italy goes bankrupt.
I don't have any money, so I'm giving you my parrot instead.
And there was a time when he received a letter from the president and learned that the debt was uncollectible.
(I didn't get the parrot.)
I've been sick and unable to work.
I've been bereaved by a DV toxic parent.
My relationship with my kids has been strained.
And all that stuff, well, you know, it's just a lot of stuff that happened.
It should have been time for me to save up the kind of experience I wanted back then.
And yet, in the end, it was just a hardship.
It's not like I've accomplished anything.
It's not like I can do much.
All I could feel was that I didn't have any special experience.
The work was challenging, but
I'm always looking for what's right by the world's standards.
I was desperate to turn the project, the place, into something that wasn't a failure.
At first glance, that seems obvious because it's my job.
In fact, getting close to what seemed to be the right answer and not failing was not a success.
And, most importantly, it was what I invented and brought to completion.
When it comes to presenting it ostensibly as another's achievement.
While soberly preparing souvenirs for the media outside the glamorous venue.
I haven't changed at all since then.
I would be astonished.
I'm still not experienced enough to do that.
That it's still too thin because it's not at the level it should be.
Subconsciously, the "Let's Struggle More Project" accelerated even more.
*
However, then, when I was a young man
"A case of sharing my opinion in a meeting.
It was a frequent occurrence that was the answer song to the
An exchange of ideas on one occasion, an
One person spoke passionately about the importance of these things in parenting.
The people around me and I listened and sympathized with him, but he had no experience in raising children.
'Huh?'
Time has entered the age of social networking.
'I became a consultant based on my experience when I went to ○○○.
Someone is a very persuasive young entrepreneur who tweets, "I've been there, but it seems like once.
But it's like a one-time thing.
"Huh?
If you want someone to trust your word, you can't be a flake, you can't be a flake yourself.
Maybe it's a track record, or maybe you need to think in terms of experience.
But you can't be too young or too inexperienced.
There are people who I can relate to and who make me want to believe in them.
How did those people gain the trust of so many people?
It was this sort of thing.
People who are able to admit to themselves the fact that they have done that much, even if it's inexperienced, allow themselves to tell it to themselves as it is, as an achievement.
People who truly believe in what they can do at their current level are strong and trustworthy.
In those days, having a strong opinion about an area in which I was inexperienced was not an option.
I felt like a know-it-all, and I was kind of uncomfortable with that.
I felt like I shouldn't say something that I knew just because I'd been somewhere once.
But it wasn't that anyone had forbidden me to do so, I just hadn't allowed myself to do so.
It was me, not others, who was taking away my achievements that I had worked so hard to create.
Anyway, the people around you will treat you as you treat yourself.
If you treat yourself poorly, the people around you will treat you poorly, and so on.
In other words, I couldn't give myself permission, I couldn't get people to believe in me because I couldn't accept myself.
I mean, there's no way they would believe me if I didn't allow myself to...
What I'm missing is not hard work and experience and accomplishments to back up my words.
I finally realized that it was just a matter of acknowledging what I had always done up to that point, and that's all I'd ever done.
It was like weaving a straw for a distant destination.
We crossed a number of mountain passes with a bamboo bark wrapped rice ball in our hearts.
I was about to fall over when my blood-soaked feet wouldn't take another step forward.
It was like being told, "Well, let's take a chopper afterwards.
If that's what it is, tell me first, first thing.
*
After such a realization a few years ago now.
Like a dam, I started believing in myself and doing whatever I wanted to do, even if it was a foregone conclusion.
I'm aware that the flower work I started recklessly, and of course I'm still a chick with decades to polish up, but even so, I don't have a sneaky feeling at all.
Instead of setting a certain level as a point of achievement and being ashamed of my differences from that point.
I may not be good enough, but this is who I am now.
I can proudly say, "I'm not satisfied with the status quo.
Satisfaction with the status quo can stop you from growing, but it's a strange thing because when you forgive and admit that you've gotten to your tentative position, you're motivated to work harder from there.
*
One day, I suddenly think of this.
'Humans have 60 trillion cells, they kill cancer cells and all kinds of germs every day with their immunity, they heal us when we get hurt, they store decades of memories, and they have the creativity to create things and solve problems that don't exist in this world. You may not find such a miraculous, high-performance, sophisticated creature in the universe.
Ah! But that high performance precious creature, come to think of it, I had it too. This self!
I'm not a great guy in the slightest, but human beings are amazing! When you have the feeling that you are a good person, you can believe in your future.
You want to let them try things out and grow.
You wonder what will happen if you enhance their performance.
Confidence is the sense of trusting your future in a good direction.
Recently, the term "desire for approval" has been used a lot, but it's not so much getting approval from someone else as it is gaining an unshakable confidence in yourself by acknowledging and forgiving yourself.
It's the same with something like human sexuality.
"No, no, no, no, I don't think so" would stop me right there.
I have a feeling that the sexiness is going to lurk down to the line that the person has allowed themselves to take: "I'm like this in some places.
******
The flowers of plants and trees are flowers that will eventually fall. The appearance of impermanence.
Arranging flowers is an act of prayer that brings to light the momentary glimmer of life until the roots are cut off and the flowers are on their way to death.
And, through this artful presentation, which is detached from nature, the work speaks to the viewer's senses.
People are also impermanent beings, but
Finding individuality in the present moment.
If they agree that it's okay.
And.
If I can allow myself to present it as it is.
It is sure to grow and produce large flowers.
floral designer
8.2 2020
Karin Sugiyama
text and photographs - Karin Sugiyama
floral designer
Karin Sugiyama
杉山香林
He is a floral designer who does not have a fixed style and proposes various designs according to the concept of floral styling for photo shoots, flower decoration at events and weddings, and festive flowers, etc.
After working in marketing communications at advertising agencies and IT companies, he established Anjoush Inc. in 2008 to plan and manage projects and create guidelines for corporate environmental conservation activities and initiatives to create a sustainable society.
In the course of his work, he became fascinated by the beauty of plants and their way of life, and began to believe that the truth of this world lies in the natural world, and that in order to build a sustainable society, we need to touch trees, flowers, and other plants and feel a sense of admiration and awe for them.
In April 2016, she opened Sohana Tokyo, and while utilizing her studies in flower arranging, she also incorporates the essence of what she learned from floral artists in Europe, aiming to make the most of the individuality of each flower in her styling.
BRAND "Soka Tokyo"
Haute couture flower brand "Sohana TOKYO".
Sohana TOKYO is an atelier-style haute couture flower brand that does not have a shop. We offer made-to-order floral styling for special occasions using only fresh flowers that have life.
Creating a space that brings out the sparkle of life in fresh flowers
We support the creation of spaces that make the most of the impact and visual appeal of plants and flowers in special situations, such as product displays, photography props and photo booths for promotional events.
Designing, not art
Sohana TOKYO is not an "artist" but a "designer", and we share the goal and challenge of the project with our clients, and we aim to design a solution with plants and flowers.
Therefore, we do not limit ourselves to one style, but rather we try to take an approach that allows the diverse personalities of the plants to play out in accordance with our objectives, such as the venomousness, lustre and cuteness of the flowers, and the freshness and strength of the plants and trees.
When available, we also offer plants and flowers that you don't often see in the city's florists.
While I write this and during lockdown the following song has been all time around me. Sleeping at Last – Southern.
Southern.
© Roger Villena
Lockdown...
Due to the lockdown many people might have thought about changing life, job or lifestyle. I didn't, I loved the life I had built. I was doing the two things I love the most, working as travel photographer and rock climbing multi-pitch routes. I had good clients that took me many years to find and I am grateful for everything I lived.
So when all this changed from one day to the next, I was in shock. I wasn't allowed to live in my van anymore neither allowed to climb and few weeks later the airline magazines I had been working for announced temporary suspension so no more work coming in.
We all were in shock, and we are all grieving for what we lost. Because life changed and we all left something behind. There are 5 stages of grieving: denial, anger, guilt, depression and acceptance. If that is the case, during this time I was full in denial and at times anger.
The father of Alberto Espinosa, a Spanish writer used to tell him “to live is to learn to loose what you gained” if that's the case, my professional career as travel photographer is a lot about that. In the past 15 years I have worked for over 100 clients and only 10 to 15 remain today and from those many changed their teams entirely. Many closed down in 2009, some before, others after or now as effect of the Covid-19.
For 50 days, Spain was in full lockdown. We were only allowed to go out one person at a time with mask and gloves to buy essentials like groceries or medicines and go to the doctor. Police was patrolling the streets everyday having controls to check where the few cars were moving too and asking people the same. Everything stopped and the whole country looked like a post-apocalyptic scene.
During this time I worked on my personal photographic career and a my new project called LVRS a photo essay about the connection of sexual encounters with the 4 natural elements (fire, earth, water and air).
And also, I was lucky I had my wools so I could follow my recent passion: knitting. I knit a lot, a hat, 2 masks, 2 scarfs, a shawl, a set of coasters and I just started a new turquoise scarf.
What the future holds...
As I write this, the village where I live is in phase 2 (+35 days since full lockdown). In Barcelona city they are not so lucky, just starting phase 1. In phase 2, we are allowed to go out, move around our area, most of the shops, restaurants and bars are reopening and we can even go climbing again. The most difficult thing for Spanish people is to wear masks as we are not used to and keep the 2 meters distance between friends and people you know. We are a warm society, we greet people with a hug and two kisses one on each cheek.
Personally, I am still grieving from a lost life, specially work-wise and wondering how I am going to earn my living from now on. The good side is that I have experience from previews breakdowns and tsunamis in my life. In 2009, 50% of my clients closed down and in 2015 I separated from my husband after 13 years together and started a new life. Something I learned is that nothing is permanent.
I am taking care of myself and the ones I love, I try to be happy and well everyday. Stay focus, don't rush into anything, learn to live with the uncertainty and make plans for only 3-4 months ahead. After this time, time to revise things again. Save and don't waist energies. And very important, listen to my heart beat carefully, the heart beat that always tells me where to go and what to do next.
Work-wise I keep working for a client and I am focus on my other expertise as social media visual content creator as I collaborate with a couple of clients and NGOs. Always learning and keeping update with the latest tendencies, finally I am having time to improve my video editing and design skills.
Right now, from the grieving stages I am moving from anger to depression and acceptance....and I would add a 6th stage: gratitude.
© Maribeth Mellin
text and photographs - Itxaso Zuñiga Ruiz (unless otherwise specified)
translation - Mikiko Shirakura
PEOPLE
STAY SALTY ...... people here
Weave
Inspiring transformation
© Victor Tardio
© Victor Tardio
©Patrick Golding
freelance travel photographer
Itxaso Zuñiga Ruiz
イチャソ・ズニガ・ルイス
Itxaso Zuñiga Ruiz (1978) born in Terrassa, Spain. Free-lance photographer for travel magazines and social media visual content developer specialized in tourism. Passionate rock climber, van lover and knitter.
Based in Japan (Tokyo) from 2005 to 2009 working for Spanish news agencies and Japanese travel magazines and in India (Delhi&Rishikesh) from 2010 to 2016 working for Japanese, Korean and SE Asia travel magazines.
Since 2017 she is living in Catalonia, Spain where she continues working for foreign media and develop social media visual content for NGO's and tourism industry.
In 2018 she published her 2nd photobook “The Journey” a hard cover book exploring the meaning of travel and photography.
Book "The Journey"
Hard cover photobook exploring the intimate meaning of travel and photography.
A visual interpretation of a life's journey, a travel journey, with more poetic images and text than explicit or descriptive photographs.
This photobook is more about how you feel looking at the images and reading the poetic text rather than what the images actually show.
First Edition: 150 limited, numbered and signed copies.
Size: 21x21 cm.
Hard Cover
Pages: 208.
Content: 188 color images and text, plus 20 tracing paper pages with text.
Interview to the author, locations and previous publications.
Language: English. Translated into Japanese, Spanish and Catalan.
インスピレーションのはざまで
Before...
Spain entered full lockdown on March 14h. The days before that, I had been rock climbing 300 meters multi-pitch routes in Ports de Besseit, almost 240 km south of Barcelona. Els Ports as it is known is a stoning, remote and magical National Park, a paradise for climbers. I keep a very special memory from those days climbing with a great partner, right before the lockdown started.
But my life hadn't been always rock climbing and living in Catalonia. In 2001, I joined a French NGO Horizons pour Tous for disable people and sailed around the world from France to French Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean. After for 12 years I lived abroad working as free-lance photographer for travel magazines, international media and news agencies. First in Tokyo (Japan) from 2005 to 2009 and after in Delhi and Rishikesh (India) from 2010 to 2016 always working for travel magazines.
Non stop rock climbing is what I had been doing since 2017 when I returned to Catalonia. In the summer of 2016, I felt in love with this lifestyle that changed my life. Rock climbing, like surfing is not a sport, is a way of living.
2019 had been also a very good year work-wise. I had started the year traveling to Mexico to do a story on an endemic vegetable called chayote, after I traveled to Valencia in Spain and March I went to the Lofoten islands above the article circle to do a story on Norwegian Cod. After I went again to Norway, to the Basque country and south of France, to Senegal to do a story on the exotic madd fruit and I ended the year shooting a story on pomegranate in Iran.
In between all this traveling, I was living in Maya, my 6 meters van, and rock climbing around Catalonia and Valencia. Seeing the sunset by the sea, waking up by the sound of the birds, doing yoga surrounded by nature, hearing the sound of rain against Maya, falling sleep seeing the moon above my bed was part of my daily life.
7.1 2020
Itxaso Zuñiga Ruiz
freelance travel photographer
#02
JULY 2020
In 2020, a new coronavirus has literally changed the world.
Even now, in late June, as I write this, I'm still washing my hands, gargling and washing my hands every chance I get. A shot of sanitizing gel or spray is becoming the new normal.
Swoosh disinfectant at the reception desk of a company you visit for work.
Shuffling disinfectant in supermarkets and funtion buildings.
Each time I do, I am reminded of my trip to India, which I visited in December 2018.
As a freelance writer and copywriter, I've had a lot of experiences over the past 22 years. Covering India was the "finest trip" of my life so far.
It was an eight-day, seven-night trip on a river cruise ship on the Ganges River.
Up and down food was the norm.
Our handsome, Japanese-speaking Indian guide, Raja-san, took care of us like a steward on the cruise. Days when the ship's crew takes over the coffee and water refills and opens the door for you.
When we went out for sightseeing, we were completely protected by the guide and crew.
We were also given what photographer Keiko and I called the "hygiene team" - germicidal gel and wet wipes. A "crew member with two hands" is always standing by. The moment our hygiene as passengers is at risk, they are right by our side, smiling and sterilizing They would push the gel.
As you can imagine, I was confused on the first day, but by the third day or so, if there was even a slight hygiene crisis, he would ask, "Where's the sanitation team? Where? They even followed him with their eyes.
"Do you want to hold a newborn baby goat? My aunt in India recommended me to go to India for the first time, and I tended to indulge in Indo-Japanese diplomacy. The crew of the health team seemed to have marked out the person who needed attention.
The Indians are not so concerned about the fact that the country requires such high standards of hygiene for foreigners. There was not.
When I was following the ice cream of the stall, I was told by Raja, the guide, in Japanese, "Do not buy and eat I was warned by a foreigner that I was "not allowed to buy or eat" even though I was now a respectable middle-aged man.
Even though I am now a respectable middle-aged man, I was warned by a foreigner that I shouldn't buy and eat like a student on a school trip. What's it like to take it in Japanese?
You never know what's going to happen in life.
I'm looking out the window of my room on the cruise ship at the Ganges River and people are waving at me as I bathe in the ablutions. .
As I waved back, I thought, 'If I bathed them, they'd probably be dying.
I knew that the difference between them, who were bathing well, and me was probably due to the difference in acquired immunity, but the world is a big place, I shimmered.
When the corona disaster swept over the world, Raja, on the group line of members of the trip at this time, Raja I received a message from "ogenkidesuka,watasihagenkidesu Ta.
I couldn't read the Japanese written in romaji silently, so I said to myself, "Are you bored? Read.
Raja takes care of our health and because we are restricted from going out in India, the food He wrote to me to say that he was living well, although it was inconvenient to buy things, and that he was doing well.
I used Google Translate to send the reply in English.
It's very convenient. The world is a big place, but people are getting closer.
I wonder what will happen now because of the corona disaster. More and more people are being tormented by the anxiety of "what if?
I, for one, felt that it was an opportunity to re-partition.
As a matter of fact, the economy has been in a slump since the second half of 2019.
The increase in the consumption tax was probably a factor.
The projects we had been working on were disappearing like sand slipping through our fingers.
Then came the corona crisis.
I decided that it was inevitable that I would have to close down my business.
I had no idea what I would do after I went out of business, but I thought, "Well, anything is possible in this situation. It was.
We are facing a global crisis.
I thought that all I could do now was to gargle, wash my hands and refrain from going out.
However....
Immediately after I regained my composure, work started pouring in from unexpected sources.
In the second half of 2019, it was as if all the seeds we had been sowing in the slump had sprouted at once. .
As a result, I was busy working every day, even though I was at home in a declared state of emergency.
Now that the state of emergency has been lifted, I'm still busy, thankfully.
It's hard to believe that my days were so dreary until around March of this year.
I was not only a writer specializing in travel, but also a Grade 3 English examinee, when I was asked to go to India to cover a story. I thought "You never know what's going to happen in your life" when I had the first time, but this time, too, it was really unexpected.
Well, that's about how my life is going to go, for the most part.
I am now the editor-in-chief of a free newspaper with a circulation of 300,000.
In the midst of declaring a state of emergency, I was hired through an online interview, and I was given a contract to work on a full remote carried out.
Even now, about a month and a half after it started, I've never met the editorial team in real life.
But I am the editor-in-chief.
It's amazing in many ways.
I was reluctant to admit that "anything is possible", but I'm happy to say that the result of "anything is possible" has made me happy. You gave it to me, and I'm squirming.
If you think about it calmly, this corona disaster has forced everyone on the planet to change, and There is.
In other words, there is no way we can do things the way we've always done them.
It seems to me that the more we stick to our old ways, the more we suffer.
The people who were satisfied with their lives before the coronation, and those who feel that their lives were better before than they are now, are not satisfied with the way things were before. Maybe I want to go back, or maybe I want to go back.
I've been in a slump for over six months, and I've also been swept up in some unpleasant relationships at work. I'm in the camp that has and doesn't want to go back.
Nevertheless, it's important that those who want to "go back" do their best and try to create a new era. I think power is also necessary.
To move forward without whining, complaining, or directing our anger at society, politics, or anyone else. I feel that we are now being asked to focus our energy on the one thing that matters most.
When we visited India, the Ganges River was café au lait and the sky was hazy.
We thought that was India.
However, we learned from the Internet news that the Ganges had regained its clarity like a clear stream after the corona disaster, and we could see the Himalayas for the first time in 30 years as the air pollution cleared.
The changes that have occurred due to the corona disaster are not all bad.
It's an opportunity for everyone on the planet, and opportunities lie ahead.
I learned firsthand that whether you take advantage of it or kill it depends on how you are.
That's why I would like to recommend it to many people.
Don't look around, don't look around, don't worry, and don't be afraid to say "anything is possible".
PEOPLE
STAY SALTY ...... people here
Weave
You don't know what's in store for you in life.The moment you open up, the path is clear.
人生、何があるのか分からない
だから「何でもアリ」と開き直った瞬間に道は開ける
Writer / Kimono Evangelist
7.1 2020
Takako Kurihara
text - Takako Kurihara
photographs - Keiko Oda
Writer / Kimono Evangelist
Takako Kurihara
栗原貴子
This is my 22nd year of freelance experience. I have more than 25 years of kimono experience. I've been involved in planning and organizing paper and web media and SP tools, as well as interviewing and writing. He has been the editor-in-chief of Pacoma, a home improvement magazine, since June 2020.
PEOPLE
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Weave
Lovely little moments
何気ない幸せの一瞬
Hiroko Sakomura
7.1 2020
cultural producer
I spend about half of the year moving around the country and abroad working, so at the end of March Ever since I came back from Finland, I've been living in Tokyo, roughly within 10 kilometers of my work and home. It had been a long time since I had been in the range of the As a matter of fact, in the beginning, I thought it was a bang-up job.
This year, I've been traveling overseas every month, and I'm a little out of breath, this will buy me time, and I usually feel like I'm I can do what I used to do, because all my colleagues in the world are in the same situation, and I can do it with a video conferencing system. I was in the mood to just get by on my cell phone and email.
However, things don't work out that way.
As long as we are alive, various things will happen, no matter what the situation is.
And if it's an emergency, more and more things are going to happen to you.
Unpredictable things will happen one after another.
In this situation, you have no choice but to gather your courage and resolve to not run away, not to lose, and to do your best.
That said, there have been many things that I have gained in my daily life, even in this situation.
So, a small update.
First of all, I challenged myself to do my standard "tidying up".
I didn't just toss them away, I tried to do something else.
For example, I got rid of the toothpaste in the tube.
A box full of toothpaste that I brought home from the airplane and the hotel I stayed at on a business trip piled up.
At first, I was going to throw it away, but then I decided to use it all up.
It's a very trivial thing, but I decided to take a break from my old habit of accumulating things I tried to rectify the situation.
It took us a while to run out, but it was a great feeling to see how much we had accomplished when the mountain of small tubes were gone. The feeling was quite something.
I smiled at myself in the mirror and said, "You did it.
I wondered why I was so happy about this.
Next, I decided to unpack some of the kimonos I'd received from people who were related to me.
I had already made some of them into kimonos, haori and obis, but this time, I chose the patterns and colors of the kimono and worked on them one by one. I decided to untie myself.
I carefully untied it, washed it by hand, and ironed it.
I laid the cloth back on the tatami mats and was enthralled with it too.
The beauty of a kimono is that it can be revived over and over again like this.
The cloth itself seemed to be quietly waiting to see what it would become next, and I felt a sense of accomplishment.
In this state, I could quickly raise it for someone else to give it to me.
Most of all, I enjoyed the feeling, the catharsis, when the old thread cracked open with a shuffle.
For daily rice making, I started making salted rice-bran paste (salted rice-bran paste), which I had been longing for a long time.
Recently, pre-fermented salted rice-bran paste is already on sale, how convenient.
In the past, the crust pickling jar used to be on the kitchen floor, but now I can close the plastic pack and put it in the refrigerator! Just add in.
Not only the classic cucumbers and eggplants, but also cabbage cores, broccoli stalks, zucchini, and leftover radishes. They all pickle, too.
After a day, they taste better than anything else.
This feeling of using up all the vegetables, I feel luxurious.
I was on a roll and tried to be self-sufficient in a modest way.
I put small tomatoes, lettuce, shiso leaves and cilantro on the balcony. I planted them.
I also bought a nice, real aluminum jowl and watered it daily.
We harvested the first three mini-tomatoes safely.
The berries are still in the shape of bells, so we can enjoy them for a while.
As for the leaves, I pick new ones every morning and eat them with a boiled egg.
I've come to love my favorite breakfast more and more.
Hmmm.
And then I take a "wander" after work for the day.
While walking around the neighborhood, I find a house with a lovely appearance and imagine what kind of people live there, and then I start to think about what kind of people live there. I was able to admire the flowers in the garden, admire the care of the garden, and have a cup of tea here! What would be nice to hear?
Listening to the joyful voices of children and families playing badminton and jumping rope in the alleyway, I could see the sunset Savor the richness of time at the end of a day.
As I let the time flow in a leisurely fashion, my nostalgic memories of my childhood come flooding back.
As I walked around the neighborhood, I noticed that there were greenways, ancient tombs and parks full of greenery.
There's even a canyon.
Until now, the road is just an approach to our destination, and we've been taking the train or car or taxi to "get around" as much as we can. 'Quickly' is the iron rule.
You may know the main roads and shortcuts, but not much about how the little alleys and narrow streets are connected. I wasn't even interested.
So, as I walked along at my feet, I was like, "What? You're going out here? It was a bit exciting, for example, when I realized that I was going to be able to do this.
To put it bluntly, I felt as if I had a new circuit inside me.
These days, walking has become an everyday activity, and I've been walking to barter with my friends instead of taking the train as much as possible to Going.
This is a very big step forward for me, as I only had the idea of a "quick courier.
Also, every now and then "Tonto Milla" joins me on this wanderlust.
Tonto lives in the far north of Finland, in the far north of Korvatunturi Mountain, with Santa Claus. The little people who are.
In Tonto, I've been working as a helper for Santa Claus, observing children all over the world and I have a job to report to Santa Claus, so I can fly anywhere in the world.
Milla is the smallest of them all, Tonto, and these days, she's totally my walking partner.
It's quite refreshing to see it through Milla's eyes as well as my own perspective.
The other day, I read in one of the newspapers that a six year old girl tweeted, "Christmas, I wonder if Santa will come in Corona. I'm an old man in a foreign country," and I read that she mumbled, "This is a big deal, Tonto Milla and I. Santa Claus will be here again this year, I'm sure! I began to think that I had to go around and tell them.
It's about time the world lifted its request to go out of the house, so I hope to go anywhere with Tonto Milla when called upon, and tell as many children, or even adults with a child's heart, about Santa Claus, Tonto, and how the world is full of wonders.
Like the story of Tonto, over the years I've come to desire to spend time with the next generation of children.
Since I started the company, my motto has been: "Everyone is different and good, but everyone is connected. But we are all connected.
I wanted to show children that it is interesting to make friends with people from all over the world, and that a little bit of English is useful for that.
That's why I started the Sakkomama English project on my own.
I started the Sakkoma English project with a small table and chairs in the middle of a children's meeting place, and I would give them a little English lesson.
The goal was to create a mysterious English-speaking woman.
The goal was a mysterious woman who spoke English. It's a little strange, but he teaches me English, and he seems to care about me a lot. The position of "they seem to be doing it for me".
I want to connect with each and every child.
I especially want to connect with the shy ones who have a hard time speaking up in a crowd.
I want to listen to my kids' musings.
I want to be able to relate to them in a way that allows them to tell me their private stories.
And at this time of year, I played with the alphabet with my friends.
Each letter of the alphabet is accompanied by an illustration, animation, sound effects, and English read aloud.
I hoped that young children would be able to learn the alphabet while playing with it and imitate the movements of the animals.
The production team's illustrations were by Wanju, with animation and sound effects by Hiroshi Seo.
Read out loud by Sanashi Saito and production management by Shuntaro Sakomura.
The data can be easily distributed.
ACB_Animals
One day, after spending the last three months like this, I was talking on the video phone with a work colleague in Sweden. And suddenly she said, "I've been working like a 'headless chicken' and Wasn't it? I said.
As soon as I heard that, I saw myself and the image of a chicken that kept running even though it had been decapitated.
'Oh, yes, I may have just been running without having time to think it over.
Running east and west, he thought, that suited his work style.
'Oh, my God!'
Then I kept thinking about headless chicken for the time being.
Rather than wake up in the morning and start moving in work mode with a to do list in my head first, I decided to get some fresh morning water into my jolo and water the plants and trees on my balcony.
If the drugstore has a sale on toothpaste, I don't buy it until I run out.
In the evening, I cooked a delicious meal and made a fruit-filled miso soup full of pickles and seasonal vegetables.
Sometimes I walk home slowly.
Live each day with care.
Savor the passage of time.
It's such a simple thing, but now I've finally realized it.
Yes, I can't and won't go back to being a headless chicken.
photographs and text - Hiroko Sakomura
cultural producers
Hiroko Sakomura
迫村裕子
Cultural Producer and President of S2 Corporation. He has been involved in international cultural projects and educational programs such as art exhibitions and events. For the past 30 years, he has had a strong connection with Finland and other Nordic countries. His main projects include "Come, see, feel and be surprised! Wonderland of Interesting Art", "Audrey Hepburn", "Kanzeza New York Performances," "Tibetan Esoteric Art Exhibition," "Finnish Ceramics Exhibition," "Marimekko Spirits Exhibition," etc. One Show Interactive 2002 Grand Prize, Good Design Award 2008, and 2008 2nd Kids Design Award - Gold Prize, Kansei Value Design Award, Faith & Form He was awarded the International Awards 2009. His books have been translated into English, including Myths of the American Indian, The Santa Claus of Lapland, The The Arinu Usagi, Nonine! Why are Finns happy? and "Tontoomilla and the Friends" and many others.
photo by Hiroshi Kubo (Photo Studio K)
#01
June 2020
PEOPLE
STAY SALTY ...... people here
Regression
The importance and love of seeing, listening, and feeling
planner / producer
Sachiko Shintani
見て、聞いて、感じることの
大切さと愛しさを
One day in May, by bicycle
It was just after Golden Week.
One month after the declaration of emergency, I kept quietly going back and forth between my house and an office located 2 minutes on foot.
In addition, I suffered from allergic rhinitis, my cough did not stop, and my physical condition continued to be low flying at the same time, and I was worried about my anxiety.
After spending more time at home, the first thing I noticed was the dirt on the floor.
Three years ago, a professional carpenter became a teacher and did a DIY remodeling of the living room at home with my sister and friends, but it was left as it was without any maintenance and it was dirty.
For the whole four days of stoic, the process of wiping off the dirt on the floor, imprinting the oil on it, drying it and imprinting it again continued for four full days. I hadn't seen anyone except my mother.
One day, my brother-in-law lent me a bicycle.
Riding on my sister's invitation, "Let's meet at the park! I'm sure it feels good," renting my elder brother's electric bicycle and running from Ebisu to Nakameguro Park.
The light of May was pleasant, and when I arrived at the park where the fresh green was dazzling while feeling the pleasant breeze, I suddenly felt as if my contour had spread out.
The smell of trees and soil, the feel of the wind, the shifting of light.
Ah, I've been closed for a long time. I was in a narrow place.
I intended to live as active in my self-restraint life as it was, but it was completely contracted.
Is ~. How comfortable it is!
Thank you for your bike! Thank you for the park! May is the best! I thought.
In addition, I met my niece for the first time in 2 months (while social distance), and I almost cried.
The half-closed eyelid snapped open and took a deep breath after a long time.
At the NHK's "Sunday Museum" I saw last week, 95-year-old dyeing artist Sayaro Yuki
He said, "Don't close it. Open your heart."
Sayaro Yuki used his old handicapped body as much as possible to work on a new rough sketch called "Tree of Life", which is larger than his height. The shape of a thick trunk, a branch that extends from left to right in monochrome. What a powerful picture! The shape full of vitality was relieved even through the screen. Somehow, I was ashamed of this small closed state.
Really. is that so. You can't close it.
Open your heart at any time! What?
I thought I shouldn't forget this word, so I hurriedly wrote it on a nearby paper, "open my heart."
That's it.
6.1 2020
Let me introduce myself for a moment.
I work with artists of various genres and work on planning workshops and exhibitions. I can't always explain it well, but I call it "art management" in its entirety.
You had plenty of time during this self-restraint period.
In an unprecedented situation where the world is pressing the pause button, I feel like I was spending time asking myself, "What do you want to do, what do you want to cherish?"
No matter how the world changes from now on, what do you want to cherish, Sachiko?
That was my question.
So I could see it so much that I came here.
When I went to the park by bicycle, I felt the feeling of myself expanding both around and around, and the "Tree of Life" drawn by dyeing artist Sayaro Yuki.
The important thing is to open your mind.
I want to create a place to open the five senses
When I think about it, I think I've always been interested in inspiring.
Two years ago, we planned an art day for children at the Nagi Museum of Contemporary Art in Okayama Prefecture.
The name is "Nagiko Children Art Day".
The Nagi Museum of Contemporary Art is a museum where works and buildings are semi-permanently integrated. It may be said that this is a "experience-type museum" that is rare in Japan and consists of three exhibition rooms named the sun, the moon, and the earth.
"Nagiko Children's Art Day" was to hold a workshop at this museum for children to enjoy using their five senses for contemporary artists, composers, binders and performers.
Contemporary artist Sherin holds a workshop called "Mysterious Tea Party".
It was a program to make a blue cake with the children who participated and eat it, and it was a project to let people feel the difference in appearance and taste. This seems to have been a fresh experience for the children.
Bookmaker and artist Takuma Yahagi opened a workshop where he drew a big picture after experiencing the museum's permanent works "Moon" and "Sun". On a gently sloping lawn, draw a picture that is bigger than your body. It is time to express using the whole body.
The workshop by composer Yasuno Miyauchi was to play the "Moonlight Forest" using the sounds of children's voices in the "Moon" work space. The children enjoyed every workshop lively and lively.
I would like to spend all my physical sensations, freely creating, playing and feeling.
Another by connecting the five senses.
It was an exhibition held at Ebisu Garden Place in 2013, and it is a work called "Aroma Greenhouse".
Scented greenhouse
With a focus on Aroma Therapist Fumio Wada, designers, writers and musicians gathered to create a place like a scented forest. Visitors will experience the scent of various plants.
When you step inside a mosquito net in the shape of a small house, there are five vials and vials lined up.
There was a title and poetry attached to it, and it was possible to experience the five scents of the poem.
I was able to hear the sound from one bottle. It is a bottle called "The ladder of light after the rain".
The people who had the experience had various impressions, such as "I remembered an old memory I had forgotten" or "I saw a warm color."
It is a work that is felt with scents, words, and sounds that evokes the memories and sensations unique to the person who normally sleeps.
****
A gallery with only 2 tsubo, a mountain hut where you can meet the works
One last thing.
Let me introduce you to a small gallery run by a family.
The name is "Yamagoya," but it's the town of Ebisu, and probably the smallest gallery in Tokyo.
We named it because we wanted to be like a teahouse on a mountain pass where visitors would take a break.
It has been eight years since it opened in 2012.
Here, we publish the works of artists who we like, regardless of whether they are famous or not.
Mountain hut planning exhibition "Strawberry Fields Yusuke Sato"
The first thing I often witness when planning an exhibition at a "mountain hut" is the first time to buy a work.
Even if you rarely see exhibitions, you can change something by meeting and talking with works and artists and spending time in the hut.
By touching the world of the work, I think I want to live with it.
I think that the act of "buying a work for the first time" may mean opening a new door within the person.
It means that a work is not just something you can see in a museum or gallery, but it can also be someone you live with in your living room or bedroom.
When I realize that, the moment when I see a work from a distance is dramatically changed to "view while living with the work." The work only comes to life when there is a viewer.
The viewer receives something from the work every day.
It may be imagination, or it may be a switch to creativity within yourself.
What's interesting is that the impression I receive from the work changes with the seasons, depending on what kind of mental state I am in, for example, whether I am tired or physically and mentally satisfied.
Even if I've been hanging on the wall for half a year and seeing it every day, one day I suddenly find myself reminded of the small windows and bird motifs hidden in my work.
I wonder why I didn't notice it until now! ...And sometimes the same work may look different from one day onwards.
The work gently snuggles up to the person's day, sometimes sends energy, and sometimes calms the mind.
Yes, the work moves people's hearts and makes a new wind in their daily lives.
Once you open it, you can't help but be excited.
I think that's what it means to buy a work.
It opens the door of the person's sensitivity.
Enjoy the response with your work.
If a mountain hut can create an opportunity to open such a door, I would not be happy any more.
The importance and love of seeing, listening, and feeling
No one knows when Corona will end.
It may be only two or three years from now, and I will have to devote myself to living in a world with a corona.
From now on, online study sessions, workshops, online solo exhibitions and music festivals may continue to increase.
Everything I've planned so far was an experience that I could gather, see, hear and feel.
Even if it becomes difficult to gather and experience in the same space, I want to somehow value the feeling that comes from seeing, hearing, touching and feeling.
It may be the delivery of art works to people far away, or it may be a mechanism to let people experience the scent, sounds and stories at home.
No matter how the world changes, no matter how you try and deliver it, the important things will not change.
You are there, I'm here.
I think that today and tomorrow, we should try to open our hearts, take in the fresh breeze, and let each other's tree of life grow freely both here and there.
(However, I hope that the day when I can be toasted in the mountain hut and have a toast will return soon!)
text-Sachiko Shintani
photographs - Nagi Kodomo Art Day: Katsuhiro Ichikawa
_cc781905-5cde-3194 -bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ _cc781905 -5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ Kaori no Onshitsu: Jun Sanbonmatsu
_cc781905-5cde-3194 -bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ _cc781905 -5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ Strawberry Fields Exhibition: Yusuke Sato
photograph by Mioko Takano
planner/producer
Sachiko Shintani
新谷佐知子
Born in 1976. After graduating from Tokyo Zokei University in 1999, founded MOVE Art Management in 2000. Planning and producing exhibitions, events and graphics. In 2012, opened a gallery and shop Yamagoya in Ebisu, Tokyo, and planned various exhibitions. We will create hands-on and participatory works on the theme of five senses, memory and theatre.
Gallery and Shop Yamagoya
Art management "MOVE Art Management"
With “moving the mind” as a keyword, along with designers, photographers, filmmakers, musicians, and other genres, the direction of design and editing,
An art management company that organizes exhibitions and workshops.
<Main projects>
2010 Paris 59 Rivoli Special Exhibition "Night Garden" Curation
2011-Main visual production of "Ebisu Cultural Festival"
2012- Planning and operation of "gallery and shop Yamagoya"
2013 "Scented greenhouse" exhibition planning
2014 Naming and concept of "Shibuya Zunchaka!", main visual production
2015 Ebisu Cultural Festival "Tea on Stage" Project
2018 Nagi Town Museum of Contemporary Art ``Nagiko Children Art Day'' plan
Scenery to live with works
Gallery "gallery and shop Yamagoya"
It is a small, small store near Ebisu Station in Tokyo.
The works I handle vary depending on the time of year, but they are art works, vessels, books, and scented items that make the daily life fluffy.
At the intersection of busy Ebisu, the name "Yamagoya" is a little strange, but I decided to name it so that people who came to the area could visit each other accidentally and see the wonderful scenery together.
*Currently, we are temporarily closed due to circumstances such as self-restraint request due to corona situation.
We hold a special exhibition by 4 to 5 mountain huts a year, and we also lend space to the artists during the other free periods. See below for details.
We sell art books planned and produced by the mountain hut and goods of artists. See below for details.
Yusuke Sato strawberry fields
PEOPLE
STAY SALTY ...... people here
Regression
My story about wine
ワインにまつわる私の話
6.1 2020
wine stylist
Asuka Ohno
What is a wine stylist?
When I first started to make a name for myself, it was heard by a lot of people in half the fun.
When I decided to study independently for three years at the bar after studying wine, the first event I planned was "Wine 10", 10 wines each with 10 art works I don't know what wine is, but drink wine while watching art, and have them feel the art and wine as a set. something like. I think it was an interesting project. Lol
One person who came to the event said, "I should have a title to introduce you", so the "Wine Stylist" attached.
At first, I was confused with a lot of messy feelings, but I choose wines that "look good" to the ordered party, event, or person.
It was so strange that I started thinking that what I really wanted to do was the wine stylist itself when I gave up my job.
The wine bar I trained for 3 years is an unusual store that always serves 100 types of glass wine, and I had no knowledge of wine at all, so I learned about wine from the 1st place.
A wine class to learn after opening at 3:00 pm.
When I meet the world of casual prices, tasting various varieties, fine wines called Grand Vin, and wines called "natural wines", I have many choices for my job. In the sense, I want to do wine with a strong habit. I want to know more about wine. I want to study
But what I want to know is not so-called "sommelier".
By all means, I'm not interested in the genre that is indispensable to becoming a sommelier, such as the name of a chateau as a knowledge or a rating, and I am interested only in "people who make wine" If anyone was going to meet me, I started to take the role of a driver and take me there. That was the first step to meet "Japanese wine".
Japanese wine is wine brewed in Japan using only grapes grown in Japan.
While visiting these wineries, I wondered whether it was the human nature of the person making it or the individuality of the land, rather than the wine with a firm and stable taste made by a major winery. I was strongly attracted to wines that felt something like "," and I realized that it was the "natural wine" world view.
There are various definitions of natural wine, which has become a well-established name now, but I understand that the biggest feature is that the winemaker makes it his own natural way.
Four years after I became independent, I have now named the genre of wine I choose as "alternative wine".
The word "alternative" that is often heard in the genre of music means "a universal spirit that is not bound by the flow of time."
It's not a fashion, it's not a rule set by anyone, it's not a love of oneself, but a steadfast spirit to flow to somewhere someday.
There, I feel the time to go for something good.
The wines I choose are not limited to natural wines, Japanese wines, or Grand Vins.
Just be loyal to something I feel.
Under such circumstances, the world was completely changed by coronavirus.
For myself, all the planned events have disappeared, the restaurants that I helped have closed, and I've been taking out mainly, so I can't go to work even if my refrain from going out now.
What can I do in a world where toasts, silly conversations, low-handed jokes, hot debates, and sweet hugs disappear? I thought.
Everyone involved in restaurants connected by sns, people who make wine, everyone is at a loss, so if you meet directly from the professionals who make wine by doing business that you have been connected to, I wondered if we could introduce the people who make wine on sns.
For a long time, the personality of the "introducer" has not been paid much attention to compared to the "maker", but in fact, I thought it was interesting that the wines had a completely different taste due to the personality of the introducer, so in the same format By connecting in a relay format, we can introduce wineries without bias, and I think the difference in how to introduce and how to select wines will be noticeable.
As a result, it became a "Japanese wine relay" with a total of 45 people.
I am truly grateful. Thank you very much.
The wines selected by 45 people were of various genres, and of course, there were many that were not natural, but the wines selected to be consumed in this era are not truly "alternative wines". I wonder. I thought so.
We have decided to collect "Japan Wine Relay" on the GOTTA web magazine, a web magazine that has been serialized as "Wine's love story". Please read it there.
I don't know what I'm going to be, or the world at all, but I'd like to spend time again with people I've met and connected through wine, music, and TV. I wish I could.
I work in the hope that it will be a little relief for someone.
I wonder if it's a text, an event, I want to do snack Asuka again somewhere, and I don't know, but I want to spend a gentle time.
Let's have a light, fun, irresponsible and trivial conversation, like dancing, together with wine, sometime at night.
text-Asuka Ohno
wine stylist
Asuka Ohno
大野明日香
Born in Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture. A wine stylist focusing on Japanese wine, Van Natur. After working in video and music, worked at several wine bars and became independent as a wine stylist. Sponsoring, producing, catering and other events related to wine. "Japanese wine and handicraft trip" (Kobunsha) Co-authored with Yukiko Goto, owner of general store hal in Numazu.
Book "Japanese wine and the journey of handicrafts"
In September 2018, the book "The Travel of Japanese Wine and Handicraft" was published.
This is because Yukiko Goto, the owner of the select shop <hal> in Numazu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, and Asuka Ono, a wine stylist, traveled around Japan.
A book introducing recommended wineries and handicrafts.
Authors: Yukiko Goto, Asuka Ohno
Production: Committee
Format: A5 format software
List price: 1400 yen (excluding tax)
Publisher: Kobunsha
Issued: September 20, 2018
6.1 2020
PEOPLE
STAY SALTY ...... people here
Regression
Sun distance
太陽のディスタンス
bookstore landlord
Satoko Kumagai
In the south end of Fushimi in Kyoto, in the city of Kyoto, there is a considerable distance from Kyoto, which is the image of so-called "Let's go, Kyoto, let's go", a distance from the station, and the distance is in time. There is such a distance.
In that kind of place, on February 15, 2018, we opened the picture book specialty store “Picture Book Nokotachi”.
A 75-year-old old house has been renovated, and you can take off your shoes and go up. You can sit down on the floor with your luggage side by side, and slowly take a picture book and examine it.
It often takes 2-3 hours for a flower to bloom with the customer.
Through the picture books, I realized that it is becoming a place where people can get closer to each other.
The number of people who are gradually acquainted has increased, and what is the social distance just ahead of the third year?
You tried to lose distance, but can you get away?
I think it was a long time ago.
There are so many people in Kyoto that I can't think of a sightseeing spot in February.
So I thought it would be over soon.
Ventilation is not a problem if you install antiseptic solution for your fingers in the store and open the window.
In the first place, there are no visitors so crowded that there is no crowding.
Before the original picture exhibition "Search for Maru" (written by Kumiko Yamamoto/Hidamarisha) scheduled for March, I made a reservation in order to make sure that the cluster would never be put out.
I wonder if I overdoed it. Customers are drastically reduced.
It was the first time for us to have such a small number during the exhibition period, and I was sorry for both the author and the publisher who came from Tokyo.
Still, from now on, I was still optimistic.
We planned an event so that we could recover in April until the devastating March.
An event inviting Akihiro Hatanaka, a folk scholar and author of "The Story of Tono to Read in the Kansai Dialect" (Ex knowledge), for reading and commentary.
"Tono Monogatari" is a literary compilation of Kunio Yanagida's stories that are known to Tono, Iwate Prefecture.
The feeling that the "Tono Monogatari" came over from the other side.
From Tohoku to Kansai. This is No distance.
If you ask Mr. Hatanaka, who you do not know, by e-mail, he will come to the store a few days later and it will be a quick talk. I'm a teacher living in Osaka. Kyoto and Osaka are also no distance.
After mid-March, Kyoto has many cherry blossom viewing guests.
Although the world is so beautiful, the number of infected people continues to grow, and my mind is full of "What to do on April 11th."
It's good because it's not large.
Give the participants the masks they gave you.
I bought a microphone for karaoke so that I don't have to speak loudly.
I also bought a stool so that I could sit at a distance.
The application deadline for 15 people has been closed to 10 people.
All the possible measures were taken, but the proper interval is 2m, what is it, control? Do you also do radio exercises? Even 10 people can't do radio exercises in the store.
At most 3 people. It's impossible.
The bulletin there was "I was prepared to consider the issuance of the emergency declaration."
What is that kind of guy, "Oh no, please start if you say Don".
Are you playing around?
We decided to postpone it a week before the scheduled date.
We are very sorry for those who applied.
At the event, I felt like I was stigmatizing myself as "unnecessary urgency", and I felt irresistible anxiety about stopping all cultural things.
Mr. Hatanaka, who has the same feeling that we must continue to send information even if we change the form, decided to have an interview on the scheduled day. For that purpose, I registered for "note" and published the interview article in five serial articles, so please read it. https://note.com/cotachi/n/n6746bb7cac7b
After the interview, the physical store was closed from April 13th to May 22nd, sending articles and shifting the focus to the Web Shop.
It was because I had decided by myself that the number of beds in Kyoto Prefecture would be full as a standard for holidays.
The biggest concern is that you can forget about a closed store.
Global change of behavior occurs and everyone goes out.
Shopping online is becoming more commonplace.
I wonder if we can do it without being buried while there are tens of thousands of other inventories whose inventory and service cannot be matched.
I wonder if everyone forgets the fun of going out when they resume.
Unintentionally, when I muttered "Don't forget" on Twitter, many people responded.
A lot of orders were received with encouraging messages from both regulars and distant people.
A list of bookstores with online shops popped up from publishers, and what's the No distance distance?
The distance from the earth to the sun is 149.6 million km.
But light and heat reach.
I can't grab it, but I feel it.
I'm sure I should think about the distance of the sun.
photographs and text - Satoko Kumagai
bookstore landlord
Satoko Kumagai
熊谷聡子
The owner of "Picture Book no Cotachi", a picture book store in Fushimi, Kyoto. Through picture books, we are transmitting the thoughts and feelings through cultural traditions and exchanges.
Book store "Picture book no Cotachi"
Picture book no Cotachi are picture book stores in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto.
It opened on February 15, 2018.
Business hours 11:00-19:00 Regular holiday Wednesday Thursday
Parking (two) is possible. There is an affiliated parking lot nearby. About 20 minutes walk from Keihan Chushojima.
76 Yokoshiro, Miyoshi Tsujido-cho, Fushimi-ku, Kyoto 612-8241, Kyoto Prefecture
TEL & FAX: 075-202-2698
Business hours 11:00-19:00 / Regular holiday Wednesdays and Thursdays
A new bookstore for picture books
We mainly deal with newly published picture books. I would like to focus on the picture books that will be read for a long time. I have a few practical books, photo books, art books, etc.
Please take off your shoes in the store
A private house over 70 years old has been renovated into a store. The floor on which the tatami mat was laid was made up of planks. Even children with small children should check the picture books on the floor without worrying about dirtying large luggage, so please take off your shoes.
We have a gallery
I made the dirt floor a gallery space. It is used for events such as original exhibitions, fairs, and workshops. Click here for past exhibitions
Naoko Morioka
inn general
6.1 2020
PEOPLE
STAY SALTY ...... people here
Regression
Living on the banks of the Yanbaru Forest ___The role of connecting
やんばるの森のほとりで生きる
—繋いでゆくという役割—
A simple and rich life.
Living to appreciate the blessings of nature.
I like that kind of life.
She used to say that in her book.
Her name is Naoko Morioka.
In the northern part of the main island of Okinawa, there is a rare subtropical forest called Yanbaru no Mori, which is a treasure trove of rare creatures such as Yambaru Kuina, Noguchichigera, Akahige, Amamiyamasugi, and a small village called Takae is on the bank.
Naoko Morioka started an inn called "Yanbaru Wildflower Inn" in the village.
Born and raised in Tokyo, Naoko goes on a journey when she can't find herself or what she believes in herself in school and daily life.
From Tokyo to Africa, I witnessed people's power to live in the present.
The African children who visit will always see and grow from the back of their mothers and learn what they need to do to live out of their children.
From a young age, you will be able to carry your brother and sister on your back as you would your mother, do household chores, and use your knife skillfully.
He said he was frightened by the inability to do what he needed to do now, seeing that their daily lives were full of "living power". I will.
This trip was a big turning point for her.
I visited Asia and the islands, and passed Ishigaki Island, seeking a peaceful link between myself and nature and life, and I finally arrived at the banks of the Yanbaru Forest while changing my base of life.
So she begins to distance herself from "living at the expense of something."
Do whatever you like and stop it if someone is in trouble.
Try not to use what was born at the expense of someone.
In other words, it is the "independent life" that coexists with nature and the earth as a person, as a life.
A way of life that begins with a self-sufficient life, raises and raises children here, and practices while looking for a comfortable life pattern.
About 15 years ago, she was introduced in various media and featured in "The Passion Continent", and her lifestyle of living in harmony with nature made a remarkable impact on people.
I continue to travel while searching for myself, and while practicing rooting and nurturing on the banks of this Yanbaru forest where I arrived while collecting what I thought to believe one by one, while searching for a lifestyle that I could think of The new horizon she stepped in was that she would start an inn.
Here's what she's always been with.
Enjoy the murmuring of the river, the sounds of birds, the sound of the wind, the whispering of trees, and the blessings of nature.
Naoko wants to sharpen all five senses and feel the happiness of being in this world.
Takae is now swaying with the problem of building helipads for US military bases in Okinawa.
Takae is a place that seems to be empty, but originally it was also one of the places that once supported post-war reconstruction as a base for forestry.
Naoko says there are reasons why the land becomes a settlement.
For the culture of living to be nurtured, there is good energy that the land itself has, and there is always water, wind, and the sun in such places. There is such power in a place that is just right for people to live as life. When.
The village of Takae moved to its current location because the US army came and created a road, but the place where the present inn is was originally the village of Takae.
In other words, this place was a place full of high-quality energy that created the activities of people's lives.
I would like to reconnect people's thoughts here so that I do not divide important things here, which is an important place for local people.
Now she has come to this place where she has searched for herself, and now the thoughts of the people who live here and the old thoughts that made the history of this place, I am trying to connect to the future.
Naoko says it is a "role".
There was a present that was not what I wanted to do something, and I think that it had come down to its role.
One might think that in the life where there is nothing to be wasted, all the paths that have taken may have been preparations for reaching the present (now).
I don't know if that was the way she lived so far.
Still, she got here.
And while trying to imagine it as my "role", I am trying to connect various thoughts from now on.
A simple and rich life.
Living to appreciate the blessings of nature.
I like that kind of life.
She might have played the role of receiving the energy of a place called Takae and transmitting it to everyone as the culture of this place.
Once the corona turmoil has settled, please come visit us.
I want you to look forward to meeting you there.
photographs - Naoko Morioka
text - Kalākaua
photo by So Kuramochi
inn general
Naoko Morioka
森岡尚子
He dropped out of the university's photography department and moved to London. After that, he held a solo exhibition of African-themed dyeing of wax and photography around the country.
After studying natural farming under Masanobu Fukuoka, the founder of natural farming, he moved to Okinawa. Currently lives in Higashimura and Takae.
His books include "Okinawa, island rice" (cat publishing) and "Niraikanai no Hibi" (Pie Books).
Morioka Farm
Inn “Yanbaru Wildflower Inn”
Takae, Higashimura, Okinawa Prefecture. The Yanbaru Wildflower Inn has opened in the Yanbaru Forest, where a beautiful river flows in front of you.
This place where people's lives in Takae lived was made a place for people to gather again, and the relationship between people and nature as before, the relationship between people and people, the relationship between people and all living things. I hope it will be a chance to regain your relationship.
* Currently, it is temporarily closed due to corona, but it will be resumed after June 8. However, the six prefectures (Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, Hokkaido, Fukuoka) that have requested to refrain from coming to Okinawa will be resumed after the 19th.
Single use per person 15,000 yen Single use per person 2500 yen (per person)
Use of 3 people or more per building 7,000 yen (per person)
Child fee 6-12 years old (elementary school student) 5000 yen 3-5 years old 3000 yen 0-2 years old 0 yen
Other details to the following
Mail order "Yanbaru Enzyme Syrup"
The Yanbaru wild herb enzyme syrup uses only the wild grasses of this land that were picked around the full moon when the energy of above-ground plants increased. I make it with all my heart so that the energy of this land can be directly transmitted through wild grass.
Add a little lemon, shikwasa, vinegar, etc. More delicious!
・Please use without heating. The enzyme is lost by heating.
・Smelling with yogurt.
・Add to salad dressing, smoothie, shaved ice, etc.
・It is effective when you are hungry, such as before going to bed in the morning.
Storage method: Allowed at room temperature (pink color lasts longer when put in the refrigerator)
Contents: 150cc / 500cc
◎ For details and purchase, please use the online shop of Morioka Farm below.
