Joey & Kalvin - Graphic Design Study in Japan

Kamogawa and Tokyo Tower

2009-01-20T21:15:00.000-08:00

I went to Tokyo Tower recently and made it right to the top. From there you can see the fantastic 1,091 foot view over the Tokyo skyline. Bellow you can see the beautifully lit Rainbow bridge in Odaiba.

Here are a few more photos from Kamogawa. Here you can see a creepy run down Japanese fishing town we visited.

And more from Shinjuku

Joey

Three White/ How Very Tokyo.

2009-01-02T00:18:00.000-08:00

Over christmas I was given the opportunity to work at `Three White` design studio in Shibuya, Tokyo.
I was able to work on a project and see the everyday workings of a studio in Japan.
There was also a Japanese student there who had been doing an internship for the past month. She said that it had been a very useful time as in Japan it is quite rare to offer internships to students and the director of the company, Miho Tanaka, said that it can sometimes be difficult for design students to gain much needed experience.
So thanks again for everything.

Stupidly, I forgot to take photos but this is the website:

http://www.threewhite.com/

Also, I recently went to a really good exhibiton in Tokyo called `How Very Tokyo`.

It was organised by a Japanese graphic Designer (http://www.studiokanna.com/) that studied at the RCA and wanted to make a better connection between designers in the UK and Japan.
She invited 14 British graphic designers to design a poster from the theme `Tokyo`.
The designers included people from Bibliotheque, North and GTF.
Here is a link where you can see photos and buy the posters etc...

http://www.weareopenlibrary.org/

Seaworld/ Kamogawa trip

2008-12-29T03:56:00.000-08:00

We took a recent trip to Seaworld and met the dolphins/ Penguins/ killer whales etc...
We also went to a Japanese castle (according to this one they were all made of plastic and had lifts inside them) and became samurai....

Photos...

2008-12-29T03:31:00.000-08:00

Thought we`d add a load of photos to show you what we`ve been doing/eating and hanging out with etc...

Tokyo Photography Project -Asakusa-

2008-11-29T05:55:00.000-08:00

The most recent assignment we`ve been assigned is a photography project in which we have been asked to represent old and new Japan. Last weekend we went on a 2 day field trip to Tokyo visiting the beautiful old temple district of Asakusa, the home of electronic goods and manga Akihabara and the futuristic island of Odaiba. Collectively me and Kalvin collected hundreds of photos and this week we will start piecing them all together for some kind of digital presentation. Hope you like my photos.
Joey

Tokyo Photography Project -Akihabara-

2008-11-29T05:50:00.000-08:00

The second part of Tokyo we visited as part of our photography project was Akihabara.

Photography project -Odaiba-

2008-11-29T05:28:00.000-08:00

As part of our recent photography trip to Tokyo we visited the city`s futuristic technological capital Odaiba. There we visited the sony science museum where there were lots of robots.
Joey

JIU University Festival!

2008-11-29T05:12:00.000-08:00

From the 1st to the 3rd of November Josai University (Our university) had a school festival. We were asked to participate and set up a stand representing England! We sold tea, penguin biscuits and apple pie. It was all very well received and we made a pretty healthy profit! Our booth was by far the most relaxed place to be. Our neighbouring stands Brasil and Korea worked frantically, non-stop making hot food for their customers, whilst me, Kalvin and our American friend Jack did things the British way, sitting down, drinking tea, eating biscuits and listening to the chemical brothers very loudly. It was nice.
Joey

Josai University Media Site

2008-11-18T18:44:00.000-08:00

http://www.jiu.ac.jp/media/topics/2008/topics.html#04
The Last 2 design projects me and Andy participated in.
The 1st was a poster design project in which we were required to design a poster for a shop or restaurant in the university town.
The 2nd was a billboard design and painting project. The theme was flowers and being the only 2 Brits me and Andy were chosen to represent the Rose. We each designed our own individual image and then along with the other Japanese media students painted our designs on 1800cmX1300cm billboards. They were eventually used in the Josai festival.
Have a look at the Josai web-site and check out our mugs!
Joey

D1 at Fuji!!

2008-11-06T07:04:00.001-08:00

Hello people, it's about time I posted another blog innit.

So For my birthday I went to Fuji speedway to see D1!! D1 is Japan's premier drift racing motorsport championship. Drivers compete in a competition based on how much you can get your car sideways, how quickly you can get your car sideways and how much smoke is created while getting your car sideways. I'm a big motorsport fan and in the UK have seen many types of motoracing, but this was my first drift event. Boy was it exciting! The Japanese cars are plastered in garish multi-colored graphics and create an amazing spectacle when they pass by sideways at 70mph at full revs!!! Have a look at the video....

Joey

Meiji-Jingu

2008-10-15T06:27:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I visited the Meiji-Jingu shrine near Harajuku in Tokyo. It was such a peaceful and beautiful place. I was even lucky enough to see a traditional Japanese wedding take place.

Joey

Social activity -study intermission-

2008-10-15T06:21:00.001-07:00

Study intermission

Just a small collection of party photos in Japan

Joey

Naritisan Temple

2008-10-15T06:10:00.000-07:00

Here we go then, my first Japanese temple post!

I recently went on a uni trip to Naritasan temple. It was a great experience. I`d never seen anything like it. The temple and the surrounding gardens were so beautiful. At the entrance to the temple you are asked to wash your hands and mouth in the washing place (I dont know the official name of the washing place), but anyway it`s like a big well with clean water running through it. There was a service taking place inside the temple and buddhist monks were singing while hundreds of people prayed.

Joey

Skylines

2008-10-15T05:54:00.000-07:00

Here is a collection of photos from 3 cities I`ve visited since being in Japan.

Tokyo (Shibuya)

Chiba

Yokohama

Joey

Akihabara cont.

2008-10-15T05:29:00.000-07:00

Capsule toy machines in Akihabara

Hello everybody, it`s been a while since ive posted a blog. I`ve been in hibernation over the past few days due to the fact im ill. I caught a coldy cough thing and today is the first time ive left the house for a little while. It was strange because while i was resting up in bed I was surrounded by `england` home comforts such as vegetable soup, `friends` dvds and my ipod. So when I left the house this evening It felt a bit strange being in Japan all of a sudden. I think ive lost all my Japan superpowers, but i`ll get them back.

Anyway, here`s the first of a few blogs I`ve been meaning to upload.

As Kalvin said we did indeed visit Akihabara. It is a completely mad place. Colourful, loud, busy and the best place to see the `weird Japan` you always here about in the west. Actually until visiting Akihabara I was yet to experience the darker, perverted under-belly of Japans animation culture. When you first visit this place you`re bombarded with huge posters of anime hero`s (many of which depict cartoon woman with large breasts and short skirts) they`re everywhere. Also, every street corner has a Japanese woman dressed in a french maid outfit handing out flyers.

It doesn`t take long to find your first anime/manga shop and it takes even less time to find the adult drawings, or "ero-manga" section. Every anime shop seemed to have an over 18 section. At first it`s kinda funny, drawings of naked women everywhere. Literally isles of the stuff. The trouble is once you delve a little deeper you uncover some very uncomfortable material. Walk around one of these place for more than 30 seconds and you wanna be out of there!

Anyway, Aside from the porn Akiharbara is a fantastic place! Bursting with energy and colour, it is the heart of `otaku` culture in Japan and the home of manga and anime.

Joey

Gettin` All Hentai in Chiba

2008-10-07T03:04:00.000-07:00

I`m well aware of the fact that Joey has been out blogging me by some margin, so this is my attempt to readdress the balance.

Basically, things have really taken off in uni and our timetables for the week are slowly getting filled with Japanese lessons, Design classes, conversation buddys and homework. Lots of homework...

We have also been busy on the social scene and have been hanging out with our new best friends.

There`s a whole load of stuff to put up but we`ve just been too busy to get to the internet (Something we still can`t access without going into town!) But we do now have some radical bikes. We`ve mastered the Japanese roads and doing some tricks on them is surely only a few days away. Some of our classmates have fallen into rice fields on their way home though already...

Anyways, Here are some photos of when we went to a city called Chiba (about 30mins away from us) and we found a big Japanese toy store, although the toy stores over are not alway for the kiddies...

It started off pretty normal, robots and figures...

They also had rows and rows of normal everday things but in minature format...

But then we started to unveil the seedier under belly of Japanese toy making...

Having lived here before I kind of knew what to expect (although still always find myself suprised) but I think Joey was genuinley shocked/ suprised at how popular it is and how close to the edge it can be sometimes.
We recently went to Akihabara (Known by most as the geeks mecca) where this kind of thing thrives. It`s a lot more graphic there and makes this stuff look tame but it`s still suprisingly easy to find and sometimes lies right next to childrens toys and games.

I`m sure Joey will explain a lot better when he next gets the time.

Anyways, I`ll leave you with a few photos from our Japanese classroom.

ChibaChibaChiba!!!

2008-09-23T06:17:00.000-07:00

Bongo drumming in the arcade (Kalvin and Shoko both beat me)

After uni yesterday me, Kalvin and Shoko spent some leisure time in the nearby city of Chiba. There we enjoyed the colourful city lights, purikiura, bongo drumming games and a delightful Japanese meal. mmm yummy!

The restaurant was a proper Japanese restaurant where you had to take your shoes off and everything. mmm, maximum tradition!

Actually, something Im coming to realise while being here is how inexpenise a good quality Japanese meal is. I had 3 really nice dishes, rice and 2 pineapple juices for about 2000yen (its about a tenner)! It makes me slightly ashamed of restaurants in my own country where Wagamamas are allowed to charge you about 10quid for an uninspiring bowl of noodles and oil.
See ya!
Joey

Thumbs up for Japanese food!

Typhoons, Chiba and Purikura!

2008-09-21T05:34:00.000-07:00

Purikura in Tokyo!

Greetings one and all!

It`s been a pretty up and down few days. Friday was really good. We met Jiro Plutschow, a professor in the media department. He showed us around the media centre and gave us lots of information about the graphics courses here. It was a releif because up until meeting him we`d had no info about graphics.

We also had our first japanese lessons on Friday which i think went really well. They`ve put us in the lowest level class. Its great because thats pretty much my level. The course runs at a very quick-pace though and one day dreaming session will leave you missing chunks of very important Japanese.

Friday night staged the event people had been talking about all week; the typhoon!!! We were warned numerous times about the typhoon, and I even had to cancel plans to visit friends in Yokohama because of it. The reality for me though was the typhoon hitting around the time I fell asleep and finishing around the time I woke up.

On Saturday I visited Chiba! Actually my main reason was to find an international bank. I only had enough money in my wallet for the train fare there an back. When I arrived in Chiba I immediatly found myself in the banking district but couldnt find an international bank. I plucked up the courage to ask a local who was extremely helpful. He walked me about 10 minutes up the road trying to find an international bank, so thank you to him..... whatever his name is...... Actually he couldnt find one, but I asked some Americans and they told me where it was..... Oh well.

Chiba

Finally I want to talk about my adventure to a Purikura booth in Tokyo. Purikura is an insanely over the top, hyper, colourful photo booth. They`re full of groups of high-school girls and loud techno pop plays throughout. The booths are big and usually pink and encourage you to jump around and dance to techno music whilst having your picture taken. I went with 3 of my friends; Hisako, Koyuki and Aki. Me and Aki felt pretty self-conscious as we were pretty much the only boys in the building. After having your picture taken you are asked to draw on them digitally with a selection of flourescent coloured paintbrushes and symbols! It was a good larf! Check the picture out (Top of this post).

Anyway, I think thats enough for today

またね!!!

Joey

Rather smashing clothes shop in Harajuku

2008-09-18T05:48:00.001-07:00

Here`s a video and some phots of a clothes store we went to in Tokyo.

Every month they have a different theme and this time the theme was Manga.

They only had one piece of clothing on the floor but each had a code on the label which corresponeded to a tube on a shelf which contained the clothing you wanted.

They also had a pretty snazzy way of looking at thier stuff...

First day at school

2008-09-17T04:31:00.001-07:00

Sassy fellas!

Today was officially our first day at Josai International University! There were 2 main objectives today. The first was to attend the university`s opening ceremony. The second was to take part in a written Japanese language test to inform the tutors of our Japanese language level.

On the walk to the university this morning I was subjected to Kalvins endless grumblings about having to wear trousers and a blazer in such hot weather! He was right though and by the time we`d reached the university we were pretty uncomfortable.

The ceremony was extremely formal. There was a lot of talking and bowing and lots of important looking people gave speeches. On arrival It felt like we were entering a high-security presedential building. Men in black suits with ear pieces were everywhere. When we left the ceremony we were given a rose and a little boxed lunch which contained some rice and beans and stuff which was nice.

Next was the test. We sat down in a room with about 50 other students (none of whom were English) and were handed 100 questions on a sheet of paper. Trouble was all the questions were written in Japanese. I remember just looking at Kalv and knowing exactly what he was feeling. Our hearts sank, nothing was written in English. The problem with Japanese texts is there are 3 Japanese written languages; Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana. Me and Kalv are reasonably comfortable with hiragana and know a bit of katakana. However, unless you know all three you`re pretty stuck because the texts combine all of them. With some questions I was like "hang on, I think i can understand this one" and then there would be a big fat Kanji character that would render the whole sentence meaningless to me.

Ah well, at least we gave it a shot. I guess what this means is that we`ll be put in the lowest class.

Tomorrow is orientation day!

Bye for now!

Joey

I found an internet Cafe!

2008-09-14T23:01:00.000-07:00

The first picture taken on my new phone!!

Hello

As you may or may not know, we don`t have internet at our apartments. Surprising seeing as this place seems lightyears ahead in technology. Anyway, I found an internet cafe in Togane called `Joy Club` and after paying 200yen am now officially a member, weyhey!

This weekends been good. I was invited to go to Fukui with Kalvin and Shoko on Friday, but I was feeling rough and was still pretty jetlagged. So instead I stayed in Gumyo at my apartment and caught up on rest.

I went to Tokyo this weekend and with help from my friend Yumi bought a sassy phone which made me feel more `down with the kids` here. I also did my first supermarket shopw at the Kasumi Foodmarket which has surprisingly shiny floors!!

Joey

Day 2-3

2008-09-12T19:12:00.000-07:00

Well hello there,

Everybody has been feeling a little worse for wear after the flight and numerous power naps have been made.

After we arrived at the airport we were met by こばやしさん (Mr. Kobayashi) and taken to Josai University. (We found out that we are the first and only Brits to study at the uni)

We had a load of forms to fill out and were shown around the campus (Very big and impressive but we were way too tired to take it all in so I doubt we`ll be able to remember any of it)
After 5 hours we could finally take a break and rest in our apartments.

Joey-San`s apartment

After using our extensive Japanese skills and some exquisite train impressions we were able to find out where the train station was from a local and made our way into Tokyo.

しぶや　(Shibuya)

はらじゅく (Harajuku)

We met some friends, had a look around and did some shopping (We have a video of a very cool clothes shop in はらじゅく (Harajuku) which hopefully we can put up soon)

はるか (Haruka)　しょうこ (Shoko)　

まりこ (Mariko)　あゆみ (Ayumi)

I`m pretty sure I`ve just gone over the same ground as Joey`s covered in the previous post but I`m sure we`ll have some whitty anecdotes and crazy adventures to tell next time.
Our entrance ceremony is on september 17th and then that`s it! We will have officially started university in Japan...

Kalv

Day 1

2008-09-10T16:51:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Japan yesterday at 9am after both having collectively about 30minutes sleep on the 12 hour flight. We met up with our new Japanese superior: Mr Kobayashi and were shown around our new campus, given the keys to our new apartments (In Gumyo) and taken to the registry office to become official members of the Japan club!

Last night we took the express to Tokyo and stayed at our friend Haruka's in Tokyo.

Yesterday felt so long . I was absolutely shattered and while Kalvin, Shoko and Haruka went for a night out in Shibuya I stayed at the flat..... and slept.

Joey

Gumyo train station (ぐみょえき）

Visa Geeza's

2008-09-05T15:41:00.000-07:00

2 days after going to London to apply for the Visa's, me and Kalv were back at the Japanese embassy today to pick them up. We got them, here's the proof.

So, 4 months and 3 weeks at Japan's Josai university ahead of us!

Flying out next Tuesday at 1pm!! Getting a tad nervous, but can't wait!

Joey

Tokyo Diner- Just off Leicester Square on the edge of China town.

For Joey and Kalvs tip of the day, why not go to the Japan Centre on Piccadilly for some free Wasabi Peas?