What's Jappening?

So this is a bit of a strange one. Since coming to Japan, I've obviously noticed a whole bunch of differences between here and old blighty. Some of them were to be expected, such as the food, some of them were a surprise, such as how cheap eating out is, some of them were not a big deal, such as the train/subway system, and some of them were totally random and unimportant and yet somehow completely threw me. This is a post about one of those things. Now the majority of the eastern world uses the Roman alphabet (a, b, c...) and whilst the order of these 26 letters is fairly arbitrary, we never really think about it. It also makes sense that the vowels follow the same alphabetical order. Now Japan doesn't use the Roman alphabet. Instead, it uses Kanji (Chinese characters representing words), Hiragana (a set of 46 syllables, or sounds, used to construct words), and Katakana (the same 46 syllables but with different characters, mostly used for foreign words). Hiragana and Katak...

So a few weeks ago, I was talking to my course leader here about the upcoming international students exhibition and what I was planning to exhibit. I showed her all of the work I'd done up until that point; my etchings, my first woodcut, my calligraphy etc. and she was a really big fan of the large, floor calligraphy that I'd done at the beginning of the term. She then came up with the idea that I should do a really large woodcut inspired by one of the kanji that I had drawn, with the goal of exhibiting them side by side in a few weeks time. Though hesitant at first due to the practicalities of taking a print that large home to England, I agreed, and she told me that she would have some wood ready for me to carve by that time next week. Blissfully ignorant of what I was getting into, I went about my business, and the next week I came to class with a design in one hand and my cutting tools in the other. People. This piece of wood was big . Like, the size of a large door big. I ...

Existential questions aside, this is something I've been thinking about for quite a while now. Obviously, I'm studying abroad, so that would suggest that I should be focusing on my classes whilst I am here. But it's not quite so simple. My friends and family, myself and the wider realm of the internet have all told me that there is more to it than that. I should not only be studying, I should be making friends, learning about the culture, learning the language, travelling (both in and out of Japan), trying new foods, going to local events, visiting galleries and museums, the list goes on. The thing is, as much as I really want to do all of those things, I don't think I can. As I'm sure many of you reading this will know, I have Aspergers, and one of the characteristics of that is that I find most situations more difficult than the average person, for a number of reasons. The two main ones being that: a) I have sensory difficulties, meaning that my senses are much...

After my successful first try, I was very excited to start on my second woodcut brief. This time, our design could be any size, but it had to have three or more colours, which meant that we had to carve multiple pieces of wood that would be layered on top of one another to create the full image. I decided to use a photo that I took in Atami for my print, as it contrasted to my first print with it's more geometric shapes and block colours. Given that this would be the most complicated print I've ever done, I thought that going with a more simple image would work in my favour, as I'd be less likely to mess up. I also decided to go with the same size as before because I thought it was effective at showing off the technique without being so big that it would be cumbersome. After sketching out my image, I broke it down into four basic colours; brown, red, yellow and black. As the yellow and black were both relatively small parts, I put them on the same piece of wood, so I woul...

One thing I've realised since I've been here is that the classes move at a relatively slow pace compared to the classes and workshops that I was used to taking back in England. No complaints though, as it gives me time to focus on trying to understand what the teachers are saying. This was never more useful than in my etching class. For those who aren't familiar with the process, it's super complicated and involves a lot of different steps and chemicals. In the grand scheme of printmaking, I wouldn't say it's my favourite technique, mostly because I don't think it's well suited to the kind of work I tend to produce. Having said that, I enjoyed learning about the process, and I'm really pleased with the outcome. We were each given a metal plate which we had to cut into two and then design two images with the theme "folk story". I took folk story to include fables and designed mine around The Tortoise and The Hare. I obviously decided this ...

I am proud to present my first finished work; a woodblock print entitled "Growth". It was super exciting for me to learn a new printmaking technique, and as an avid fan of lino printing, I had high hopes. The process is actually pretty similar to lino printing, but with a bit more room for experimentation and texture. Unlike with linoleum, you can both add and take away from the wood. Obviously, the majority is carving, but you can also scratch into it, glue stuff on top, sand it away and more. This freedom is, however, balanced out by the fact that carving it requires a lot more care, as the wood can splinter off without warning, a fact that I learnt very quickly as I lost an entire branch within minutes of me starting to carve. I was much more careful from then on in. I based my image off a photo I'd taken at Nagoya Castle when the cherry blossoms were still in bloom, and even though we were limited by only cutting one block, I decided to add more colour to the print by...

It's no secret that I don't exactly blend in here in Japan. My relatively different appearance has earned me many a comment, but there's one that keeps popping up time and time again. かわいい. Pronounced 'kawaii', this word is usually translated to mean 'cute'. Now the word 'cute' in english has two meanings; cute like a puppy and cute like Zac Efron, neither of which are descriptions I would usually assign to myself. Being generally larger than most of the people I've met here, I can't be seen as cute like a puppy, and I highly doubt everyone's been hitting on me. So what's the deal? Well, just like how the word 'cute' has many meanings in English, so does the word 'kawaii' in Japanese. The first and foremost meaning of 'kawaii' is something that is cute, small, and generally makes you want to make high pitched noises and squeeze something. The second meaning is a little more subtle and is generally used to...