Written on June 14, 1989 [Permalink]

June 9

Interview with Hajime Hashimoto of 'Foto' magazine. A most interesting session. They came at one, and we didn't wrap it up until 4:30, time for the Hoikuen. He brought a photographer, who shot more than 6 rolls of film during the afternoon, of which I think they will select three shots for the magazine layout. This was the most in-depth of the interviews so far, and I think he ended up with a very good understanding of our work. He says that the feature (a double page spread in the magazine) will appear in the July 15th issue (it's a bi-weekly). Again, I don't know what specific benefit will ensue ... but it was certainly interesting.

Earlier in the day. the Yomiuri reporter came round again. It seems that somebody read the article and wants to get hold of us. As there is neither address nor telephone number included in the story, they called the paper. He did not have a record of our phone number (!), so he dropped round to get it. About an hour after he left, a call came from the interested party. It was a professional woodblock printer(!) living somewhere in the area, who wanted to get together. We made an appointment for about 10:00 tomorrow ...

With this interview finished, that seems to be wrapping up our little burst of activity. A couple of friendly visits from print-makers are scheduled, but no more P/R action. What to do next? ... The articles have been interesting, but have not turned out to be the kind of thing that will draw any business. There are now about 12 weeks left before the scheduled start of fall English classes (8 weeks left in this term). There must be some way I can get this together before then! English teaching has been interesting, but I've definitely had enough of it...

June 10

Our visitor today turned out to be a real suri-shi, Kenji Seki. He lives in Hachijoji, where he works out of his home. He brought a portfolio of his stuff, mostly Hasui and similar designers. The work is very high quality, and he obviously is one of the best printers around. His hands are amazingly calloused, with a 'bump' on the heel of his right hand more than a centimetre high. He was quite a similar guy to Matsuzaki-san, short and stocky, with a friendly, jovial personality. When I showed him my prints, he said words to the effect of, "Well, the carving is very good ..." We talked for about three hours, and he said I would be welcome to visit him anytime. I'll take him up on it in a couple of weeks, when the translation load is reduced a bit (Michiyo has a 100+ page manual waiting for me, which is going to kill most of this week!).

June 11

Ignored the waiting manual and spent the whole day on the squarish kimono pattern on Dainagon Tsunenobu [1-3]. More than 10 hours, a new record for my knees! Also carved the fan in his hand, with possibly my thinnest ever lines to date. I don't think I'll be making any entries here in the next few days ...

June 14

Sneaked in an hour in the afternoon! Also got a fax copy of the upcoming article from Margaret Price at the Mainich Daily News. It looks really quite good. I wrote a little note with some comments and corrections, and faxed it back to her. She wrote that it would probably appear on the 26th.