Written on October 30, 1990 [Permalink]

October 24

Wrapped up the last work on the next issue of Hyakunin Issho. All I need now is the photos back from the developer. I'll have to be careful when I'm writing the next issue, to try and cut down on the verbosity. While I was doing this layout, it was much more difficult than last time to get everything laid out well on the pages, and it was mostly due to there being too many words, and not enough illustrations.

Popped off a letter to the Public Affairs section at the Embassy. The guy doing Michiyo's interview yesterday had mentioned that there is a new gallery opening there in the spring, with the specific purpose of exposing Canadian artists. Is that me?

October 25

Delivered two prints to the Kominkan for the upcoming bunkasai display. These are for the 'shimin sakuhin' section, a collection of paintings, sculpture, etc. made by town residents.

October 26

Interview today with Mr. Hiyoshi of the Aoi Post newspaper (they got my mailer a few weeks ago). This is a little four page advertising flyer that gets stuffed in our mailbox once a month. They want to use me on the cover (four colours) of the New Year's issue. The distribution is mostly the Tama area, but it also goes a bit wider, to places like Machida and Fuchu. Some 100,000 plus copies. He wanted to use Ono no Komachi for the illustration, but when I showed him the copy of the Fureai issue from last New Year, he decided on Horikawa instead.

October 28

Demonstration day at the Kominkan. It went pretty well, if exhausting. There was a never-ending lineup of kids from about eleven, right through until closing time. The torinoko paper gave out about halfway through, and we switched to simple white copy paper, but all the kids using that paper ended up with a blotched print due to the sagging. The sumi block caused problems also, as it became very warped. They had to press so hard to even get the paper to make contact in some areas, that other parts were blotched. Generally though, it went much better than last year's event. Sakazaki-san and Michiyo both helped out, and we each took one colour and guided the kids through the procedure. It's on again for next week, and I've screwed the block down onto a piece of plywood, and will prepare a lot more paper.

October 29-30

Two more days of solid carving, and finished the sumi ban. No colour blocks on hand! We phoned Shimano-san a couple of days ago and gave him a jog, but who knows when something will arrive ....

Yamashita-san's photos were supposed to be ready today, but there was nothing there when I went to pick them up. I hope that this isn't going to be a problem. Time is getting short.