Written on June 10, 1991 [Permalink]

June 1

Carving, carving, carving.

June 2

Off to Saitama for the next round in the 'Great House Hunt'. Michiyo stayed home (babysitting for a neighbour) and I went off with Ozawa-san, who wanted to show me a mural he had just painted on a bar in Hanno City. After we finished there, we went up to the village of Kitagawa, which I had picked off the map as being a promising area. It was beautiful. Even in the rain. Quiet, clean, peaceful, well tended, a fabulous small Elementary school, train station about four kilometers away.... I didn't want to come home. It's a dream environment. Didn't see a whole lot of empty houses. This area is pretty close to Tokyo, and I shouldn't get too excited about it, as I doubt that we'd be able to afford anything here, even if something does turn out to be available. We didn't stop and talk to people today, and I'll come back on my own when I get another free day, and see what I can find .....

When I got back, I found out that David Stones had called. Gave him a ring, and we tentatively set up for him to visit 'near the end of July', before we take off for wherever we are taking off to this year. They're also going to stop in Nagano to see CW Nicol, to swap notes about planting trees, I guess.

June 3

Return call today from Mr. Ushiyama, one of the callers from last week's TV show. He liked the prints, but didn't really want to become a subscriber. He operated a beauty salon, and wanted to buy just the women that I have made, for hanging in the shop. We put him off that, and he agreed to take a set (number two). I don't know if he will be returning the four prints from this year's set or not ... What was of more interest was his mention that he had a large space available in Roppongi at the crossing, and would I be interested in using the area for an exhibition? Would I? Where do I sign up? Send off the set, with a note asking if I could come down to see him and discuss the idea. If it comes together, I'd like to shoot for October, enough time to get it organized and chase up publicity after coming back to town in late August....

June 4

Took a break from the carving to send off three 'thank you' prints to the women at the Mainichi Daily News who put the articles together (I finally got their package of newspapers and column copies today). They were quite cooperative in putting up with my nagging about proofreading etc., and I thought I should show a bit of appreciation ....

June 5

Finally finished the kimono pattern, and started on the face and hair, of which this guy has lots!

Esme from the Mainichi called, to thank me for the prints, and to bring up the idea of running another series. This time the idea would be to focus on making a New Year's card, and it would run in October or November. Of course, I'd like to do it, but I wonder just how different it would be from the series we just finished. I did this one in as simple a style as I possibly could - how can I present it differently? In any case, she was just bringing up the idea, and will call later in the year if they decide to go ahead with it ...

June 7

A call today from a reporter with the Sankei Shimbun. He wanted a bit of information on the 'search for tools'. I don't know if he got my flyer, or read the Yomiuri article the other week. He says he'll be calling next week to set up a time for an interview.

June 10

Called Yanagida-san at Sun print to check on the newsletter. "Oh! Well, er .... we'll bring it round later today." I got the idea that perhaps they hadn't started yet ...

In any case, they did bring it round, at about 6:00, and I think that they did do it in a hurry. The front page is printed crookedly, and they forget to peel off a bit of the rubylith film in one place, leaving a funny shaped photo. The ink colour is also fainter that the previous issues. I guess that when I take the next issue down there, I'll have to ask them to take a bit more time, and be a bit more careful. Himi and Fumi got to work and stuffed them in the envelopes, and stuck on the labels I prepared a few days ago.

Ashida-san came over this morning to pick up the name labels for this month's print. The carving of the poem isn't even finished yet, so I haven't given any thought to getting these ready yet. That corner of the block is done though, so I made some strips of paper wet, and later in the evening, printed the 130 or so labels she needs.

A phone call came in today from somebody with Tokyo Metropolitan government, in reference to the tool search. I didn't understand well what he really wants, and he talked about 'introducing you to Japanese cultural history', or some such idea. Michiyo also talked to him, and he will apparently be calling back a bit later to set something up.....