himitsu
ToCo, Tokyo Collective, brings together creative people in Tokyo to share ideas, experiences and tell their stories. ToCo has published three zines so far and I was thrilled to be able to contribute to their latest zine on the theme of secrets! The image at the top is the cover!
There are countless secrets to uncover in a metropolis as densely packed as Tokyo. The zine, well more of a book, called “himitsu” (which is Japanese for “secret”) reveals some of Tokyo’s many secrets. It is an anthology of 10 short visual stories by artists and writers who share their secrets about the city through diverse tales and styles of art.
I found the stories to be charming, humorous and thought provoking as they cover many aspects of life and are relatable even if you are not familiar with Tokyo. You can find out more about ToCo and buy the zine at ToCo.
I wrote a short semi-fictional piece based on my experience of moving to my neighbourhood, Shimokitazawa, in Tokyo and how discovering its secrets made me feel settled in Tokyo. I collaborated with my friend, the talented Natalie Bleaky (@nkarinc) who created the incredible illustrations to bring my story to life.
Natalie and I had met up in the summer for a catch-up and I am so glad that she mentioned that she was working on ideas for a zine and was thinking of focusing on secret places. The conversation evolved organically and by the time we’d finished our coffees we had decided to work on piece together about places in Shimokitazawa and we excitedly messaged each other on our journeys back home about what we would do.
A week or so later, I took Natalie around Shimokitazawa to show her the things I was thinking of including in my story and then shared a draft of my story. I couldn’t wait to see which aspects Natalie would choose to illustrate.
On 30 November 2019, ToCo held an exhibition and pop-up shop to launch the zine and showcase the original art by the array of brilliant artists who contributed to the zine.
I first saw Natalie’s illustrations on the proofs for print in October and I absolutely loved them. But it was only at the exhibition that I got to see her original paintings and got to appreciate them in their actual colours and size. I was blown away by Natalie’s watercolours of the places and things that are so significant to me. It was also a little surreal, but definitely epic, to see Natalie’s portrait of me which she so kindly gifted to me as a surprise! I was obviously over the moon and I’ll let you guess whether or not I’ve got it up on the table in front of me as I am typing this now!
Here are some photos of Natalie’s art displayed at the exhibition.
Here are a some photos from the exhbition more broadly.
I’ve spent many hours visting museums and galleries in Tokyo so it was a little strange to be on the other side as part of a group helping host the exhibition. It goes without saying that I loved every minute and really enjoyed chatting to visitors all day long, including a local art lovers group that came by in the evening. Wil, obviously, came along too and at one point said “this is exactly the sort of exhibition that we’d seek out and go to!” so I think it is safe to say that I found the right creative project to contribute to!
The exhibition was also a really good opportunity to get to know the other contributors and to admire their work. It was nice to hear about what insipired their stories and art.
If you’d like to discover Tokyo’s secrets, including the ones in my story, and would like a copy of the zine then please contact me or visit the ToCo online shop. It would make an excellent (Christmas) present for any Tokyoite, Tokyo lover, or be the perfect thing to persuade someone who isn’t already a Tokyo fan that they should be! Copies of the previous zines are also available: “hajime” focuses on artists’ first impressions of Tokyo as they started their new lives in the city and “monogatari” brings together stories of the many objects that are found in Tokyo! Here are my copies of all three zines!
A huge shoutout to all the incredible aritists who contributed to the zine: Mariko Jesse, Rebecca Nitte, Erica Ward, Majico, Julia Nascimento, Jess Whitfield, Natalie Bleakly, Lori Ono, Yoshida Takao, Odding, Natalie Andrewson and Felipe Kolb Bernardes.
And, finally, a big thank you to Erica (@erica.ward.illustration) and Julia (@ns_julia) who co-founded and coordinate ToCo.
Setting the scene for as I wrote this blog:
Location: At home - the past few weeks have been really busy so I am taking it easy this week.
Weather: Sunny winter day and it peaked around 15°C.
Soundtrack: Brooklyn Nine-Nine is on in the background.
Bonus fact: I really want to open the windows on my advent calendar in a random order rather than following the prescribed numbered order because I live for low level anarchy but Wil disapproves.
