Hi All! Welcome to Japan Sugoi, IKB’s new “cool finds” newsletter–where I round up cool Japanese finds from the world wide web.
It’s been a while since I posted. I guess that I could say that every time I post. But! I have a good-ish excuse: I’ve spent the last couple months a bit swamped with classes for my art history masters. The good news is, I’m almost done! 😀 So now, hopefully, maybe, I shall have more time to focus on this website–never really far from my mind.
I think it would help, in terms of motivation, if there was more engagement with this website. I have a few followers on Tumblr, which is great! And some posts, like “A Brief History of the Onna Musha, the Female Samurai” are doing quite well over there in terms of sharing. In fact, just recently I discovered an actual copycat blog on Tumblr–right down to the whole “Support me on Ko-Fi” bit, which is both annoying and flattering. Of course, their posts also have a ton of notes, which is a bit sugi eggu, but I digress.
Anywho! Onwards with the cool finds. Art, food, and culture–there’s a bit of everything in this digital bento for the mind.
01 | Hagihara Takuya on Tumblr
Hagihara Takuya is a Tokyo-based graphic designer. He’s quite prolific as an artist and typographer. His abstracts are fizzy, calligraphic and esoteric–really quite engaging to the eye. His tumblr has links to his other portfolios, including his Instagram, which has some trippy stuff as well.
02 | Fukusaki: Yokai Town
Did you know? A town in Japan has crowned itself “The Spookiest Town in Japan” thanks to being the birthplace of Kunio Yanagita, the father of Japanese folkore. To celebrate their enthralling place in Japanese horror, Fukusaki has set loose its yōkai (demons or creatures) on the Japanese populace for some unforgettable sight-seeing!
Instagram user franklinthewoman gives us a brief tour through the funky town. However, if you’d like to learn more about yōkai, I highly recommend The Book of Yokai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore by Michael Dylan Foster, a compendium of yōkai by type, along with a pretty heady intro to Yōkai culture in Japan (if you do end up buying the book–now with a 2nd. edition!–through this link, we’ll receive a small commission, which will probably help this site going, so arigato gozaimasu!)
03 | Rice Cake Recipe
Oh my word–I don’t know where to begin. The word “rice cakes” is pretty straightforward: cake made of rice. But, somehow, until I saw this video, it didn’t really “click” to me that rice cakes were actually made of rice. In fact, I thought I had rice cakes once–they were essentially a large, non-sweet Rice Krispy, which I thought was cool but not literally rice.
Anywho, this simple recipe by foodiefrontier0 seems like a cool find! At least, one of those things that you have to try at least once. It does call for a packet of yeast so the dough can rise. While I can never seem to find or remember to get yeast at the supermarket, I think I’ll make a note of it for the sake of this recipe.
And that’s it for this week’s (month’s?) newsletter! Keep an eye on this website for more updates, articles and cool finds. Drop a comment or reach out on Instagram! Of course, you can follow on Tumblr or send an e-mail to inkbrushmood@gmail.com. ‘Til next time!
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