Japan Trip: Residency, Suggestions, and the two Gallery Shows (Patreon)

Kofu

I’ve finally compiled all my thoughts on my two month long Japan trip and residency, but first I’d like to thank you all for sticking with me through it all! Your support meant I could focus on making and printing in Japan, so really, thank you so much. 

I know taking a few months off left a big post chasm but I’m happy to be back on the Riso bandwagon with several new posts in the queue! First, I want to talk about my residency. Japan prints post is following this!

Air-Yamanashi was a really interesting experience for me but my feelings on my time there are complicated, so that’s why I’ve been putting off this post for a while. I ultimately had a good time but I cannot recommend this residency to anyone. I met people, teachers and artists from around the world I would never have been able to meet otherwise and that was completely invaluable. I gained friendships that I know will last my entire lifetime, I lived through a country-sized typhoon and lived to tell the tale, I learned a lot about myself as I overcame anxiety and broke out of my comfort zone, and I learned to take small risks that will help me make better decisions/advocate for myself better in my regular day to day life. That said, I feel like this residency might not be for everyone. It was quite isolated (which sometimes I liked, sometimes I felt I didn’t have access to amenities I needed to complete my residency), my accommodations weren’t what I expected and sometimes I butt heads with the owner about respecting our time. Again, I had a good time, overall, I just wouldn’t do this one again if I could do it all over again. I now understand a little more about the world of residencies and how some can be simply for profit/exploitative of the artists, and how some can be very nurturing, creating a growing/caring environment for the artists. This one, I felt, was both. In hindsight, a better use of my time might have been traveling with artist friends and organizing our own ‘residency’ on our own terms. This doesn’t mean I won’t do a residency again, I just have a very different idea of what residencies are now and how I need to protect myself and do a lot of research about artist’s experience at these residencies. That means actually talking to artists who have done the residency and hearing their first hand experience. Sometimes people feel apprehensive about telling their true experiences for things they feel they should be grateful for. 

That being said, here are some basic facts about my residency. I was staying in Kofu, Yamanashi, a small city about an hour and a half outside Tokyo by bullet train. It cost me $40/¥4000 to take the train one way to Tokyo, so a trip back and forth would be a little expensive. My actual residency time was one month, the whole of October, which is prime Typhoon season! For about a week before the Typhoon Hagibis the country was on high alert preparing for the storm, after the storm passed the trains all around Kofu were out of commission and we were essentially stuck in the mountains. That was fine, I didn’t need to go anywhere (one of the other artists did and it seemed to be hell for her), but it meant I had to rethink my residency because I could no longer have things delivered easily or get into Tokyo if I wanted to print with Riso. So my focus was originally a Riso residency with the idea that I’d make a story pitch out of it, but it became a traditional media story pitch residency exclusively when I realized I wouldn’t be able to use the machines in Tokyo or receive print tests from JAM, an Osaka based printer, in a timely fashion. That was a bummer but I got what I really needed out of my time, which was basically Bilbo time: A quiet place to finish my book. What I really needed was time off, away from my normal working environment, to focus and have a personal excuse not to take any client work. At the residency, Air-Yamanashi (AIRY), there were 3 main apartment rooms and a gallery space/studio space, all in one building which is an old birthing hospital turned apartments. The rooms are quite different so it’s a toss-up to which one you get, unless you ask for the large room specifically. The residency cost $800 to attend for the month. The previous tenants are required to clean the rooms before they leave and you’re required to bring your own sheets. The wifi is mostly only in the studio space and the desks in the studio are two trestles and a door. Kofu is great because even though it’s a small city there’s still a lot to do! Kofu is known for it’s fruit, wine, sake, waterfalls and gems (among many other natural resources), so there were constantly festivals and things to do and eat around the city, which was exciting. A lot of things needed a car or a few busses to get there so it was a little rough getting around but taxis are available at the train station and the bus is reliable! There are also many nice small businesses within walking distance, like a really good coffee shop that I spent most of my time working at! Some of them had connections with AIRY and we were able to meet owners and have a stronger connection to the city that way. AIRY made us feel really special around town because the owner had portraits of us commissioned and distributed around town to her friends’ businesses. A lot of artists had difficult experiences with the owner, however, myself included. It’s probably the main reason why we cannot recommend this residency to others. As a side note- I do not want to publish this publicly, please don’t repeat what I say here and publish it online. That’s just a rule with all my posts, unless I expressly give permission. This is a sensitive matter for me and I want to share my experience but not publicly, yet. You’re welcome to share this with friends but please, no where on public social media. I’ve heard there are several good residencies in Japan, though! Especially one in Fukushima and Hokkaido that I hear are good! There’s one in Tokyo called Almost Perfect and I also strongly do not recommend that residency because I also disagree with the owners’ attitude toward other artists and his intentions for making the residency. 

Best places to visit if you’re ever in Kofu:

Terasaki Coffee

Akito Coffee

Cafe Moala

Pekindo Art Supply

Roji & Roji coffee

Picnic Ikimasyo shop (run by an artist and printmaker!)

Maruju Pan Bakery

The Kokubo Coffee

Shosenkyo Falls (in the mountains!)

Kyoto

The second month of my Japan trip was all about organizing a Risograph show called Meet Me Here! We had a show in Osaka at a printmaking business called Retro InsatsuJAM (retro printingJAM) and a show in Tokyo at a comic book shop called Popotame (hippopotamus)! Before the shows I went to Kyoto with my family for a week and a half, though! A little vacation between my residency and the gallery shows was important and I loved Kyoto. I actually didn’t think I’d like Kyoto because I’d heard it’s swamped with tourists, which part of it was (especially because I was coming at prime leaf changing time), but outside of the tourist areas the temples and mountains and small areas of small businesses were soooo wonderful. There were lots of great restaurants in Kyoto, too!! Here’s a list of my favorite places:

Seiko-sya Books

Creative Studio & shop OOO

Weekenders Coffee

Kyoto Museum

Sarasa Fuyacho Pausa Restaurant 

Micasadeco & Cafe Kyoto

Daishodo Japanese Woodblock Prints (Actual woodblock replications of antique woodblock prints!)

Shokudo Ruins (a great bar & restaurant)

Cafe Frosch (best for brunch!)

Uharu Tea House

Orinasukan (a place where they make Kimonos, they’ll give you a tour!)

Shiorian (Kimono Store, good for looking at beautiful fabrics)

Sarasa Nishijin (great restaurant & tea shop, next door is a cute gallery)

#1 shrine was Imamiya Shrine and the tea house below it.

#1 hike was Kurama! The village at the bottom and Kifune shrine is a MUST SEE. 

Osaka

After Kyoto I headed to Osaka to meet up with my co-organizers Haruka Tanabe (Osaka) and Julia Nascimento (Brazil/Sweden) and we set up our first show at Retro. We also met up with two other artists who were in the show, Sam Thurman and Kyle Fewell who were visiting from New York, like me! Organizing this show from abroad and with 15 artists was A LOT and really took the energy out of me, but I’m really happy we made a Riso show with such great work and artists, and provided a place for artists to meet up and experience Riso in Japan. Favorite places in Osaka:

Mino-o falls (Beautiful waterfall outside Osaka, easy by train)

The whole Nakazaki area around ichimaruni/Utena Cafe/Haraiso4345

Umeda LOFT

Whitebird Coffee Stand

Tsutaya Books Osaka Station

…there are so many others but I was mostly taken by the hand and shown places that don’t have English translations online! Osaka had so much, you can’t go wrong just wandering. 

Tokyo

After our Osaka show we went to Tokyo for the Popotame Show and for Comitia comic show. Comitia is fun but I wouldn’t recommend tabling as if it was a destination show A. You need someone who reads/writes in Japanese to submit an application and B. the show is only 4 hours long and sales aren’t that great. The best part about Comitia is meeting other artists and the after parties! 

My favorite neighborhoods to stay in Tokyo are:

Nakano, Shimokitazawa, Kichijoji, Koenji and Ikebukuro. 

My favorite restaurants in Tokyo are:

Crayon House (basement floor has a buffet!)

Refectoire

Micasadeco & Cafe Tokyo (puffy pancakes!)

About Life Coffee

Katsumidori Seibu Shibuya (Conveyor belt sushi)

Nemuro Hanamaru (conveyor belt sushi again)

Shinjuku Warayakiya

Mutekiya Ramen

Suzumeya sweets shop

Racines Farm to park

Tenka zushi ikebukuro

My favorite sights in Tokyo are:

Kiyosumi Garden

Edo Tokyo Museum

The top floor of Shibuya Hikarie building

Walking through Meiji/Yoyogi park

Inokashira Park (the park that has the Ghibli Museum)

Kitaro Chaya 

Misc. Faves:

Sekaido art supply store

Tin Tin shop

Daikanyama T site (book store!)

Cow Books

NADiff a/p/a/r/t

Utrecht

Popotame

Rainy Day bookstore and cafe

Village Vanguard

Tokyu Hands

Sunshine City

Nakano Broadway

Taco Che

Thunder Box Nakano

Ghibli museum (of course!)

GrapeHouse Koenji (best women’s hostel!!)

Craft Beer Market

Clouds Art + Coffee

Ehonyaru suban (used book store)

B&B (books and Beer)

Famingo Shimokitazawa

Bookends Coffee

Yolo coffee and bakery

Coffea Exlibris

Other tips for Japan: 

Yamato Transport (Kuroneko/black cat delivery) offers a service to pick up and drop off your bags at your next hotel/airbnb/destination. This was extremely convenient because I had a massive bag with me that was very cumbersome to take on the trains/busses. It’s doable to bring to trains but it’s really inconvenient for others and it’s obvious. 

Bring a plastic bag with you (you’ll accumulate them quickly at Konbini) for your trash. Sometimes it’s hard to fins trash can and it is not acceptable to put your trash into other businesses trash cans. Konbibi (convenient stores) like Lawson, Family Mart & 711 will have trash cans where you can sort your trash into three different cans. 

Hot water sometimes has to be turned on in your living space. It’s usually controlled from a little panel on the wall. Make sure it’s off at night or after you use the hot water.

I suggest getting a data plan with your phone provider before going to Japan! And make sure your credit cards know you’ll be in Japan, I’ve had trouble accessing money in the past so I’d suggest also bringing about $200 in cash to exchange at the airport just in case. It’s also a lot cheaper to exchange cash at the airport than in the city. Japan is a mostly cash society so I’d suggest bringing all the cash you intend to spend, exchange it at the airport and just use your card for emergencies. 

Keep your passport on you while shopping (in a safe place of course) because a lot of shops offer tax free discounts for $50 or more spent at a single store. So if you have to buy a new suitcase DEFINITELY don’t forget to bring your passport like I did. 

Download the taxi app Japan Taxi. It’ll be helpful for when you need to go to the station with all your bags or miss the last train. Taxis aren’t really that expensive, they’re only a little more expensive than New York. That said, do not take a taxi from the airport. You can have your luggage sent to your accommodations using Yamato Transport service from the airport as well. I’d do that if you have a lot of heavy bags. 

Buy a Passmo or Suit card when you arrive in the city. Load it up with money and just tap where you need to go. It saves a lot of time rather than trying to find the exact ticket price on the subway maps. 

Arrive with the basics in Japanese! 

Hai. Yes.

Iie. No.

O-negai shimasu. Please.

Arigatō gozaimasu. Thank you very much.

Sumimasen. Excuse me.

Gomennasai. I am sorry. 

Ohayō gozaimasu. Good morning.

Konbanwa. Good evening.

Eigo o hanasemasu ka. Do you speak English?

Watashi wa nihongo ga sukoshi shika hanasemasen.

O-genki desu ka. How are you?

Wakarimasen. I don't understand.

Wakarimasu. I understand you.

Dai jōbu desu. That's all right.

______ wa doko desu ka? Where is___?

ikura desu ka? How much is it?

______ wa arimasu ka? Do you have ______?