Kyototto Publishing is an independent publisher in Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan. Its founder and director is Kyohei Ogawa. Read the rest»

Dear Kikuchi-san
Written and Illustrated by Misako Ichimura
 
Artist Misako Ichimura, living in a blue-tent village* in a city park!
Blue-tent villages and homeless people in big cities have negative images, but Ichimura has found beauty and richness in the lives of the people there.
 

A story of homeless women in Tokyo.

*Blue-tent village: Homeless people in Japan often use cheap, sturdy blue tarps for their shelters.

She started the “Tea Party for Women”.**
The lovely women living in this park “were like suns whose movement followed the spirit of each moment.”
And she came to know a pop-punk woman, Kikuchi.
It made her happy to see someone who could be so free.

She went about wearing sunglasses with British flag lenses, and she had a totally new style all her own, at once sexy, feminine, mannish and in the latest kogyaru* fashion. And her hair was caramel-coloured - it looked like there was a cat on her head. (p. 16)
* Kogyaru (or kogal) literally “little girl”, is a subculture popular among teenage girls and young women.

In the form of a collection of letters to Kikuchi, who is no longer in the park, Ichimura shows us with vivid words and illustrations the world of Kikuchi, the everydayness that seems to skip along, the stories of women.
 

Words

Ichimura has the power to give real shapes to her dreams and feelings.
And the art she creates is a soft leafy soil, full of nourishment and moist
richness, where seeds of all kinds take root.
Tetsuo Ogawa (homeless)

Full of fairy tales for dealing with reality!
Groovy woman, I want to be your neighbor!
Bubu de la Madeleine (artist)
 

A story of homeless women in Tokyo.

Tokyo is estimated to have approximately 5,000 homeless people, of which as much as ten percent are women.
 

Enoaru Café

Tetsuo Ogawa and Misako Ichimura created a café in a corner of the tent village where the residents could talk to each other and have exchanges with people from outside the park. In keeping with the ways of the village, drinks are served by barter. A painting group is held there as well, and the trees around the café are decorated with works made by the participants.
The name Enoaru, literally meaning “that has paintings”, is a play-on-words on the Tokyo café chain Renoir, which is pronounced “renoaru” in Japanese.
 

Tea Party for Women

While living in the park, Misako Ichimura has had to deal with some uncomfortable situations. Wondering what others were going through, she went around the park and asked the women living here and there, and then she started having a tea party once a month on top of the main hill.
This turned into a way of creating community, and also made the existence of women more visible in the social structure of the tent village.
More and more, women’s laughter could be heard, and they learned to support each other when dealing with violence and such. This was also something Ichimura had needed herself to continue living in the park.
 

Misako Ichimura

Born in 1971 in Amagasaki, currently lives in a park in Tokyo.
Graduate of Kyoto Seika University and Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music Graduate School.
Recognized for unique art creations such as Tabi-tabi Seikatsu, Ohanashi Kaiga, and Tocoton Side.
In 2002, stayed in a squat in Amsterdam and created work.
Started living in the park in October 2003 and began holding “Painting Session” and “Tea Party for Women” events.
Opened Enoaru Café with Tetsuo Ogawa.
In 2007, carried out touring exhibition of Enoaru Café to London, Hiroshima and elsewhere.
Started project selling cloth napkins made by homeless women, under the trademark Nora Tokyo.
 

Dear Kikuchi-san (Japanese only)
Misako Ichimura
A5, two-color illustrated book, 144 pages, JPY 1,260
ISBN 4-9902637-1-5

Tsubarugo Kaiwa Nyumon
Natu (Natsuyo Monden)
 
Tuvalu, in the south Pacific, is the second-smallest nation in the world.
On these isolated islands, there is a self-sufficient lifestyle.
Out of love for the people and culture of Tuvalu, Natu wrote this book to make it possible for people to learn to speak Tuvaluan. It is the first book on spoken Tuvaluan ever published in Japanese.
 
Tani te fonu! = You’ve got to taste this turtle!

All the phrases in this book were heard by the author in the islands of Tuvalu. Grammatical explanations are included.

Natu (Natsuyo Monden)

Born in 1967.
Majored in cultural anthropology and linguistics at Waseda University.
In 2004, she went with her four-year-old daughter to the island of Vaitupu and stayed there for nine months. Since then, the mother and daughter have been traveling to the islands of Tuvalu for long-term stays on a yearly basis.
 

Tsubarugo Kaiwa Nyumon (Japanese only)
Natu (Natsuyo Monden)
A5, 116 pages, JPY 2,000
ISBN 978-4-9902637-2-0

Kono yoh na Yarikata de 300-nen no Jinsei wo Ikiteiku
Tetsuo Ogawa
 
19 years old. Off to Okinawa with a portraiter’s signboard on his back.
No lover.
Scolded, praised and loved by aunties and uncles and grandpas and grandmas.
A travel journal, this is the starting point of the homeless artist Tetsuo Ogawa.
 

Tetsuo Ogawa

Born in 1970.
Has received attention for his Isoro Raifu (“freeloading life”), a practice of changing residence every ten days.
Currently living homeless in a park in Tokyo and running a café there.
 

Kono yoh na Yarikata de 300-nen no Jinsei wo Ikiteiku (Japanese only)
Tetsuo Ogawa
A5, 136 pages, JPY 1,000
ISBN 4-9902637-0-7