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

2009 1 16