My long-time friend Chihiro Minato had his new book (of photos and short essays) published recently. It's called Moji no haha tachi (les mères de lettres): le voyage typograhique. It's a masterpiece. The book is made up of a series of photographs of France's national printing factory (where they print passports, telephone directories, among others). The place was closed down a couple of years ago and he had taken photographs of the factory's last days. There are also pictures from the Dainippon Insatsu in Tokyo. The two counterparts make a perfect balance to commemorate the history of printing.
Minato gave a talk tonight with another friend of mine, novelist Toshiyuki Horie, at the ABC bookstore. It was very interesting and illuminating, even. Printing is the basic technology that shaped modern human mind. And it's just about to go, replaced by digital technology. Sad, sad.
But then we have somebody like Shunichi Mamura, the book designer, who publishes an art magazine called Tamaya. The whole magazine is composed in a very traditional fashion (typographic priting). Later this year, my poems will appear in it. Oh, what a joy...
