Field Report: Ivy Style in Tokyo

Saturday, I met up with writer David Marx in Tokyo. David and I have spoken several times over the years, but have never met in person until this past weekend. It was great timing for me because David had just announced the English version of Popeye that was released while I was in Tokyo. Our meet-up happened to coincide with a gallery event showing the work of legendary Japanese illustrator and artist Kazuo Hozumi at a gallery in Aoyama. I wasn’t expecting to see what was going on there.

As I rode the Tokyo metro back to my hotel in Ginza, I thought that if this event were in New York, I would never have gone. I find the Japanese love of Ivy to be so much more fun and endearing than what I see in America. These guys go all out, and it doesn’t feel weird like maybe it would at home. The evening was punctuated by the chance meeting of Take Ivy co-author Toshiyuki Kurosu, who came by way of a kind introduction from David. That was an amazing moment for me (and he had no idea what ACL was!).