About

This blog is Mana Yamaguchi's online portfolio & memo.
For any enquiry, please contact me at;

va802my(@)gmail.com

or

+44 07522326854


Mana Yamaguchi

Education and Qualifications

2008 - 2012, Goldsmiths University of London, BA Art Practice, London

2004 - 2008, Temple University Japan, General Education, Tokyo

1998 - 2004, Tokyo University Fuzoku Tyu-to Educational School, Tokyo

Works


2012
"PEXER'S GALAXY", an iPhone app




2010
Characters and a poster design for restaurant Abeno

2007 - 2010
"TU"NO", a seriese of children's book comissioned from Kodansha

2001 - 2008
Writings and illustrations on the magazine "S", letter-to-the-editors page

Exhibitions

13 –16 July 2011, "進む (第 一 章）Journey #1", Shoreditch high st, London

5th - 10th May 2011, "Utopia", Nolia's Gallery, London

29th March 2011, The Mews Project Space, London

Furikake, the consepturalized manufecture

An idea for new furikake, fish and chips flavor. "You cannot bring the dish back in Japan, but you can do it on the taste!"

"Furikake (ふりかけ)" is a common seasoning for sprinkling over rice in Japan. It usually comes in a jar or small packages, and consists of various dry food such as sesame, dried seaweed, fish flakes etc... depends on the flavor.

Eating white rice on its own is often dreadful for children. Furikakes made their meals much more fun both in visual and taste. It also provides an element of choice to them with its variation. Each product appeals them with a unique recipe and a catchy package.


"Noritama", perhaps the most common furikake, contains dried seaweed and egg. The contrast of yellow and black decorates the dish beautifully.

"Otona-No-Hurikake" letterly means "furikake for adults" in English. It targets both children and adult people. A hit product from Nagatanien, the major manufacture of furikake.

Furikakes are spread among common families around early 30's to support their health. It started with a simple recipe of dried fish flakes and increased its valuation as it got more popular.

The reason of furikakes' popularity in Japanese market is not only for its appeal to the consumers but to the producers. Converting their specialty into furikakes is a handy way to present them to the mass audience.

Character furikakes are popular among children who bring them to their nursery schools as a part of their lunch packs. Nagatanien's Anpanman furikake has 4 flavors as the range and comes with stickers as the extra.

Yoshinoya, the chain restaurant, produced Gyu-don flavored furikake. Gyu-don is a rice dish covered in beef, onion and pickled ginger. They crashed it into flakes by frozen' dry-method to provide their customers quick and easy option to enjoy their taste.

"Battered Potato Furikake" is produced as a souvenir of Hokkaido, northernmost prefecture of Japan.

Notice the characteristically flashy packages with full of images and texts. More imaginative design is enabled by Japanese text which can either be arranged vertical or horizontal, and written in several styles; Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana and Romaji.

The impression of the resulting assortment of catchphrases, logos and marks shares the similarity with that of the contents. Playful incorporation and repeated conversion is what Japanese has in its nature.

It might be related to our love for digital devices too. The system of them is mach like furikake; turning something into particles, and then re-construct it in our mind as it is served. Device itself is a resulting chunk of such conduct. All mobile phone has numerous functions other than calling. Choosing several elements, grinding them together, naming it, and bringing it around anywhere anytime... The beauty of minimalism leis in there.