Piece of Me: Art discussion, Onigiri and repetition

Since launching a new and improved version of my website and blog, Ive been facing a lot of set backs this year due to the state of emergency in Japan right now. Many of us are trying to abide to quarantine rules by avoiding going out unless to pick up essentials. Because of this I’ve been finding it hard to think of new content and new work that I want to put out on my blog as most of my post up to date have been about going around Tokyo to different spots (mostly cafes) with friends. I’ve been investing in fine tuning some hobbies such as cooking and baking while also trying to maintain a creative stream of art content through SNS though never felt the need to share these kind of mundane and trivial activities, let alone write about them in a blog post like a diary. I felt like I had hit a plateau and already through half the year I wasn’t satisfied with state of it. That and also because during the most recent mercury retrograde this year, I spilled coffee on my keyboard and have not yet ordered a replacement.

That being said, I hope to change this by introducing a new segment where I talk about my art pieces: themes, ideas, inspiration, references, break everything down to all the pieces. Answer questions that I’ve received about certain work and so on. I feel like this would some how still be related to my website and my way of thinking as a artist. It also gives me a chance to really think back about my work and give me something to do during this quarantine order. Though since graduating university last year I haven’t had the time to produce any new projects aside from a daily sketch or painting study, many of the discussed pieces will be about previous work that has either been exhibited in my show from 2019 or throughout my career while I was a university student in Japan.

Speaking of, it’s been about 4 years since moving from my hometown in Hawaii to Japan, specifically in the Kanagawa prefecture though I do work mostly in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Although there can be some cultural similarities between Hawaii and Japan, my first year in a foreign country on my own was anything but smooth sailing. Even if had some help from my then boyfriend at the time who was a born and raised Japanese citizen, there were many things that took months of getting use to: taking the train, using and converting yen, finding my way around more than just a small town, even things like opening onigiri at first were so difficult for me. Oh my, ESPECIALLY the onigiri at convenience stores. A really embarrassing story that I still laugh at till this day was when I first learned how to eat the onigiri using fresh and crispy seaweed that was kept separated from the rice till opening to prevent it from getting soggy. I remember flying into Narita airport, getting picked up by my then boyfriend at the time and he bought me onigiri from the seven-eleven at narita airport as a snack to eat before we took the 3 hour train ride back to his apartment. The way they packaged the crispy seaweed onigiri has a specific design to them and for those that have never tried even just simple onigiri from the convenience store, there’s a certain way in which you need to follow 3 easy steps to open the package. Me, not being used to how to open it (since Hawaii simply wraps their onigiri in plastic wrap), tried to open it like a bag of potato chips, which resulted in an explosion of laughter from him and having to clean up the mess of rice and salmon from my lap.

Onigiri became a staple food for me during my time staying with my university boyfriend in his apartment till I had to leave for Saitama to live with my host family. We frequented the seven-eleven just 3 minutes away from his apartment instead of picking up groceries at the supermarket since the kitchen was barely a kitchen and was too small to make proper and nutritional meals for the two of us. I made it a goal to try new flavors weather they be onigiri from the supermarket, a specialty shop, or a convenience store; some flavored I bought more often than others because honestly, I didn’t like eating the natto or konbu (seasoned kelp) flavored ones.

When I moved in with my host family in Saitama prefecture to start my 3rd year of University (I transferred after getting my A.A degree in Hawaii) Onigiri was still something I saw every morning when I passed a convenience store but now my morning commutes were filled with not just students but Businessmen heading to work. Majority of these businessmen (referred to as salarymen in Japan) wore dark colored suits, walked the same way, had the same expression on their faces as any other businessmen would every morning and every night when it was time for the evening rush hour. This sight was a repetition everyday for me in my first semester: walk to the station and buy 2 packs of onigiri, eat one before the train comes, get drowned in a sea of salaryman trying to squish into a packed train, walk to school eating the 2nd onigiri while businessmen walked pass me from the station on their way to work. Then repeat going back home the exact same way as well.

Eventually this repetition came to me as inspiration for my first linoleum plate print titled“Onigiri Business”, my first self planned project as a TUJ student. It is as shown: a line of business men but instead, their heads are Onigiri. I wanted the perspective to be like you were looking down a hallway of mirrors, or like an army of these onigiri men but simplified. Although I’ve seen Onigiri come in many different shapes and wrapped different ways, I wanted to keep the iconic triangular shape so I stuck with it.

Although the shape of the heads and even the suits that these onigiri men wore are all the same, their “fillings” are all different. In a weird way, I like to think these fillings are the heart of onigiri. The Core. It makes the onigiri, an onigiri, specifically that type of onigiri. Pickled plum, tuna with mayonnaise, and yes even the seaweed one that I slowly started becoming a fan of. This is what differentiates onigiri from one another, which is the inside.

Think about it. As my friends, coworkers and fellow classmates graduated and became salarymen and office laddies, they too join the army of suits and briefcases. At a glance, I would have just thought of them as nothing but a simple business man or woman going to their job. But unwrapping their exterior, they are much more than that. It got me asking questions; why did this person choose this job? What other hobbies do they have? What is their life outside the suit (the wrapper)? I will take for example a senpai (senior) that I look up to a lot and still do to this day. She graduated shortly after I entered university and started working for a company. Of course she’s well dressed and smart, always carries herself well as a working woman and is very professional in her field. But outside of work, one of her unique hobbies is cosplaying and making her own cosplay which I find really dope.

This kind of inspiration was what fueled the topic of Onigiri Businessmen. From my everyday life to questioning the repetition and finding differences. When I began sketching, I was so into creating these onigiri characters, it became really fun thinking of their fillings as personalities. I imagined Shio Onigiri (simple salt seasoning) as the one who always fumbles over new technology, super energetic pickled plum onigiri, and so on. I even had gotten comments suggestions about making them into stickers and goods. This project is currently in the making. I look back at my work now a days. There are a lot of things I actually don’t like about this work such as how uneven the paint appears (though some people actually like it). But it’s a piece that has become like a treasure of my youth to me and although it isn’t perfect, it holds a very dear place.

I hope you enjoyed reading my thought process and ideas on my piece. Of course I’m not a professional writer so apologies for any mistakes that may have came up. Do you have any thoughts? Were our thoughts similar? Different? I always enjoy hearing how people interpret my work so if there are any questions or would like more of a discussion, please don’t hesitate to connect with me through SNS or e-mail. always thank you