Let’s travel with illustrator and graphic designer Amaia Arrazola on her four-week trip through the beating heart of Tokyo via her new book Tokyo Travel Sketchbook. This book is published by Tuttle Publishing and is available to buy now in good book stores and Amazon. Please do note that this book is suitable for aged 14 and above as it does contain some erotic content!
When Arrazola accepted a month long artist’s residency in Tokyo, she had little idea of what to expect but packed her materials and seized the opportunity to create an illustrated diary of her time there. She filled the pages of her sketchbooks with curious images of life captured in this modern Japanese culture as well as tradition in the world’s largest city.
The book provides readers with a unique vision of Japan’s capital, as seen through the eyes of an artist. She takes you on a journey with her drawings as she browses sex shops, drinks pink coffee, eats spaghetti sandwiches and photographs subway sleepers. Throughout her explorations, she uses the concept of WABI SABI as a guiding principle. A term defining the beauty of imperfect things, things that are modest, humble and unconventional.
Reading through her book, I love all her weird findings and also the ancient history behind this country. The colourful and cute illustrations have captured my attention right from the start. There are a lot of interesting facts that I have learnt through her journey. I would recommend it.
The lovely people from Tuttle publishing has sent me an extra copy for my followers. So I will be giving someone a chance to win this book. With the current conditions due to COVID-19, this competition will last a lot longer than usual. I do hope by early June, the conditions will be better for me to go out there to post it through!
Disclosure: I received this sample from the publisher for free. However, they have not paid me for this review, and they do not exercise any editorial control over my review or anything else on this site. We have included an Amazon affiliate link to the product. If you click on this and buy, we may earn a small commission.