#tokyo

Jul 27, 2019
1 min

More Tokyo train travellers

I’m approaching the end of our current month-long visit to Japan, so here are some more train sketches. For me it’s been a month basically looking up old contacts, finding the current buzz of what’s going on for illustrators, and peering through the busy noise of central Tokyo, where I’m staying. Usually nowadays I stay in areas outside the circle of the Yamanote line, though I was based within it for over half the 21 years I was “permanently” living here. As mentioned previo

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StudioNIB

Jul 18, 2019
1 min

More Train Snippets!

Some more train sketches from my current sojourn in Tokyo. I’ve been here over two weeks now and it’s been a remarkably wet and cool July until now, the rainy season just carried on and on, with some significant downpours adding to the general drizzle. The cooler than expected weather meant getting about town was more efficient (if you could avoid being poked in the eye by umbrellas) but the general gloom was definitely sense in the mood of train passengers…. As mentioned in

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StudioNIB

Jul 11, 2019
1 min

Tokyo Train sketches

I’m back in Tokyo throughout this month, and, as is my habit, have been drawing people on trains again. As I’m staying in a central part of the city this time there are not so many long commuter train journeys, so sketching has been sporadic, on short journeys with bustling trains, when people move, get on and off more frequently, and (in many cases) block my view of my drawing model. So I’m getting a lot of false starts like this! You’ve just got to get on with it…. and be q

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StudioNIB

Jan 24, 2017
2 min

Sketches from Tokyo Part 2

Here’s a few more pocket sketchbook scribbles from my recent trip back to Tokyo. It’s always great to be in Japan, I never get tired of the country or lose the desire to go back, no matter how long I’m separated from it, even if, like this time, the entire trip was spent in the Tokyo metropolis. But in fact it’s the urban city that really sparked my interest when I first went, and still holds my biggest fascination even now, uptown or downtown, the people, architecture, and l

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StudioNIB

Jan 22, 2017
2 min

Tokyo Sketchbook Part 1

Here’s some train journey portraits from our recent trip back to Japan.. I’ve been a bit slow to share these sketches, mainly because there’s been so much going on since our return, work, personal and of course on the world front. What a month it’s turning out to be! But anyway, here’s what I got up to in my little pocket sketchbook, better late than never! It was only a two week trip, and I was down with a very bad cold for most of it, but I was on the Denentoshi line into T

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StudioNIB

Jan 10, 2017
5 min

30 years of Japan

Today will be remembered by many as the 1st anniversary of David Bowie’s death, but it also represents a special anniversary for me, as it marks 30 years to the day that I first set foot in Japan. 10th January 1987 – a date ingrained into my memory. It was a one-way ticket into the unknown, on a year’s working visa for a sponsor I knew almost nothing about. A country in which I was to live permanently for 21 years without a break, and have frequently returned to in the years

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A History of my Archive in 10 Objects. No.10: Tokyo Sketchbook, 1987

StudioNIB

Oct 4, 2016
3 min

A History of my Archive in 10 Objects. No.10: Tokyo Sketchbook, 1987

The final item in this History of my Archive in 10 Objects found in my father’s loft are two sketchbooks from my earliest days in Japan in 1987. Just after I arrived in Tokyo in January 1987 I bought a number sketchbooks of various sizes and spent a lot of the first year in particular being the sketching tourist, drawing, painting and photographing downtown Tokyo, the people around me, the whole experience of being in Japan. I didn’t think any sketchbooks from early days in J

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StudioNIB

Sep 14, 2014
1 min

Tokyo Sketchbook Part 2

Here are some more pages from my sketchbook in Tokyo this summer. I already posted this selection on Facebook, so apologies to my friends who’ve already seen them! #sketch #sketchbook #tokyo #trainsketches

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Tokyo Exhibition report: In the Shadow of Giants

StudioNIB

Sep 5, 2014
2 min

Tokyo Exhibition report: In the Shadow of Giants

I’ve just returned from five heady weeks in Tokyo, soaking up life back in the old metropolis, the place I lived for nearly half my life. Every year daughter and I go back to Japan, usually in the summer, every year we return with new and unique experiences, the only constant being the humidity and the constant murmur of cicadas, though this year there were several unseasonably cool spells amidst the swelter. It’s wonderful to explore familiar locations, see old friends and f

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StudioNIB

May 27, 2013
2 min

Some more images of Yanesen in 1987-88

Here are some more comparison photos of lost Yanaka and Nezu, “then and now”. Over the years I experienced a lot of things in Japan, many of them amazing, and occasionally disturbing. There have been a few things that truly shocked me, but the destruction of the old buildings of Yanesen is really heartbreaking. Yanesen was not like other areas, it was a survivor, with a culture and charm of it’s own. Because the district was so untouched, every old building had a value to th

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StudioNIB

May 20, 2013
4 min

Memories of Yanesen

My fascination with Japan originally stemmed from a love of Ukiyo-e woodblock prints and the history of old Tokyo, which soon expanded into a wider appreciation of the country. So when in the new year of 1987 I eventually set off to Japan I was determined to live in an area with historical connections to “old Edo” (Edo is the old name for the city). This actually proved more difficult than I’d imagined, as my very first residence, provided by my erstwhile sponsor, was right o

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StudioNIB

Apr 20, 2013
2 min

April Tokyo Train Sketches Part 2

Here are some more sketches made earlier this month on Tokyo trains. On this trip in particular I drew a lot of train passengers. Daughter and I were staying in familiar territory near Tama Plaza on the long Den-en-toshi line, which snakes from Chuo Rinkan in Yamato through the northern suburbs of Yokohama to the great hub of Shibuya, from whence it evolves into the Hanzomon line and continues eastwards through the middle of Tokyo. It takes around half an hour to travel on th

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StudioNIB

Apr 17, 2013
1 min

Tokyo on the Train

Daughter and I have just arrived home from another flying visit to Tokyo. As I was only in town for a couple of weeks it was a very busy time squeezing as much into each day as I could, most days spent zipping from one side of the city to the other. That’s the way I like it though, Tokyo is a city in constant movement, it’s a place to stay busy and on the move, a roaring metropolis. But it’s also a place of fascination and beauty, filled with oases to dip into for much needed

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StudioNIB

Sep 18, 2012
1 min

Tokyo Wrap Up

I’m finally back home after a successful show at Space Yui in Tokyo. Japan was wonderful for both daughter and myself, though it was very much a ‘working holiday’ for me. For the first month I was largely focused on meeting deadlines, producing work for the show and other such business, so not so many opportunities for socialising and enjoying the summer break. However the hard work was all worthwhile in the end, the exhibition at Space Yui was a tremendous success. My deepes

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StudioNIB

Aug 27, 2012
1 min

Tokyo Exhibition

Today’s the first day of my show in Tokyo, this promises to be an interesting week! Half the show is focused on my forthcoming picture book “Jack to Mame no Ki” (Jack and the Beanstalk), showing original artwork from the book such as this: and this: The Gallery has produced some fabulous limited edition prints, these two images from the book, each with a print run of 20, will be available through the Space Yui online shop even after the close of the show. In addition to the b

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StudioNIB

Aug 18, 2012
1 min

Adventures with a Pen

Announcing my Exhibition in Aoyama, Tokyo. Adventures with a Pen John Shelley exhibition 27th August-1st September At Space Yui http://www.spaceyui.com (nearest station – Gaienmae) Recent voyages with my trusty companions, Mr Pen and Mr Ink. On our intrepid journey we wandered from the land of fable to the land of illusion, three travellers across a landscape of paper and imagination. The show will include illustrations from the forthcoming book ジャックと豆の木　Jack to Mame no Ki (

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StudioNIB

Aug 7, 2012
3 min

Tokyo Summer

As some may know, I’m back in Tokyo all through the summer, to organise an exhibition (more on that shortly), run a workshop for SCBWI Tokyo on the 19th, see as many old friendly faces as possible, and basically to just re-connect with my former home of 21 years. It’s very good to be back, even though school holidays dictate daughter and I are here at the hottest time of year. Most people here can’t understand why I would want to come back to Japan while the Olympics are on i

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StudioNIB

Feb 13, 2009
1 min

Exhibition report

Daughter Seren and I are back in the chilly UK now after 3 wonderful weeks in Tokyo. My exhibition Kingdoms Curious at Pinpoint Gallery was a great success, with over 200 attendees over the two weeks. Following the show I gave a presentation to SCBWI Tokyo on creating “Power Portfolios”, if I get some event snapshots I’ll post them here, but in the meantime here’s a few snippets from the exhibition. A few panoramas of the gallery. Pinpoint is a relatively small space, but ide

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StudioNIB

Jan 30, 2009
1 min

Back in Tokyo

It’s fantastic to be back in Japan, albeit for just three short weeks while my show runs. On top of tremendous reunions with old friends and colleagues again, it’s been great to see the city of Tokyo with refreshed eyes, when you live somewhere for a long time (21 years in my case) you somehow become blinded to the wonders of the environment around you. Coming back to the city after a year, I can’t get over how incredible Tokyo really is. This first week I’ve been in a consta

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StudioNIB

Jan 24, 2009
1 min

Exhibition in Tokyo – Kingdoms Curious

26th January – 7th February 2009 11.00~19.00 daily Saturday: closes 17.00 Closed Sunday Pinpoint Galley Futaba Bldg. B1, 5-10-1 Minami Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 107-0062 TEL：03-3409-8268 FAX：03-3498-5978 In this show I’ve aimed to bring together the “curious kingdoms” of my imagination. Illustrations from children’s book include examples from “The House of the World” (Benesse 2008) and The Boat in the Tree (Front Street, USA 2007), plus various other graphic works. Circumst

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