This morning, I went to the Karuizawa Chuo Community Center to vote early for the Nagano Prefectural Assembly election. The weather was fine, but the wind was cold. However, I noticed various small flowers starting to bloom along the roadside. Every year around this time, I usually stop by a place where I can see Adonis ramosa, but I was surprised to find a horsetail instead. I had never seen a horsetail while living in the city.

Later, I stopped by the library in Karuizawa town and borrowed two books. One of them was Gianfranco Venet’s “Italian Life under the Fascist Regime” (“Mille lire al mese Vita quotidiana della famiglia nell’Italia fascista”), and the other was Luigi Barzini’s “The Impossible Europeans”. In 2019, I stayed in Florence, Italy for about 80 days to learn copperplate engraving techniques. During that time, I regretted not knowing much about Italian society. Ever since, I’ve been interested in Italy as much as possible. I feel great about Italy’s historical heritage, especially its art, but I don’t know enough about the real face of modern people.

When I got home, I started retouching a pencil drawing I left unfinished two years ago. I have many sketchbooks for my drawings, and lately, I’ve been closely observing them to reflect on my creative process and consider the direction of my future production. Among them, there are many unfinished ones, and some pages have been sold, leaving only sticky notes with information written on them. I try not to limit my work to one style, but I also believe that every piece should contain my unchanging taste as the foundation for change and possibility. These tastes include hatching, line drawing, 3D effects, all-overs, and organic abstraction. While trying not to lose these, I am trying to come up with ideas for printmaking that are not limited to fine art and are easy to spread to the general public.