Six Draft Pages From Autumn 2013 Edition OfThe Yoka, A Publication By And For JET Program Participants

Six draft pages from autumn 2013 edition of The Yoka, a publication by and for JET Program participants in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. I developed the color scheme from local wild flowers which I threw under the scanner. I'll post the finished publication when it's released later this month.

The "Before I Die" wall went up on 9/7 with the surprise help of local post office workers and an elderly bar owner. Day by day it continues to fill up. Living in a spread out town of 5,000, I never thought people would take to it so quickly, but I'm so happy they have. Check out the construction shots and get more info here. 

Kumamoto Nichi Newspaper. October 25, 2013.

"Before I die I want to..." Written on a blackboard placed at the Kawaura-machi Nakamura Community Center are those words along with the hopes of local residents. Zachary Johnson, twenty-five from Illinois in the US, working as an assistant language teacher in Kawaura, created the wall. According to Johnson, it's part of a public art project which began in New Orleans, US. In over forty countries, various people have installed the same kind of project, he said. Some hopes written by Kawaura residents were, "I want to become rich", "I want to have lots of dogs", etc. Johnson stated, "I want to give people a way to express the dreams they normally keep silent." The piece can be seen until the 29th. 

Hey, artists living in Chicago, take this short survey!

Your responses could probably will end up in an article I'm writing for Sixty.

A small, old house in the fishing village of Fukami. Ushibuka, Japan. 2013.

"A gay man was here. November 19th." Click the tag #wearehere to learn more about this project and how you can get involved.