Rose Of Versaille Window Shopping – Isetan

I took these photos of the Rose of Versaille themed window decoration at Isetan department store in Shinjuku a couple of months ago. I meant to post this straight away but the photos got stuck in editing limbo for the longest time. Excuse me! Still, fans of the game-changing Rose of Versaille manga series from the 70s will get a kick out of seeing these – each window is decorated to the theme of one of the characters in the famous shojo (girl’s) manga about a girl who is raised as a son and takes up the post as captain of the guard in Paris just before the revolution. It is quite possibly the story that kick started a generation of female manga readers in the 1970s and as such the whole genre is indebted to this fantastic comic book series. Those who are not fans of the manga can still enjoy this masterclass in window decoration!

Isetan x Klaus Haapaniemi – Christmas Decorations

This year again, the famous Isetan department store in Shinjuku is putting on a christmas decorations campaign illustrated by Klaus Haapaniemi, the Finnish artist. Isetan and Haapaniemi has been collaborating for quite some time and the stories keep getting more and more elaborate, even with some recurring characters. This year the story seems to be more complicated and the interior decorations are as great as always. It is good to see that some department stores are not afraid to be different even during Christmas shopping season! I blogged about it in 2009. There is a site accompanying the decorations, complete with video and rather good song available for download.

Shinjuku Rain

I think one of the keywords of this summer will be squall. I have lost count of the numer of sudden (and often rather violent) rain storms we have had hit us here in Tokyo over the summer so far. Usually these squalls are not very welcome but they do manage to drop the temperatures quite a bit and after they have passed (usually after no more than 30 minutes) the air is almost bearable again. One Sunday afternoon in Shinjuku I took these photos as I had to take shelter in the opening of the huge Isetan department store. A lot of people were caught in the rain and even if you did have an umbrella you would have been soaked within seconds as the rain bounced up from the street underneath you. If things continue like this we will see a lot of thunder, lightning and interesting weather coming up! And to think we still have the typhoon season to look forward to!

Kyotaro x Isetan – Shop Window Decoration

Isetan is the name of a large department store chain here in Japan, who happens to have an excellent sense in illustrators. A few times a year the store runs a major shop window decoration campaign relying heavily on the art of a relatively young illustrator. The other day as I was passing by I saw these windows using artwork of the fantastic Kyotaro, an illustrator with an impressive and varied resume (make sure to visit the gallery on this site). It’s not easy to take decent photos of shop windows, but it was a swelteringly hot overcast day so I think I did a reasonable amount trying to keep the glare out of the photos. If you pass Shinjuku make sure to walk past Isetan!