Takashi Kono

And I’d also like to catch the Takashi Kono show taking place at the Ginza Graphic Gallery. It ends on December 20. Again, from REALTOKYO: Following his employ in the design department at Shochiku Films, Kono Takashi (1906-1999) joined the legendary national design magazine “Nippon,” where he acted as art director (or the like). It was his work in this capacity that earned him the cognomen “genius.” This exhibition looks back at the dawn of graphic design in Japan with approximately 140 items on display from bookbinding to editorial design, posters, typography and logos. Active throughout the entire Showa era (1926-1989), Kono’s design — for better or for worse — is inevitably steeped “modernism.” It is particularly amusing to spot the countless elements that later bigwig designers surreptitiously “borrowed” from this master.