Kranti who just got back from his India trip made my day yesterday with another rat for my collection....

It’s Sunday 6:00pm , by now most people in this city are drunk under a cherry blossom tree , some passed out and a few probably naked…not a very pretty spring scene. I’m at the new studio , writing , while Han is tattooing and Corey works on a piece he’ll tattoo tomorrow , a feeling of satisfaction is in the air. The past few weeks have been very stressful at times , if you ever had to rent a place in Tokyo as a foreigner and with a panther tattooed on your throat you’d know what I mean , a side of the Japanese society I rather not talk about now…only then the moving started , nothing fun about that either ,and just as the month of march ends life once again seems to heading where it should be going. While the situation with the new space developed I also worked on my new blog , it was about time I did something about that , it’s only natural for all things to grow and transform , of course that only happens if you do what has to be done in order to avoid stagnation. I guess I now have something like a “blog-site” with links for the private studio , appointments and even a small store , but I’m excited about 2 major changes in particular: The first is being able to post bigger photos(a move that will create problems to some…) and most of all being able to communicate in Japanese , a move that will hopefully create a more dynamic interaction in japan as it already happens in brazil and elsewhere. During the past few days I had to manually import more than 500 photos and texts from my old blog into the new one , it was just like looking at old photo albums or a diary , it does put things into perspective and re freshens your sense of time and space. After doing the “blog thing” for almost 2 years and sharing parts of my daily life with everyone I ended up realizing that I can also enjoy writing more than I thought I could…and that’s a good thing…and as I looked at all those texts I wrote since day one I also think I’m getting better at it…or at least I’m making an effort to be more coherent. The only thing I regret is that I could not import all the old comments to the new blog…even the ones from the people annoyed by it… Of course I still have access to it all…like a drawer full of old post cards…good memories from messages that have motivated me to keep doing it… Well that’s it for now…I have to go to a friends event now where Danny Paradise will be doing a demonstration of advanced ashtanga yoga and tomorrow morning I’ll be flying to Thailand for 10 days of sun and some rest…can’t wait to say goodbye to my computer and take my shoes off. By the end of april you’ll be able to see here a couple of interesting pieces I’ll tattoo right after my trip to Thai…the first ones at the new studio…after all that’s what’s this blog is all about…. 三月の終わりに 日曜日、午後６時。今頃、街では多くの人達が桜の木の下で酔っぱらっているだろう。酔いつぶれたり、裸になっている輩がいるかもしれない・・・あまり美しい春の光景とは言えないが。 俺はというと、新しいスタジオでこの文章を書いている。その隣で、Mr. Hanはタトゥーを彫り、Coreyは新しい作品に取り組んでいる。充実感に満ちた空気。 この数週間は、とてもストレスのたまる事が多かった。喉元に豹のタトゥーを入れた外国人が東京で不動産を探している所を想像してもらえば、そのストレスの重さを分かってくれると思う。ただ今は日本社会のこういった側面の事を話す気分にはなれない・・・その後に引っ越しの作業が始まったが、これも楽しいといえる作業ではなかった。こんな形で三月が終わりを迎えると、人生は再び行くべき道へ向かって進んでいるように感じられた。 新しいスタジオの準備を進めながら、新しいブログの準備にも本腰を入れていた。ずっとやりたかった事をやれる時がきたのだった。そうやって物事が進み、変化していく事は自然な流れだ。もちろん、やるべき事をするという前提のもとで。そうでないと行き詰まってしまう。 そして今、プライベート・スタジオ、予約、小さいながらもストアといったコンテンツをリンクした「ブログサイト」と呼べるようなものができた。なによりも嬉しいのは、大きな変更を二つ加える事ができた事だ。 一つは、より大きなサイズの写真をアップできるようになった事（表示領域の狭いディスプレイでは不具合がでるかもしれないが・・・）。そして、もう一つの最も大きな変化は日本語に対応した事。これによりブラジルや他の国で既に起こっているような、もっと活溌な相互作用を日本でも期待できる。 ここ二、三日の間、写真とテキストを含めて５００ものエントリーを手動で新しいサイトに移行しなければならなかった。しかしその作業は、古いアルバムや日記を読んでいるような感覚で、物事を整理すると共に時間と空間の感覚をリフレッシュさせてくれた。 日常生活の一部を皆と共有する「ブログ」を２年ほど続けて、思ったよりも書くという行為を楽しんでいる自分に気づいた・・・いい事だ・・・そして最初の頃に書いた文章を読み返して比べると、だんだん良くなっていると思う・・・少なくとも、筋の通った文章を書こうと努力している。 しかしながら、古いブログのコメントを新しいブログに取り込む事ができなかったのは残念だ・・・歓迎しがたいコメントも含めて・・・ もちろん、それらのコメントにアクセスする事はできる・・・古いポストカードでいっぱいになった引き出しを開けるように・・・ブログを続ける原動力を与えてくれたメッセージからくる良い思い出・・・ さて、今日はこのくらいで終わりにしよう。ダニー・パラダイスがハイレベルなアシュタンガ・ヨガのデモをする友達のイベントへ出かけねばならない。そして、明日の朝には１０日間の休養をとりにタイへと発つ・・・コンピューターを閉じ、裸足でリラックスできるのが待ち遠しい。 タイから戻った直後にタトゥーをする予定の興味深い作品が数点あり、四月の終わり頃に見せる事ができると思う・・・新しいスタジオでの初の作品・・・結局のところ、その為にこのブログを書いているのだから・・・ (more...)

LENCOIS october 10th 2006 I meant to write this letter exactly one month ago on my flight from Tokyo to Sao Paulo thinking that I would have more than enough time and peace to write what I felt was a very complex mix of feelings and thoughts that needed to be put in words. Well,that letter was never writen during that 26 hours flight, as one cannot always plan and choose the time and place to do things that must be done. It is now 5 in the afetrnoon, I?m sitting in a peaceful tropical garden under huge palm trees looking at a colorful blend of different types of greens,fruits and flowers glowing under the most beautiful light of the day and listening to the running waters of the waterfall right in front of me. I?m in the historical colonial city of Lencois in the heart of Bahia, the thoughts and feelings which have been on my mind since my arrival in Brazil a month ago in regard of the writing of this letter seem now not as confused and abstract as they seemed only a few days earlier and thinking now about the chain of events that led me to this city I?m glad this turned out to be place whrere these feelings will finally be put down on paper. If you are reading this that means that somewhere along the way our paths have crossed , some kind of artistic , cultural or even spiritual affinity was present and depending on the person that affinity lasted for different lengths of time. Since the idea of this letter is to explain why I have decided to stop producing and selling the L.U.Z. name as a clothing label , I must say that the commercial and financial impact of such decision on the lives of others and of course my own together with a overwhelming feeling of uncertainty towards the future were the greatest cause of much hesitation and insecurity making it one of the hardest decisions of my life. Those negative thoughts and fears seem now very silly to me. I have no formal education and come from a not so privileged background,I do not consider myself and artist and much less a bussiness minded man , which leaves me with the notion that my very simple and even childish passion and fascination with tattoos , in particular with the tattoo culture of japan and the other pacific islands has transformed me into a craftsman. 15 years ago I have started my search with only one thought in my mind , to look for and find my own space in the mysterious and unforgiving universe of tattooing. With much discipline and dedication in a sometimes very arduos path where all my energy and respect are always focused and concentrated on originality , strength , balance and style I have developed my own lines creating a new way of communication between myself and others , and these lines were the lines that one saw printed or embroidered on the garments and accessories sold by LIFEUNDERZEN. Over the years much of my ideas materialised in the form of garments in a very accurate and loyal way to the image I initially saw in my head. But also as a natural consequence of different types of minds working together , many other times that materialisation of my vision never happpened. Those times I did as people say in Japan:" I closed one of my eyes ". And everytime as that eye closed I could not help wondering what would I have achieved as a tattooist had I had such approach towards my own work , by now the tattooing process had set the standards by which I define quality and precision and would not allow me to relate to anyone who's criteria towards form,balance and style in any field was somewhat irresponsible. The signs of uncompatibility amongst the members of the creative team were obvious and yet the thought of searching for different partners in Japan didn't seem to me much of a solution , which proved to be true later, and as a consequence the brand's identity crisis was inevitable. The irony of it all being that in order to continue the label I had to break the #1 rule by which I carry my work as a professional tattooist : "ON THE SEARCH FOR BALANCE AND STYLE ONE MUST KEEP BOTH EYES WIDE OPENED" a dilemma that without all of it's external implications does not take much thought towards a lucid conclusion. Much of that energy was felt and reflected on the management level of the company , which due to the lack of experience and poor networking was unable to find different alternative routes of production , and somewhere along the way the focus of the bussiness shifted from the apparel line and properly marketing and branding it into using my image and work as a graphic artist on products sold by different companies in Japan in a move that brought some financial gains but at the price of putting the brand on a even more delicate situation , since what I needed most from management in Japan was a team capable of creating the most convinient and productive enviroment in which my ideas for the label could truly develop and flourish. I see this as the break-up of a team and not the death of an idea , for I still as on the first days of the brand have much confidence and believe on my vision and sense of style when it comes to the application of my own designs on clothing. My relationship with fashion will obviously continue for I enjoy the results of a job well done very much, always respecting , admiring and feeling inspired by many talented people whom with style and intelligence have decided not to follow the easy path on this industry. 11 years ago I wrote the word LUZ on my studio's door and that's where it will permanently remain for LUZ is not a clothing label but a way of thinking? To everyone in Japan that have through the years supported LUZ in any way I would like to express my deepest gratitude with the thought that our paths might cross again. As the night falls in Lencois I feel more sure than ever that the right thing has been done?such feeling must never be ignored... JUN MATSUI