rozmowa z Akira Kobayashi’m; bo przecież tradycja ręcznego pisma jest nam wszystkim wspólna… prawda? ;-)

    I took lettering and typography courses at Musashino Art University in the early 80s, but naturally they are focused on Japanese script. There was no proper textbook about western alphabets: things like the relationships between stroke thickness and the angle of broad-edged pen were never mentioned in books on lettering in Japan.
    “Ruling pen and compasses” theory (what the European scholars did in the renaissance period) was the one and the only principle…


    (…)
    I think, if you are disgusted by typographic mistakes in the West, you should visit Japan to be really disgusted!
    In Japan that problem is doubled because of our writing system set in vertical and horizontal direction. On top of that, texts are almost always accompanied by Roma-ji (Latin alphabet), which makes the problem four times as bad. Even worse – public signs should also be written in English which – besides the aesthetic/typographic problem – accompanies difficulties in spelling and grammar.

    Plus – there are a lot of people in Japan who try to “improve” signs, but adding extra – mostly handwritten – information. Throughout Japan you will see millions of lettering applications by non-professionals with good intentions. And having said that: I love them.
    (…)