May 2020 Journal Spreads!

Theme: Japan

kitsune (foxes) are common in Japanese folklore. The fox in on the right is a kyūbi-no-kitsune (nine tailed fox). The clothing on the left is a yukata.

Red and blue are important colors in Japan.

The little cartoon face beside the word May is Anpanman. Anpanman is a red bean bread man and the world's weakest hero. He doesn't have any superpowers like Batman or Superman, but is a kind hero who helps those in need and gives to hungry people pieces of his face, which is made out of red bean bread. It was originally a Japanese children's superhero picture book series written by Takashi Yanase, and then was adapted into an anime. It is one of the most popular anime series among young children.

The other doodles at the bottom (they got a little cut off) were a bowl of ramen, sushi, and an origami crane.

The drawing is of Totoro, from となりのトトロ (My Neighbor Totoro). My Neighbor Totoro is a very famous and beloved film in Japan. (like Winnie the Poo in the west)

At the bottom left is Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty is a character created by Sanrio, a Japanese company that specializes in designing and branding cartoon characters.

On the right side of the picture is Kiki and her cat Jiji from Kiki's Delivery Service. Kiki's Delivery Service is a film made by Studio Ghibli.

The drawing is a picture of the daisho (daito and shoto). Daito means long sword and shoto means short sword. So, together they are called daisho (literally big-little)

Supplies used:

Gel highlighters (blue and yellow). They were purchased in Korea, no branding is apparent.

Crayola supertips and Cray-Z-art markers

Papermate flair pens

tombow fudenosuke (soft and hard tip) and tombow dual brush pens. (910 and N52)

Tianzhuo sumikko gurashi mechanical pencil (0.5mm), Uni-ball signo 207, and Elmer's washable school glue stick.