Chuo City Tourism Association “JAPAN FIRSTS SOUVENIR”
Patterns That Capture Modern Edo Spirit
Tokyo’s Chuo City has maintained 400 years of history and tradition since Edo’s founding, while thriving as a center for commerce and food culture through districts like Ginza, Nihonbashi, and Tsukiji. This area, Japan’s cultural heart since the Edo period, contains a remarkable concentration of Japan’s “firsts” in cultural innovation.
As urban landscapes and lifestyles evolved through time, we created a furoshiki cloth as part of a project to rediscover and communicate Chuo City’s distinctive charm.
We transformed 29 items that originated in or spread from Chuo City into vibrant icons that became cohesive patterns. Our goal was to create something that would be embraced as “contemporary Edo essence” — honoring tradition while remaining accessible and desirable to younger generations and international visitors alike.
Graphics
This wrapping cloth was produced as part of a project that aimed to take a fresh look at and promote the attractions of Chuo City in Tokyo. This area has been at the center of Japan since the Edo Period, and is home to much culture that was the first of its kind in the country. These cultural firsts are represented here with a pattern of pop icons that are familiar to youth and foreign visitors and can be understood as a kind of “modern Edo spirit”.
Credit
- Art Direction
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- Yasuhide Arai
- Design
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- Yasuhide Arai
- Copywriting
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- Ryo Hasumi
- Produce
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- Noriko Muto
