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This update consists mainly of a series of Tweets between JW Art Project and Art Director Yumi Hamano regarding what will be included in the JW Art Book. It looks as though there were originally five parts to be included in the book: 1) On Ice; 2) Move; 3) Street Fashion; 4) Documentary; and 5) Doll. They have created eight short visual stories to illustrate four of these parts, and say they are now removing some pages and that it is a challenge to do so.
I wonder which of the five parts was left out?? The advance tidbits of all five of them were so good!
Episode X 'Epilogue', of the extraordinarily insightful series of interviews 'Johnny Weir!!! Johnny Comes to Our Office' between Itoi Shigesato and Johnny Weir, was posted on September 10, 2010. The interview was conducted at Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun (“Almost Daily Itoi News”) abbreviated as ‘Hobonichi’, the office of Itoi Shigesato. There are several photos and two new videos included with Episode Ten.
In addition, Episode Ten: Epilogue contains a wonderful slide show of forty-five photographs of Johnny shooting on ice photographs for the upcoming JW Art Book! The slide show can only be seen at the actual website, so please go to the website to view the slide show!
Shigesato Itoi had personally selected a gift for Johnny: A carved wooden tray, spoon, and fork. Johnny beamed with joy, and displayed them on the table for everyone to see.
乗組員を代表して、
ジョニーの大ファンである若田が
手渡したものは‥‥。
Wakata, a big fan of Johnny, hands him another present. This one is from the staff, and we decided to give him...
Johnny was a graceful host. In between photo shoots, Johnny made sure Itoi and his staff were comfortable. He went to speak with the junior skaters, took pictures with them, and signed autographs. He was just fascinating.
Being with Johnny felt like a dream, but it was real. The time we spent together leads to today: it is surprisingly encouraging just to think about it.
Here is the text of Episode VI of the interview (photographs may be seen at the website):
糸井 Itoi
じゃ、つぎは日本の話を。
Let's hear about Japan now.
ジョニー Johnny
日本には、はじめて来た瞬間に、
恋に落ちちゃったような感じでした。
アジアではじめて訪れた国が
日本だったんですけど。
実ははじめて来たのは空港の乗換えで、
オーストラリアに行く途中だったんです。
Sure. I have a huge love affair with Japan from the moment I came here. Japan was the first country I visited amongst other Asian countries. The first time was actually a transit. We flew to Japan first on the way to Australia.
ぼくはちょっと潔癖なところがあって、
とにかくキレイ好きなんですけど、
空港を歩いてみると、とにかくキレイで、
壁が真っ白で、ぜんぶが美しくて。
こんなに小さな国にたくさんの人が住んでるのに、
こんなにキレイだっていうことが
ほんとにすばらしいなと思ったんです
I'm crazy about being clean. It fascinated me just to walk in the airport and to see how clean and white and beautiful everything was. I was amazed by how a small country with so many people can be so clean.
糸井 Itoi
（オフィスを見渡して）
‥‥ここは、まずいな。
(Looking around the office)
We're ruining his impression...
一同 All
（笑）
(Laughter)
ジョニー Johnny
で、最初に来たときは空港で
シャネルとか、フェンディとか、
お買い物をしただけだったんですけど、
その後アイススケートのキャリアを重ねて、
何度も日本に来るようになると、
ますます日本に夢中になりました。
そう、日本の歴史とかは‥‥‥‥。
So, my first visit was the airport, seeing Chanel and Fendi and all the other boutiques. I started to come more as I progressed through my career. The more I visited, the more I was fascinated by the country and its history. It's just...
♪♪♪‥‥♪♪♪‥‥♪♪♪‥‥
（ジョニーのマネージャーの
携帯電話の着メロが突然鳴り響く）
(Suddenly, Johnny is interrupted by his agent's cell phone ringtone.)
ジョニー Johnny
‥‥‥‥‥‥。
（マネージャーをじっとにらむジョニー）
(Johnny glares silently at his agent.)
一同 All
（笑）
(Laughter)
ジョニーJohnny
日本の歴史とか、文化などに、
どんどん興味を持っていきました。
なんでって言われると、ロシアの例と同じで
ちょっと説明しにくいんですけれど、
日本を訪問する機会が増えて、
少しずつ日本のことを知るたびに
素敵な面を発見して好きになって。
ほんとに清潔で、保守的なところがある一方で
モダンなところもあって、
他の国にはないところもあって。
Anyway, I just became more and more interested in the history and culture of Japan. Just like my love affair with Russia, Japan was another place that spoke to me. I found different traits of Japan that I love every time I came here. It isn't just the cleanliness. Japan is in one way very conservative but at the same time it is very modern and ahead of the rest of the world.
日本の街を歩くと、
アメリカだと５年後にならないと
こういうものは流行らないだろうなという
ファッションをみんながしていて、
すごく刺激を受けるんです。
日本が世界全体の文化のペースをつくってる、
という感じがするんですね。
It's so inspiring to come here. People here are walking down the streets in fashion that people in the US won't be wearing for another five years. In many ways, I think Japan is the beat of the world.
あともう一つは、実は日本発なんだけど、
他の国がまねをして、そちらが本家のような
顔をしていることがあると思う。
日本はすごく小さな国だけれども、
誇りを持っていて、他の国を
変に頼ろうという期待もせずに
自分でしっかりやってる感じにも共感します
Many things follow Japan, although a lot of times other countries are given credit for them. Japan is very small but a very proud and modern country, and they don't expect anything from the rest of the world. I think that is very cool.
日本の人たちはすごく文化的で、
礼儀正しくて、かつ正直で、
そんな人たちって、なかなかいないと思う。
I also think Japanese people are very cultured and polite, and at the same time honest. It's hard to find people like that.
糸井 Itoi
日本に行きたくなっちゃいました。
I think I want to go to Japan now.
一同 All
（笑）
(Laughter)
ジョニー Johnny
ほんとに（笑）？
Really? (Laughs)
糸井 Itoi
いっしょに行きましょう。
We should go together.
ジョニー Johnny
うん（笑）
Sure. (Laughter)
糸井 Itoi
ロシアの次は日本に行ってみたい。
We go to Russia together first, and then we go to Japan.
ジョニー Johnny
（笑）
(Laughter)
糸井 Itoi
ええと、ロシアと日本の話のつぎは、
そう、プリンが好きだっていう話ですね。
So we've talked about Russia and Japan. Now... oh yes, about your love for custard pudding.
ジョニー Johnny
プリンの話って、どこから来たんですか？
Where does this custard pudding story come from?
糸井 Itoi
あ、いや、あのね、
Twitterに書いてあったんですよ。
あなたがここに来ることをTwitterに書いたら、
たくさんのファンがぼくにTwitterで
いろんなことを教えてくれたんですけど、
「ジョニーはプリンが好きでエビが嫌いです」
っていう情報がそのなかにあって。
I read it on Twitter. When I tweeted that you were coming to Hobonichi, many of your fans tweeted me back with bits and pieces of information about you. One of them said that you like custard pudding and that you don't like shrimp.
ジョニー Johnny
（笑）
(Laughs)
糸井 Itoi
それ、本当？
Is that true?
ジョニー Johnny
ぼく、エビは好きだよ。
.....I like shrimp.
一同 All （笑）
(Laughter)
糸井 Itoi
あー、そうなんだ（笑）。
You do! (Laughs)
ジョニーJohnny
いや、プリンはたしかに好きだけどね。
But I like custard pudding, too.
If you follow the above link and register for the JW Art Book email newsletter, you will be taken to this thank you page containing this never before seen photograph!
While Johnny Weir was in Japan in July 2010 he accomplished several things; he skated in Fantasy On Ice, he announced he would take a year off from competition, he shot numerous photographs and a couple of videos for the Johnny Weir Art Book, and he was interviewed by respected Japanese editor, writer, video game designer and essayist Itoi Shigesato. The interview between Mr. Shigesato and Weir came about after the agent working on the Art Book came upon these words written by Mr. Shigesato February 20, 2010 after he saw Johnny Weir's performances at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics:
'Right now, my interest and attention goes to Johnny Weir, the figure skater. He was as if the definition of art had come to life. Medals, scores, nationalities, the crowd...he seemed to have transcended them all. To my eyes, he seemed as if he had an uncontrollable desire to express himself, devoting that energy solely to himself.
I felt that I witnessed "Art" as discussed with philosopher Takaaki Yoshimoto. I'm really happy that I was able to see his performance.'
She (the agent) then contacted Mr. Shigesato and his people. They exchanged ideas, Johnny showed interest, and the idea for the interview came about.
Episode One of Johnny Weir: Johnny Comes to Our Office was put up today (August 30th) at the 1101.com Website. The website contains the interviews in both English and Japanese; as well as several wonderful photographs and two videos! The interview will be released to the public via this website in ten parts. Here are the titles of the ten parts and the dates on which they will be published:
Note: The times and dates in the index are for Japan (GMT plus nine hours) at 11am local time. The release of episode one in the United States, for example, corresponded to Sunday August 29 at 10pm EST, and 7pm PST. You must figure out where you are in relation to the dates given here if you wish to read the interview parts as soon as they are posted. You can find information on the time difference as well as a world time zone map on My Blog here.
Johnny sitting on a chair at Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun ("Almost Daily Itoi News") abbreviated as 'Hobonichi', the office of Itoi Shigesato. The chair was designed by Taro Okamoto.
Johnny sent this Tweet at around 11:30 p.m. EST Saturday, August 28th.
If you then go to the JW Art Project website you will find it has been updated. The home page contains information about the book along with a photo of a page from the book with an on ice picture not yet seen by the public. The team page contains a street shot photo of Johnny we have not seen yet, along with biographies in both English and Japanese of the team members involved in the project. The bio page contains one of the pictures we have been gifted with as a preview, as well as a biography of Johnny Weir in both English and Japanese. The info page contains the photo of Johnny in bed released the previous day along with information in both English and Japanese on the book, what countries it will ship to, how to contact Johnny Weir, and his management; as well as links to JWArtProject on Twitter, JW Art Project Twitpics, and You Tube behind the scenes videos.
Also on the same day we received an answer to the previous day's question of how old Ping is!
