iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 21h

My mentor has been going through a rough year, so I visited Morioka Hachimangu Shrine to pray for their good health and well-being.

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Reposted by Takuo Matsuzawa

Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Raden Ducks

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

A colorful ceramic panel made by my aunt.

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Reposted by Takuo Matsuzawa

Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

A chinkin piece depicting Captain Ahab by chinkin artist Kasuga. Simply beautiful. Chinkin involves carving directly into the urushi surface, so there is very little room for error. We hoped to apply this design to a pen, but discovered that working on such a curved surface would be very difficult.

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I want to explore how urushi art, especially maki-e, can connect with cultures around the world and create forms of expression we have never seen before. I feel the possibilities are almost limitless. The world is vast.

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

A special fountain pen we made to order, featuring a finely textured surface.

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I heard about a “kintsugi hairbrush,” so I looked it up. Turns out the kintsugi pattern is just printed on the paper packaging. Printing it on the brush handle would already be disappointing, but reducing kintsugi to a decorative motif on the packaging is something else.

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I bought a new English–Japanese dictionary📚️ for exam prep—the latest edition, since I’m allowed to bring one into the exam. Out of curiosity, I looked up “japan.” It still lists “lacquer” and “lacquerware” as noun meanings, and “to lacquer” as a verb. Really? People still use “japan” this way?

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Reposted by Takuo Matsuzawa

Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

This is another custom fountain pen commissioned by a client, featuring a different cat. Based on a Montblanc pen, we finished it in a blue-green urushi.

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

This is another custom fountain pen commissioned by a client, featuring a different cat. Based on a Montblanc pen, we finished it in a blue-green urushi.

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Reposted by Takuo Matsuzawa

Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

cat paw prints

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Reposted by Takuo Matsuzawa

Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

The full view of a custom-made fountain pen featuring black cats. #fountainpen #Matsuzawa #cat

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

The full view of a custom-made fountain pen featuring black cats. #fountainpen #Matsuzawa #cat

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Reposted by Takuo Matsuzawa

Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

Custom urushi-lacquered chopsticks featuring a hand-drawn JapanTimes logo. These are truly one-of-a-kind🥢

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The grip section of the Phoenix fountain pen is scattered with delicate raden (mother-of-pearl) inlay. #fountainpen #Matsuzawa

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The Morioka Autumn Festival is now in full swing. Beautifully decorated dashi — traditional Japanese festival floats, each representing a different neighborhood — parade through the streets of Morioka. They are especially beautiful at night, illuminated by countless lanterns.

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Reposted by Takuo Matsuzawa

Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

For this fountain pen, our workshop drew inspiration from Utagawa Toyokuni’s woodblock print of the kabuki actor Onoe Kikugorō.

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Reposted by Takuo Matsuzawa

Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

A fountain pen decorated in chinkin by chinkin artist Tomoko Kasuga. The fern motif has long been considered auspicious in Japan, associated with vitality, growth, and enduring prosperity. In chinkin, the design is carefully incised into the urushi surface,

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

The chinkin work on this fountain pen was created by Kasuga-san. It was made possible by her exceptional skill and precision. Because chinkin involves engraving directly into the urushi surface, there is virtually no room for error. youtu.be/gmOFEuzVfTQ?... #fountainpen #Matsuzawa #Chinkin

youtu.be

沈金工程１点彫り

YouTube video by Yuko K

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

When I visited Central Park, they happened to be showing West Side Story at an outdoor movie screening. I was kind of hoping for The Shining, though😅

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

A civic group in Morioka has proposed cutting down trees to make the stone walls of Iwate Park more visible, even suggesting that the park should be more like Central Park in New York — a comparison that feels a little presumptuous to me.

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

This urushi-lacquered ornament was excavated from the Karinba archaeological site in Hokkaido and is believed to date back around 3,000 years. The fact that urushi craftsmanship has endured to the present, with essential techniques still recognizable today, is the very essence of Japanese tradition.

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Working on the preliminary design for a maki-e fountain pen in Adobe Illustrator.

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Reposted by Takuo Matsuzawa

The Japan Times @japantimes.co.jp · 11/09/2026

Japan is choosing a new Suica mascot, and the internet has already picked its favorite: "B," a deeply unsettling purple rabbit. But can online enthusiasm translate into a real-world election win?

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The Suica mascot campaign is getting weird … and wonderful

Japan’s online masses have rallied around a purple rabbit, raising questions about who really decides Suica’s future.

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Everyone’s talking about the new iPhone, and I’m still here happily using my iPhone 7. It works fine.

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

The “Igirisu Coast” (“English Coast”) was named by Kenji Miyazawa. He named this riverbank in Hanamaki, Iwate, because its pale mudstone reminded him of the white cliffs of Dover. The river was high today, so unfortunately most of the layers were hidden underwater.

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Reposted by Takuo Matsuzawa

Ted Herman @tedherman.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Often when I look at a word in English I can see the history, a part of the word from French, Latin, or Greek, relating to more general, physical, or mythical roots. Good dictionaries hint at these things with etymology.

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

For this fountain pen, our workshop drew inspiration from Utagawa Toyokuni’s woodblock print of the kabuki actor Onoe Kikugorō.

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I’ve always loved the old character 藝 (gei), and for me, kōgei — Japanese craft — somehow feels more fitting when written 工藝 rather than the modern 工芸.

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Reposted by Takuo Matsuzawa

Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

A detail from a newly completed custom fountain pen.

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

A detail from a newly completed custom fountain pen.

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

「豊臣兄弟！」でおかしな金継ぎが出たと聞いて、さきほど再放送を見てみました。たしかにこれは笑千利休が麦漆で茶碗を接着したかと思ったらその直後にもう茶をたてている。利休、漆の硬化時間という概念を超越していました。簡易金継ぎ以上の速さで、さすが天下の茶人。客を待たせない笑

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Breaking bread: Onigiri vies to be West's workaday lunch alternative asia.nikkei.com/spotlight/bi... $4.30 for a single onigiri? 🍙 That’s hard to believe. It really brings home just how weak the Japanese yen has become.

asia.nikkei.com

Breaking bread: Onigiri vies to be West's workaday lunch alternative

Companies pitch Americans and Europeans on Japanese rice balls as a go-to snack

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Reposted by Takuo Matsuzawa

Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

We created a tortoiseshell-like pattern in urushi on a Pelikan demonstrator M205. I’m calling this finish “Bekkō-nuri” — a tortoiseshell-inspired urushi technique. #fountainpen #matsuzawa

We created a tortoiseshell-like pattern in urushi on a Pelikan demonstrator. I’m calling this finish “Bekkō-nuri” — a tortoiseshell-inspired urushi technique.

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

We created a tortoiseshell-like pattern in urushi on a Pelikan demonstrator M205. I’m calling this finish “Bekkō-nuri” — a tortoiseshell-inspired urushi technique. #fountainpen #matsuzawa

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

I watched a fascinating NHK documentary about the digital restoration of the murals in the Kondō, or Golden Hall, of Hōryūji Temple. Painted some 1,350 years ago, they are regarded as masterpieces of early East Asian Buddhist art.

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Reposted by Takuo Matsuzawa

The Japan Times @japantimes.co.jp · 29/08/2026

The power of the "pen-pineapple-apple-pen": More than just a viral hit, Pikotaro's "PPAP" marked a shift in how Japanese artists connected with audiences around the world. 👉 ebx.sh/AdpIMn

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Reposted by Takuo Matsuzawa

The Japan Times @japantimes.co.jp · 30/08/2026

Japan has issued rain warnings for three cities in Fukui Prefecture, saying the risk of landslides and flash floods is increasing. 👉 ebx.sh/ZT7Gx0

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Torrential rain is currently hitting Ishikawa and Toyama prefectures, and emergency warnings are in effect. The Noto Peninsula has once again been struck by disaster. I have no words.

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Heavy Rain Batters Ishikawa’s Noto Region, Triggering Highest Alert, Flooding japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/gene...

japannews.yomiuri.co.jp

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Reposted by Takuo Matsuzawa

The Japan Times @japantimes.co.jp · 26/08/2026

Japan's higher summer temperatures are fueling an increase of sudden torrential rain similar to that experienced by Chiba Prefecture in early August.

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Japan’s hotter summers trigger heavier rainfall, too

The torrential rain experienced by Chiba Prefecture earlier this month was one example of extreme precipitation events caused by warming.

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

I went to Aomori today. On the way, I stopped by Lake Towada to pay my respects to a distant relative of mine, Sadayuki Wainai—an aquaculture pioneer who, after many years of struggle, succeeded in establishing kokanee salmon farming in the lake.

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Takuo Matsuzawa @matsuzawa.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

The Japanese horse chestnut trees along Uchimaru in central Morioka. The well-known sign has now been put up as well.

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