Quick question! What do Princess Mononoke, Fantastic Children or the Girl Who Leapt Through Time have in common?

Well, they’re all films that Yamamoto Nizo has worked upon as an Art Director. And right now, there’s a special exhibition at the Fukuoka Asia Art Museum called The World of Yamamoto Nizo: Master of Japanese Animation (link actually leads to an English page, so go click and read if you’re interested)!

On Monday night, my friend Kaori invited me to go to the exhibition with her on Tuesday, and I’m so thankful that she invited me!

Outside the Ticketing Booth.

Tickets were 1200 yen for us (adults). They’re a little cheaper for school-going children, but I’ve forgotten the price ^^;

Outside the exhibition area, they had a small photo-taking spot!

It’s basically a small woods like place that looks really really like the setting of Princess Mononoke.

Me and Kaori <3 Thanks for giving me permission!

The exhibition itself was really good! They had over 200 pieces of Yamamoto Nizo’s works on display. What I noticed was that his depictions of light are really accurate (ok, I guess all good artists are like that, but this is the first time I noticed!)

In addition to the artworks, there were two places where they showed videos – one video where he was teaching a group of children in Nagasaki how to paint (lucky kids!) and another where he was painting a picture and talking about how he painted.

What I found interesting was that he’s worked on a variety of projects. Apart from the uberfamous Ghibli movies (and non-Ghibli films and animes), he’s also created two apps, drawn posters for his hometown, and for the March 11 earthquake.

One of his apps is called 歩き屋フリルとチョコレートきしだん (arukiya furiru to chocore-to kishidan – Frill and the Chocolate Knights), which is a picture book. It looks gorgeous!

Another app is a Four Seasons app, and part of the proceeds to go charity (I can’t find a video for it, though it is mentioned in his website).

The last part was the obligatory gift store, and uncharacteristically, I bought a lot of things (mostly postcards and two prints).

One of them is for my friend, but the rest will be given away at my birthday party this year 😀 Yup, I’m making preparations that early!

If you’re interested in finding out more about him, he has a website. It’s all in Japanese, but you can click around and admire his beautiful pictures 😀