Shortly after the Arvika Festival, I traveled to Tokyo, Japan. The idea came about when Danielle Del Gaiso—an involuntary and unexpected Mormon fugitive from Chile—suggested that we explore the mysterious, expensive, and secret “A Bathing Ape” stores in Harajuku, Shibuya. Danielle was the one who had first recommended books like Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, Karin Boye’s Kallocain, and the film Lost Highway by David Lynch. When my art director, Jörgen, heard about our plans, he insisted on joining us, probably thinking we wouldn’t manage the futuristic confusion of Japan on our own.
While in Tokyo, we stayed at a Kimi Ryokan motel. We did a lot of shopping—IDEA design magazines, The Fruits street fashion chronicles, a Japanese Monopoly game, the massive Akira manga volumes, and several bizarre, absurd children’s books about, for example, the life cycle of conscious poop.
We also bought some cute Bemaní games at the massive Hello Kitty department store. After that, I purchased a PlayStation 2 before it was released in Sweden, and the rest of the world and fanatically played Tekken 3 in the open area at the Ryokan. I remember an elderly Japanese lady who often pointed at me, laughing, and exclaimed: “Big baby! Big baby! Ha ha ha!”—an event that my fellow travelers often reminded me of afterward.
My trip companions included Jörgen, the lead art director at Lightyears Integral Communications—known for being featured on the cover of Cap & Design and somewhat famous for his pioneering work in web design and his Pixy Books series. After that, David Lindberg, who is now an architect but was then juggling roles at Acne, focusing on Game Boy application development and sound synthesis; and, as I said before, Danielle Del Gaiso—the unexpected Chilean Mormon fugitive; extreme book- and movie-enthusiast, cultural nerd with a heart of gold.
I had received some stickers labeled “ASINC” (AttitudeWhore Sthlm Inc.) from two art directors in Stockholm who wanted me to join their design collective. They had asked me to populate Tokyo with these stickers and take inspiring pictures of them. I remember it was around 3:30 in the morning when I went up to the rooftop, where the sky was already lit by the sunrise. I stuck one of the stickers on a large metal cover, capturing the moment with my dad’s Canon SLR camera. Smoke rose from the chimneys of nearby buildings. I felt like a subversive character in a futuristic Japanese anime—kind of like the kids in Tekkon Kinkreet.
On our way home at the airport, the other David noticed a poster from a large Japanese airline, accompanied with the slogan: “We Support Your Dream,” which he found amusing, commenting: “Chill!” Inspired by this, I decided to use the tagline on my first self-made business cards, which I created and printed shortly afterward: Monster New Media: “We Support Your Dream.”