Poster for the Asian Music Festival (2003)

Client: The Agency for Cultural Affairs/The Japan Federation of Composers Inc.

This is a poster for a music festival encompassing all genres of Asian music, "The Asian Music Festival (AMF) 2003 in Tokyo," held in the country's capital in the Fall of 2003.

Images of gold leaves and the color of black lacquer (i.e., Japan) were combined in order for the visitors from Asia to sense the "Japaneseness" ("NIPPON=Japan").

A calligraphed letter "M" stands for both music and the rugged mountains in Japan, expressing the view of nature held by the Japanese people. Many abbreviated images were used as graphic elements, reminding viewers of shoji screens or Japanese checkers patterns, underscoring that the event was held in Japan. The slightly narrow poster is made to look like a kakejiku, or Japanese scroll painting.

The letter "o" in "Tokyo" is actually the AMF logo, made up of many letter A's, as in Asia. Takahashi designed the logo in the image of an "Asian sun" emitting bright lights.