Narita Inspected 成田インスペクテッド

Narita Inspected, the seal of approval slapped on scanned luggage at Tokyo’s Narita airport, places an x-ray focus on the capital’s graphic design community.Besides showcasing a comprehensive selection of amazing young hopefuls, their sometimes schizophrenic work samples are supplemented and contrasted with those extremes of Japanese society the locals tend to take for granted.As most of the contributors work from their economical, claustrophobic homes, often between bed, television and Playstation, glimpses of everyday madness and product overkill sneak into the designs which gain a generous touch of personality from these idiosyncratic living situations. Clean, purist traditionalism clashes with playful, trashy pictograms, unveiling a remarkably rich spectrum of vector and internet graphics, collages, games and cartoons.Compiled by Lopetz (Büro Destruct, Electronic Plastic), an avid lover of Japanese culture and computer games, Narita Inspected reflects the entire exotic variety of the scene’s genius in comprehensive work samples, self-portraits, interviews, biographies, pictures of work environments and everyday visual culture.With a variety of paper types, special packaging and 5-6 colour print throughout this rich, multi-faceted aesthetic texture is reflected in the book’s physical appearance and manages to successfully convey the decisive difference to traditional European design.