Research & Works
Taro Igarashi Laboratory, Tohoku University

Windows on Manga

©HASEGAWA MACHIKO ART MUSEUM

Manga, or Japanese comics, reflect the daily lives of the people. For Windowology, they are valuable materials for understanding the relationship between people and windows. One Windowology project extracted every scene with a window, and classified the activities depicted in them, from three Japanese manga series that were popular throughout Japan after WWII. Shown here are 8 window-related episodes from Japan’s most famous yon-koma manga (four-cell comic strip), Sazae-san. The series revolves around a multi-generational household in Tokyo. It appeared in newspapers from 1946 to 1974, and it contains many scenes that induce nostalgia among Japanese people today.

©HASEGAWA MACHIKO ART MUSEUM, ©JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles
©HASEGAWA MACHIKO ART MUSEUM, ©JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles
©HASEGAWA MACHIKO ART MUSEUM, ©JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles
©HASEGAWA MACHIKO ART MUSEUM, ©JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles
©HASEGAWA MACHIKO ART MUSEUM, ©JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles
©HASEGAWA MACHIKO ART MUSEUM, ©JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles
©HASEGAWA MACHIKO ART MUSEUM, ©JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles

Igarashi Taro Professor, Tohoku University / Architectural Historian and Critic / General Supervisor of Windowology / Director of Windowology Exhibition

Born 1967 in Paris, France. Graduated from the architecture department at the University of Tokyo in 1990. Completed a masterʼs at the university in 1992. Doctor of Engineering. Professor at Tohoku University. Art director of the Aichi Triennale 2013. Commissioner of the Japan Pavilion at the 11th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale. Received the Newcomerʼs Award of the 64th Art Prize of the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Publications include Hisaichi o arukinagara kangaeta koto [Thoughts from Walking the Disaster Area*] (Misuzu Shobo), Mado e : Shakai to bunka o utsushidasu mono [Towards Windows : Reflectors of Society and Culture*] (Kensetsutsushin Shimbun), Mado to kenchiku no kakugengaku [The Remarks of a Window and Architecture] (Film Art), among many others.