Features
The Don Magazine Features is an archive of writing drawn from across the magazine’s issues — a place to dip in and spend some time. Take a look at the fiction, poetry, essays, and interviews that have defined Don so far. You might revisit a favorite piece or come across something you missed the first time.
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Magazine Issues
On Getting The Good Word Out There (And Other Stories)
Back in the day, if you wanted a story to be distributed, you kinda had to tell it, with your mouth or your hands. Then however came the clay tablet; the scroll; the codex; the printing press; the paperback; the publishing house; the PDF. When it comes to the creation and dissemination of written material, what was under the purview of a literate few is now something the individual can achieve on their own with the right knowledge, software, and printer. Or the right notebook even. Whether bestseller or humble zine, the word that has emerged to handle this process, ‘publishing’, is an umbrella term of activities ranging from editing and design to printing and marketing. And it is also so much more.
Interview With An Artist
The art.
You can’t take a picture of this, it’s already gone.
KN: I remember how it all started. In college, you did this project called Deadly Addiction, right? Most of your friends modeled for you, and you asked them to ‘look dead’ wearing glamorous outfits. It was quite a sight! How did you come up with that idea? Or how does one come up with ideas for projects like that?
Future Visionaries in Osaka
Kimono & Chibby wear Mexican wrestler masks. What's that about?
A lot of people ask me that actually. I could just say "it's a look isn't it?" But the look of the characters developed from live masked performances by the Amsterdam band The Doppelgangers. The live costume design started in quite a haphazard way with what was to hand, and was then honed over time. The original masks came from Harajuku, the wig was given to us by a drag queen, Kimono’s dress was from Waterlooplein market in Amsterdam.
A Society You Don’t Need To Mask For
You cannot engage with Japanese culture without encountering some kind of mask. This goes beyond discussions of battling COVID and allergies; be it the 14th or the 21st century, masks are everywhere. Whether for theatre like Noh masks, rituals like fox masks, protective gear (防具) in Kendo, or for fighting the villain of the week as Ultraman does; the variations of masks are numerous, and the roles they hold diverse. Now, this East Asian archipelago has one more to add its collection: the Danbol Mask, styled from the Japanese word for cardboard (段ボール). And the man behind this? Yoshikazu Inoue (井上嘉和).
Ayu Okakita
Ayu Okakita: born in Fukuoka, raised in Osaka, sculpted in the US and UK. While her music journey technically started in Japan, it was in the US on a high school exchange program that she found her voice, writing lyrics and putting vocal melodies to them to combat homesickness. “I love singing. [The voice is] a very raw instrument.” Raw is an understatement however. Since that time in Indiana, this instrument of hers has undergone growth and fine-tuning. As a result, her music style is surreal, ethereal, calming, heartbreaking.