What does it mean to write? Writing is a very simple task one can do with only a pen and paper. And yet, there’s an incredible amount of power to it, such as expressing your feelings to someone, gathering your thoughts into one place, leaving behind a record of present events to look back on in the future . . .

We’ll be using the Hobonichi Techo 2019 release to take another look at the action of writing, pondering and discussing what makes it so fun and what makes it so mysterious.

In this special article, we’ve taken a closer look at 10 people who draw and write in their professional or personal lives, checking out their favorite writing tools and hearing all about their writing process. We hope you enjoy reading all about the wide variety of approaches to writing.

What does it mean to write?

vol.4

Nami Iijima

“By keeping everything written in a single notebook,
I can look back and see all the dishes I’ve already presented.”

Food Stylist Nami Iijima uses her notebook to make autumn-themed menus that form the basis for a radio show. It’s all handwritten and described in a way that leaves you imagining the delicious-looking spread on a dining table.

ProfileNami Iijima

Born in Tokyo.
Professional food stylist for TV commercials, advertisements, and movies.
Major works include food styling in the movies Kamome Diner, The Chef of the South Pole, The Great Passage, and Our Little Sister; the NHK TV series Gochisosan; and the television dramas Midnight Diner and Quartet.
Main published works include LIFE - Dinner for a Happy Nothing Special Day! and French Cuisine to Pair with Wine.
Original products include Kishu Plum Vinegar and a recipe booklet of dishes that use plum vinegar.

--: I heard from my coworkers that you’ve got beautiful handwriting. Would you mind showing us the kind of things you write in your daily notebook on a regular basis?

Iijima: This notebook contains the topics I talk about on a radio program I’m on. Right now I run a 5-minute corner on Shibuya Radio, where I introduce 8 dishes in each episode. I record 8 episodes in one sitting, so I’ve got a total of 64 dishes written down.

--: Wow, there are so many dishes packed into each spread! Everything looks delicious, and your handwriting is so nice. Are the dishes you introduce on the radio only written into your notebook, and not typed up on the computer?

Iijima: I take this notebook with me and read them directly from here. All I do is go into the studio and take 5 minutes to read the 8 dishes out loud. (Laughs) We don’t even meet about anything beforehand. The theme of my show (Nami Iijima’s Dinner) is about dishes I’m interested in lately and things I’d like to try, which can serve as a starting point for people trying to think of meal ideas. 5 minutes can seem like forever when you’re the only one talking.

--: 5 minutes does seem short, but I’m sure it feels a lot longer by yourself, even with a script. Not to mention you’re recording 8 episodes at once.

Iijima: I took the job thinking it would be simple enough if I was just reading recipes out loud, but it was harder than I thought. Since I had to buy myself some time to stretch to the full 5 minutes, after I go through the recipes I also read aloud a haiku suitable for the season.

--: Do you make a mental note of your menu for the radio show before writing it down?

Iijima: Sometimes I’ll write down things I was already thinking of, and other times I’ll get inspiration from books about food dishes. I usually just write things down as I think of them, but in order to avoid having days with similar menus, I space things out across the 8 days covered by the program. By keeping all my topics for the radio program written in my notebook, I can look back and see all the dishes I’ve already presented.

--: It’s really nice reading through your notes and seeing the careful explanations about the seasonal dishes you write out one by one. Where do you take notes before writing these out as transcripts for the radio show?

Iijima: I’ll jot down a menu that pops into my mind — or when I’m walking around town and see a menu board out on the street in front of a pub or something, I’ll jot it down in my smartphone and use it as a reference for my own menu later. My radio show is based on dishes that are in season, but supermarkets today sell any kind of food any time of year. So I’ll also include ingredients that are still available at the supermarket.

--: I suppose it wouldn’t look as good on a dining table if all 8 dishes in the episode use the same ingredients. By the way, the ballpoint pen you write with has a pretty rare design, with that zebra pattern.

Iijima: I bought this pen from a stationery shop in Ginza called Gojuon. They had a collaboration with the EnerGel pen by Pentel and made this original design for the pen body. Gojuon is a very tiny place that has just enough room to stand in, but they’ve got a lot of original products, and I often attend events they host.

--: Even just changing the body design on a ballpoint pen can really change how personalized it feels. Your fountain-pen-shaped pen case is cute too! I can tell you like stationery.

Iijima: Yeah, I bought this pen case at Gojuon too. I love picking out stationery. When I go to stationery stores like Tokyu Hands, I usually get ahead of myself and buy too much. Lately I’ve been buying too many of the colored Pentel “Art Brush” pens. I also buy those in bundles as souvenirs for people outside of Japan. They come in many colors, and people are always delighted to receive them.

--: Do you find yourself using brush pens often?

Iijima: I really like brush pens. I run a haiku club and use brush pens for poems I’ve specially chosen. I also use them on New Year’s greeting cards, but first practice with them on my own. I use the Hobonichi ballpoint pen a lot, too, since it’s easy to write with, but if I showed it here it would seem like I did that on purpose. (Laughs)

--: Oh, well everyone knows your relationship with Hobonichi, so there’s nothing to be worried about. (Laughs) Thank you!

(Next time we’ll be talking with Shinsuke Yoshitake.)

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