Reminder Rabbit
A friend of mine living in the United States ordered a rabbit hoodie for me at T-shirt Trinity during her temporary visit to Japan. She later sent me two photos of herself wearing it, which made me incredibly happy.
In one photo, she’s inside a San Francisco cable car, showing off the print by turning her back to the camera. In the other, she’s standing at the cable car’s boarding platform, posing with the cityscape behind her while displaying the design.
She’s wearing it in oatmeal color, size S. The print spans the entire back in a bold size, yet the line art style keeps it looking light and uncluttered. Seeing the hoodie actually worn makes it so easy to grasp the overall silhouette, print placement, and quality all at once — incredibly helpful.
The design features a simple silhouette that’s instantly recognizable as a rabbit even from a distance, filled with intricate motifs of plants, flowers, and a clock. The closer you look, the more details you discover. Having my friend walk around with this large print on her back is the best kind of advertisement I could ask for — I’m truly grateful.
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I began creating graphic designs for T-shirts and hoodies around 1999. Back then, my designs had a completely different feel from today’s rabbit, and print-on-demand didn’t exist — everything was sold in physical stores. That meant I could hold every design in my hands as a sample, check the print quality, and make corrections if needed.
Print-on-demand, by contrast, requires no inventory, making it easy to add new designs freely. However, it’s difficult to check the finished product for every design and every item, and I sometimes feel a sense of responsibility for not being able to verify everything. Even so, I occasionally order items myself to check the print quality, and I make a point of wearing my own designs almost every day.
Currently, I create a wide variety of items based on my original oil paintings, line drawings, and photographs, sold through T-shirt Trinity in Japan and Redbubble internationally.
As my style has evolved over the years, the designs in my shop lack a unified aesthetic. I plan to reorganize and make things easier to browse, though it’s likely to take some time. In the meantime, I’d love for you to have a look around whenever you get the chance.
