Written and drawn – and designed – by the Italian artist, Igort (translated into English by Jamie RIchards) and printed in Italy, Japanese Notebooks is a sumptuous visual feast.  It is also, of course, much more.  It is:  an investigation of the personal forces that drive artists to create in general and to pursue the particular paths they do; an exploration of how their imaginations come to be possessed by specific images; a memoir of one particular artist's journey; and much else.  Igort is one of the most accomplished comics makers currently working, and Japanese Notebooks is likely his most personal work yet, one that is apt to hold a particular appeal to other comics makers, as these two testimonials attest:  

"As a graphic novelist, I obviously can't get enough of books about what it feels like to be a cartoonist, and this is a high point in that pantheon.  Igort's memoir is a rich, complicated meditation on art, cultural infatuation and the seen versus the remembered.  All told in a collage of words, images, diagrams, photographs, history, ideas, feelings – and most surprisingly – of conflict."  – Chris Ware

"With evident enthusiasm, Japanese Notebooks describes an artist's journey to Japan, from Igort's arrival in 1991 with the preconceptions of an outsider to his discoveries both artistic and personal over many return encounters." – David Mazzucchelli