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"Following van Gogh" is an art movie (documentary) of Dutch photographer and filmmaker Vincent van de Wijngaard, tracing all locations where van Gogh worked and lived during his short and restless life. Because van Gogh's most cherished possessions were his 400 Japanese prints, we thought that the documentary would never be finished without travelling along Hiroshige's Tokaido route, from Tokyo to Kyoto.

That's why we are taking care of the production in Japan. There is no blue without yellow and orange.

Premiere in October 2010!

http://vangogh.trainspot.jp/

We have been drinking for 48 hours, but now we go for a weekend + 1 day. From 10 till 12 September, we are organizing -for the first time- the Belgian Beer Weekend Tokyo at Roppongi Hills Arena. Join us with 15,000 other beer lovers and feel Brussels in Tokyo.

www.belgianbeerweekend.jp

From 21 May till 12 June 2010, thesmallestbarintheworld.com opens its door again!

All about - click here
Don't miss it - click here

www.thesmallestbarintheworld.com

Sometimes you need to look back and especially those spring Sunday afternoons are great moments to pause. We're not getting emotional, but just realized we already made 20 video projects over the past 3 years...

The great things about our videos are strangely twofold. First of all, there is our chief video producer, Chris Fox, and secondly we always exceed the budget (...but unfortunately don't get paid more).

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's our pleasure to reveal our newest kid on the block: "the EURO, united in diversity". Sounds like darn boring, but we never give up! Inspired by the Matrix, we started to love the EURO.

United in diversity.... after all this is trainspot. Great Sunday afternoon.

Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a technique for compositing two images or frames together in which a color from one image is removed (or made transparent), revealing another image behind it. This technique is also referred to as color keying, greenscreen, and bluescreen.

Anyway...., all filming we did for the EURO video was done in front of a green screen and the background was then replaced by alternate computer graphics. We didn't have the budget to build the studio....

To put the entire story into perspective; NHK, or Japan's national public broadcasting organization, was founded in 1926, modeled on the BBC radio company of the UK. NHK started general TV in 1950 and its educational TV in 1959. It aired its first color television broadcast in 1960.

50 years later, they knocked on our door to give NHK Enterprises, the business arm of NHK, a new image abroad on the occasion of MIPTV in Cannes.

Although it all started with the single request to make an advertisement, we ended up developing a concept built around "Your best view on Japan". Because the slogan is not very daring (after all it's Japanese national TV...), we decided to create subtle images of mismatches using the Japanese stereotypes. We trust you understand the underlying message.....

Works: advertisement, logo, invitations, envelopes, corporate flyer, folder

Normally, we don't announce projects before they are finished, but "Following Van Gogh", the documentary - photo exhibition - photo book, is different.

"Following Van Gogh" is a great art project of Dutch documentary photographer Vincent van de Wijngaard. It's a contemporary journey, an exploration of Van Gogh’s way through Europe — crossing 26 locations in 4 countries; completed by his dream journey in Japan. "Following Van Gogh" gives a very unique and remarkable present-day view on the painter's life, without actually showing his famous work. A twisted way to picture a twisted mind.

More info: vangogh.trainspot.jp

And yes, don't hesitate to contact us if you would like to support this project.

After 2 months of ex- and intensive reforming, we can put the drills, screwdrivers, saws, paint brushes, pincers away (... for a while)! Trainspot factory opened its doors on 25 March in the presence of 150 great guests. Alea iacta est, Rome wasn't built in a day.

Don't tell us you haven't been dreaming of your very own beer bottle with your very own label... Well, Vedett (and trainspot) makes dreams come true!

From now on you can order in Japan your very own personal Vedett beer crate, with your very own customized labels! Definitely, it's party time as never before! To make your dreams come true even faster, you can place all your orders online at www.vedett.jp and, -after all this is Japan-, get your personal delivery at your Japanese door in only 5 to 9 days!

Opening a beer bottle has never been so much fun! Trainspot has been working for the great Vedett since September 08 (...just to remind you). What's next?

In 2009 we already said that 2010 would be the year of reform....

Well, at trainspot we take the bull by the horns, and decided to reform our office. Not the one in upscale posh Mita, but our new one in downtown thriving Asakusabashi. We see it big and and didn't want to have just a floor, but all floors, an entire building; trainspotfactory!

trainspotfactory is our very own sweatshop, hideaway, playground, crib, nerve centre, cinema, toolshop, cafeteria, warehouse, studio and headquarters in Tokyo since February 2010. Becoming a new landmark in Tokyo!

www.trainspotfactory.jp
Also available on twitter, facebook and your local bookstore

Over the past years we have collaborated with great photographers and we wanted to take their work in our website. After all, photography communicates a lot. 
The background, or actually foreground images of the site are selected by our "resident photographers" and will be changed regularly to make the site also more interesting for our frequent visitors (yes, we do care about you).

Current images by Bernard Languillier; selection of his photography about Tokyo.

Bernard is a Belgian, born in the early seventies, living in Japan for over a decade. As long as we have known Bernard, we've seen him more often on a Japanese mountain trail than in urban forest Tokyo. No wonder his photography includes some great landscapes of a seemingly forgotten Japan. Nevertheless the images we haven choosen here are all about bustling Tokyo and its nightly brightness! The other side of mountaineer photographer Bernard we didn't know about. Bernard has worked with trainspot for old Embassy and some private projects.

All images © Bernard Languillier

www.flickr.com/photos/bernardlanguillier
www.light-of-earths.com
bernard@light-of-earths.com

2010 will be the year of reform. After all, in 2007 we’ve been creating, 2008 building and 2009 shaping.
Enjoy it all!

Almost 2 years ago we were challenged to rebrand H&R Consultants KK. This group company, a daughter of Oak Lawn Marketing Inc., started in Japan in 1993 and has been expanding its services and daughter companies over the years. With 6 different brand names and complementary services, we got the task to develop a strong group identity!

Well, it took us about 18 months to work out a completely new identity and communication strategy. Because this rebranding went horizontal and vertical throughout the entire company, we had to rethink everything; reflecting a transparent corporate structure and integration of different complementary service lines. Logos, colors, font, images, websites, communication guidelines, ads, catch phrases, one-pagers, business cards, letterheads, fax templates, email footers, folders, envelopes, office signage; all has become "brand" new!

H&R Group is a leading provider of relocation and real estate services in Japan. Especially the real estate market being extremely competitive in Tokyo, we were determinded to develop a "different" branding for the H&R Group to stand out from the crowd!

www.morethanrelo.com

An encyclopedia is a comprehensive written compendium holding information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge... At trainspot we don't claim to master all branches of knowledge, but we have mastered "Nederland in Japan" for 2 years. From the very start of "Nederland in Japan" we have opted for a continuous print campaign because; -and therefore some might call us old-school marketers-; we still believe strongly in print as a communication & promotion tool. Over the past 2 years of "Nederland in Japan", we have made 4 book(lets); the last one giving an overview of 2 years celebrations.

To make it all a little special again, we also made a collector's box to... collect the 4 booklets, put them on the shelf next to your Encyclopedia Brittanica, and look back after 10 years to say... "it was good".

Trainspot is into movies. Harry Potter, Brad Pitt and Chris Fox, we all know them very well. Now, our latest challenge was to make a video for "Nederland in Japan",... without video footage available. Uhm..!?! Well, as concept marketers, we took the last booklet we made for the Dutch and thanks to our army of engineers at the trainspot studios under the great leadership of Chris Fox, we canned a video book or a book video or... whatever. The Oscar nomination for best foreign motion picture film, is in reach. The Academy knows Harry, Brad and Chris, we know them, so the Academy might know us. Shalom.