but again, if you can, get it at Kinokuniya, they have shops all over the world, for photography, art, illustration and graphic design books, it is truly fantastic.
The first edition is a charity book and it is nearly sold out (a few boxes if that) I am super grateful to everyone who bought it.
The second edition is not a new book, but it is larger, around 50 more photos, 240 pages, more profiles, more pages, hardcover, stitched back, larger format and very high grade paper from sustainable sources. There are over 250 photos of kokeshi in the book.
If you like cute stuff, rural travel, artisan made items, or Japanese culture, please pick it up!
Kokeshi dolls are an old school kind of cute, but some of the artisans really make OTT kawaii styles now to fit with contemporary clientele -- there is a kokeshi boom at the moment with young, creative type females, and galleries like PARCO and Claska held kokeshi shows recently, and there are a bunch of events in Koenji periodically as well. Many of my interviewees for the Kawaii, Japan's Culture of Cute mentioned them in their interviews as having the same aesthetic sensibilities as contemporary kawaii design.
