明けましておめでとうございます Akemashite omedetōgozaimasu!

PROJECT NIHON extends a very Happy New Year to all of our friends! We also wish to extend a resounding THANK YOU for your support in making our international, collaborative project possible.

PROJECT NIHON started fundraising exactly a year ago -- and look at where we are now. In 2010 we fund raised over $10,000 of support for making this trip, this art exhibition, this cultural exchange, and this experimental documentary a reality. We had overwhelming success in completing our project in Japan (only missing one ferry ride is not bad!) and there have been pretty remarkable developments since our return home.

We've received newspaper press from our hometown in Minnesota, our trailer was screened in a hip Bushwick warehouse last moth to robust audience cheers, and we are in conversation with NYC's largest Japanese bookstore emporium about launched our exhibition catalog and DVD at their store across the street from Bryant Park / 42nd Street in Manhattan -- fingers crossed!

That said: What a year! We celebrate these milestones along with you!

As you know, we are currently editing the documentary feature film. If you didn't get the message yet: WE FINISHED THE TRAILER AND IT'S ONLINE, JUST FOR YOU!
Please check it out: http://projectnihon.com/trailer.htm
As you'll see, the film is really coming along.

We are so grateful to you: our backers, our friends, our supporters.
Which leads us to....
The best news of 2011?
Our gifts of thanks to you will be fulfilled this year -- the delivery of backer rewards and the completion of the art catalog AND the PN documentary. We are eager to finish, to continue doing nothing but the highest quality work, and to be poised to share our creative product with you and the world.

Please stay tuned for a bright year ahead!

Best wishes to you and yours on this eve of fresh starts and endless possibilities,

Meghan (artist) and Michael (filmmaker)
PROJECT NIHON / sustainable art travel
Brooklyn, NY

Dear Friends,

We're very pleased to announce that White Bear Press, the local newspaper from our hometown of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, just published PROJECT NIHON's first newspaper interview.

If you're in Minnesota, you can find our interview on page 3a of yesterday's paper.

If you're anywhere else in the world, you can find our interview here:
http://presspubs.com/articles/2010/06/22/white_bear_press/news/doc4c212fcf1224d418002005.txt

We hope you enjoy the article and we'd love to have your feedback and comments on the Press Publications page. Your brief commentary on why you sponsored this project is an incredible way to continue the transnational artistic dialogue!

Thank you for your ongoing support and we look forward to having more exciting updates before the summer is through.

All our best,

Meghan + Michael
PROJECT NIHON / sustainable art travel

http://projectnihon.com

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your generous support of PROJECT NIHON / sustainable art travels. What a treat it has been to have you all on the adventure with us these past few months!

We are finally re-assimilating to Brooklyn life and are looking forward to getting you a copy of the documentary as soon as possible. Since arrival we have been diligently transcoding over 80 hours of footage... which is not just a lot, but A TON, of footage to turn into editable video.

Great news? We wrapped transcoding last weekend! We're reading to start editing!!

Even greater news? Since we certainly didn't skimp on the documenting part of the trip, we're excited to be in a position to reconsider if the film will be feature length or not! Either way, all good things.

That said, now the exciting and challenging process of sifting through these 80 hours and constructing a beautiful and compelling documentary can take place. We are thrilled to bring it all together.

With crossed fingers, we hope to have a rough cut ready for viewing by August. We will be sending out special backer editions shortly thereafter, as soon as they are ready.

Thank you for sticking with us and please continue to follow the journey as it evolves on our Facebook page. We're well aware that 4, 5, 6 months is a long time to wait for a reward, so we plan to continue posting images, short clips, and travel journal entries on FB over the summer until we have a more refined product to share with you all.

You can follow us here:
http://facebook.com/projectnihon

Again, we really can't thank you enough.
If it wasn't for your support, Project Nihon would still be a proposal. THANK YOU for making this a reality. Domo arigato gozaimasu!

All our best,
Meghan + Michael

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NOTE: update includes images shot by Tokyo-based photographer KUMIKO SUZUKI, offering a sneak peak at Day 2 of the Tokyo exhibition - the Artist Talk + Workshop Day!

Special thanks to Kumiko for generously donating her time and photographic eye to Project Nihon.

I fear exhausting your enthusiasm if I keep posting to-the-minute-updates, so please know that this will be the last one for a while!!

PROJECT NIHON / sustainable art travel is pleased to announce the grand total raised through 165 individual backers and one small business (go Words!!) via our Kickstarter fund-raising campaign is...............$10,187.00 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Simply astounding.

As mentioned in a past update, one really cannot express gratitude enough for this level of magnanimity (especially when coupled with your incredible rah-rah emails, in-person smiles, high-fives and "you can do it" bear hugs).

But we're gonna try.

Our gratitude will take shape in, really, the best and only way possible:
focusing on making PROJECT NIHON an experimental, sustainable art + film project of unprecedented creative beauty. We're on it. And, well, given that it's unprecedented, we have a pretty wonderful amount of space to carve our own path in. Truly, what artists could wish for anything more than the complete freedom to pursue their vision of beauty exactly as they see fit? :)

You've given us the best gift possible. And we can't wait to share the sustainable art travel with you.

THANK YOU.

Humbled, moved, and completely thrilled to get going on the project,
Your friends,
Meghan and Michael

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PROJECT NIHON / sustainable art travel
is funded in part by the generous support of the following individuals and small businesses:

Words, Maplewood's Bookstore / Ellen and Jonah Zimiles / Jack Hoge (台北市) / Grandpa Ed / Carol Barash / Ellen C. Weiman / ANNE DAIGLER / Lauren A. / Jaime Calder / Morgan Geisert / Kandace Colwell / Simon Morr / Lee Quinby / Dmitriy Gelfand & Katya Balan / Shelley Kohler / Emily Nonouchi / Erin Frank / Jeannine Bardo / Greg Williams / Michelle Lindo / Trevre Andrews / fstar / Keith Monda / Katherine Tilton / Gail Flanery / Linda Cherek / Matt Zabka / Tom & Kathleen Keane / Alea Toussaint / Michaela / Corinna Ranweiler / John Smith / Alina Selezneva / Olimpia Cermasi / Kyle Stephens / Oren Moverman / Shawn Gritzmacher / TC Frank / Jane Larson / Allen Majkrzak / Agnes Krysinska / Alex Boyd / Howard Kaden / Anna Bacsik / Tim Frank / Marianne Booufall-Tynan / Ascha Drake / Toby Crabtree / Nicole Lebenson / Martin C / Inna Samoylov / Sean Fredrickson / Janelle Garcia / Michael Cremin / Ben Berlin / Graceann Dorse / Barbara Frank / Carly Gaebe / Timothy J. Frank / Andrea Vieyra / Debbie T. / Emily & Mark Cegielski / Aaron Richmond / Halina Stapen / Laura Zeis / Prakrti Seth / Veronica Frenning / Juan Carlos Diaz / Greg Kirmser / Owen Donovan / Mariko Edwards / Marissa McArdle / Veronica Feliciano / Brad White / Joanne J Stephens / Aunt Barb / Allison Yeskel / Zachary Boyd / Sophie M. Silverstein / Katharina S. / Max Annis / Toyin Oluwole / Andrea Janev / Leah G. / Marika Bailey / Steve Schenk / Aleksey Dumer / Janet Johnson / Susan Levy / Lilia Turevsky / Carolyn Nelson / Mary Santi / Susan Gindorff / Thea Schlieben / Amanda C. / Thomas C. / Katey Parker / Rik n Kana / Roni Natov / Marcy Tilton / Sarah Schwaber / Jamie Robinson / Michael E. Gruen / Barbara Briggs / Clare Robinson / Sunil Bald / Martin & Amy Polowy / Gloria Rabinowitz / Sara Muskulus / Matthew Toonkel / Mollie McQuarrie / Ippei Ichimaru / Nick Rudie / Michael Bacsik / Patrick Bohn / David Bacsik / Amirhossein Kiani / John Uhl / Chinisha Scott / Kate Baird / Cecile Chong / Mary Bacsik / Jodi Anderson / Shulamith / Rivkah Tzivin-Gaerman / Debra Goertz / Amber Wakefield / Bao Ong / Emily C. McKenna / Maz Joey Ghanaat / Anthony Punt / Allyana Thomas / Lou Ferreri / Nathan Rogers / Len & Diane Lea / Lauren Panaro / Chris Gunther / Amy Keding / Nuong Ong / Mike Hedge / Andy Westbrock / Jonas Blaettermann / Rosy / Geneviève Chevalier / Laura Noll / Raina Leon / Karin and Andrew Russ / Chris Amores / Karen Alonzo / Raimonda Skeryte / Steve O. / Michael Velliquette / Jure Oven / Alvaro Matteo / Rozana Shahidullah / Shujaat Islam / Sylvain Bonello / Pamela Torres / Angelina Poirier / Ana Acosta / Arkady Sandoval / Hanson Ortiz / Nick / Peter Beaudry / Suzy Lord

PROJECT NIHON would not exist without you.
Thank you.

... or better put, the transition to ACTUALLY KICKSTARTING THE ADVENTURE begins at 1135 EST!

BACKERS, YOU'VE DONE IT -
We're currently positioned to have all film equipment 100% backer subsidized and the gallery rental fees too. Bravo!! And, honestly, we are completely humbled by your generosity. We knew we had some pretty cool people in our lives, but you really knocked our socks off. We won't forget this for the rest of our lives.

THANK YOU.

We're also really thrilled at all the support that's been pouring in this weekend and wish to extend thanks to our newest backers. Your last minute enthusiasm has been just awesome.

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PROJECT NIHON / NEWS

(1) We're launching an ESTY.com shop soon! The idea is to continue offering friends, fans, and art collectors new and evolving ways to support the project. SUKI!!

(2) We caved. We've joined the bird club and can be found twittering about in broken Japanese. Follow us here! http://twitter.com/projectnihon

(3)

THE BIG NEWS DU JOUR?

We booked our arriving+departing hotels in Japan and would like to hug Orbitz.com personally for scoring us the most amazing hotel deal on the planet.

The story goes like this.....
We were debating between two kinda crusty low-budget hotels. Low budget in Tokyo means shared bath/sinks/toilet, $100/night/2ppl. Brushing teeth with strangers is always an interesting way to start the day we figured. Plus, might lead to interesting footage.

In researching accommodations, we had assumed the journey would be 37 days of no-frills sleeping. We assumed since this is hands-down the most expensive adventure of our lives that we wouldn't be able to afford a normal hotel (since, really, this has been the case from all past Euro travel experience). We assumed that since we would spend most of our time out of the hotel room it made sense to only consider budget options. And we were positive that anything one would find on a mega-search engine was without a doubt out of our price range. Period.
WELL..
WE WERE TOTALLY WRONG.
Apparently the new assumption is that the economic recession has overturned all past travel assumptions. A new travel paradigm has emerged! Apparently, if you book some hotels for more than 7 consecutive days they give you a discount good enough to make you want to write in your Kickstarter blog about it. Nice, right? Beautiful.

And, the best part? The exponential leap in sleep quality from divey hostel to 3674 room Japanese business hotel palace would normally set a person back 20000yen/night. Well, whatever Karma or favors we've done over the years were cashed in today: we officially got 8 nights at the Shinagawa Prince Hotel (replete with pool, tennis, and all sort of swanky business traveler delights) for the exact same price as the crusty hostel.

BOOYAaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!! :)

We actually think it might be the hotel from "Lost in Translation", but we'll confirm that in April.

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But what really won us over? The roof bar (no, not for the drinks... pff...).

CHECK OUT THE VIEW!

(below).
This bar's potential for breathtaking, expansive pans over Tokyo's scintillating nighttime light-scape with our new camera [whom we're calling Yoshi], the Canon EOS E5 MarkII, is just mindboggling. And spending a few hours watercolor painting the sunset over Tokyo is in the cards as well. And possibly a few sunrises too.

On that note, PROJECT NIHON cordially invites you all to the APRIL 16th AFTER PARTY at our hotel bar on the 37th floor. ;)

Exciting news all around, friends. We'll top it off with a resounding Nihon, Ahoy!
Ikimashou! [= let's go!]

xx
M + M

Dear Friends,

Thank you to all of our new Backers and to those who have been with us since the very beginning. It's been an incredible ride. We are touched to have your support and have been really moved by your emails of encouragement. Thank you replies are taking longer than expected but will make it your way by early next week if you haven't gotten a personal thank you email/phone call yet!!

Just yesterday someone asked if there was an email they could send their pals to help us surpass our new goal of $9000 in the next two days.

Well, there wasn't, but now there is!

If any of you feel moved by the vision of this project and want an easy way to help us out, please consider emailing your friends and family with the letter below (edit as you see fit!). Those of you FBing and tweeting about PROJECT NIHON already, thank you. SO AWESOME to have your help with getting the word out. The time is now. And all forms of help are really, really appreciated!

Interestingly, we've been checking out the Kickstarter stats and thus far our backers consist of 98 people we know personally and only 3 people we've never met... so it would be awesome to get the word out beyond our close circle of contacts! Would you consider helping?

Huge hugs to all for your valiant assistance in a final eblast out to friends / parents / boss / cubiclemates / lover(s) / neighbors / ex(es), etc. this weekend.

ONLY 2 MORE DAYS LEFT!!

After Monday, the excitement will really get moving as we brace for Project Nihon take off, so timing is of the essence: let's get the final word out while we still can!

DOMO ARIGATO, DEAR TOMODACHI,
M + M

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THE LETTER IF YOU'RE MEGHAN'S FRIEND:
_

My friend Meghan, an artist, and her filmmaker brother Michael are doing a really unique sustainable art experiment in Japan next month and documenting the process. They only have 2 more days left to fundraise to help cover the costs of their 37 day project in Japan. Learn more about their exciting project here: http://projectnihon.com

They just met their "project minimum" goal on Kickstarter but could still use everyone's help to cover the gallery expenses. They are asking if friends, and friends of friends!, would consider donating at least $10 in exchange for a copy of a director's cut version of the Documentary and other nice art swag as you will see here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/meghankeanestudio/project-nihon-sustainable-art-travel

It would mean a lot if you'd consider supporting their project. They're great friends and their work is really worth all the support you can offer this emerging art duo.

Many thanks,

__________or___________
THE LETTER IF YOU'RE MICHAEL'S FRIEND:

My friend Michael, a filmmaker, and his artist sister Meghan are doing a really unique sustainable art experiment in Japan next month and documenting the process. They only have 2 more days left to fundraise to help cover the costs of their 37 day project in Japan. Learn more about their exciting project here: http://projectnihon.com

They just met their "project minimum" goal on Kickstarter but could still use everyone's help to cover the gallery expenses. They are asking if friends, and friends of friends!, would consider donating at least $10 in exchange for a copy of a director's cut version of the Documentary and other nice art swag as you will see here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/meghankeanestudio/project-nihon-sustainable-art-travel

It would mean a lot if you'd consider supporting their project. They're great friends and their work is really worth all the support you can offer this emerging art duo.

Many thanks,

WE MADE OUR GOAL WITH 6 DAYS LEFT!

WOW.

THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Initial round of celebrations can commence!!

DOMO ARIGATO GOZAIMASU!

In celebration, we've found a few music videos for you to dance/karaoke along with us!

CELEBRATE!
http://www.youtube.com/watch...
CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES!
http://www.youtube.com/watch...

DOMO ARIGATO, MR ROBOTO
http://www.youtube.com/watch...
VWs interpretation!
http://www.youtube.com/watch...

(the more exciting new? still have a few hundred emails hanging out in drafts folder... who knows how amazing this project will become over the next 5 days!!)

Love and Thanks Yous and Deep Bows and Lively DOMO ARIGATOS!!

KAMPAI / CHEERS!

Meghan + Michael

You heard right: 7 days left in our Kickstarter fundraising adventure.

We're doing all in our power to spread the word, and we hope those of you already backing us will use your collective tweet/FB/blog/email/old-school-word-of-mouth power to help us meet and SURPASS our goal!

(more on why surpassing the goal is a good idea in the next update)
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Project Nihon is officially in pre-departure prep mode!

Having spent the last 8 months learning Japanese (michael's domain, and he's done quite great acutally), reading 5 different travel guidebooks cover to cover (serious, meghan spends a lot of time on the subway...), and hours on B&H's website and video forums researching equipment and prices, WE ARE FINALLY POSITIONED TO MAKE PROJECT NIHON A REALITY!

Since we need a full month to test run all equipment, Project Nihon got the ball rolling last Friday at 9am, standing in the freezing cold, outside of B&H with other eager photo/video shoppers waiting for the doors to open. In and out in under an hour, we exited with giddy smiles and with exactly the equipment we planned on getting.

So, as of today, we've officially purchased all film equipment, at the best prices possible (yes, 8 months of research went into this) and we're thrilled to be moving forward with test shoots!

Included below is the post-B&H shopping trip photo. For those of you who have never been, B&H is Manhattan's dreamy two story professional photo-video store that looks like the product of Ritz Camera and your childhood erector set (or local science museum) having a retail baby -- it is an amazing alternate-retail-universe experience if you haven't been.

[ watch the video to get a sense of how awesome the store + overhead trolley system are:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/find/HelpCenter/NYSuperStore08.jsp ]

We recommend. :)

More behind the scenes updates/photos coming soon! Onward!

Yours,
M + M

Dear Friends,

You're officially and cordially invited! Hot off the press, PROJECT NIHON now has an an overwhelming and awesome collection of bi-lingual invitations to the exhibition event at Design Festa Gallery, Tokyo -- April 16-18.

"Invitation Disaster Narrowly Averted by Kindness from a Dude from Brooklyn"
Not realizing that a box of 5,000 postcards would be 30 lbs, and not realizing that 30lbs weighs a lot more than it sounds, I got to the printshop and discovered that canvas stretching had in no way prepared me for our invite pick-up. I couldn't lift the box. Carrying it 6 blocks home was clearly out of the equation.

So, the very nice dude who runs the print shop (who was, indeed, a total dude) put the box on a handcart and walked me and the cards home in the freezing cold at 10pm on a Saturday night. Of course, I in turn bought him hot cocoa, promised to talk up his affordable and friendly service, and invited him to come to Tokyo in April for the opening. He laughed and then looked confused while waving a kindly goodbye (like, cool. that might be interesting. is tokyo upstate?).

Such was the adventure behind securing 5,000 full color 4"x6" invitations in South Brooklyn.

If you're in NYC and interested in sharing with friends, let us know!
If you're in Japan and interested in flyering Tokyo, let us know!
If you want to help get others excited about backing the project in your city, let us know!

We will send you a bunch of postcard-invites to pass around. We have plenty to go around.

If not, not to worry: everyone will get a copy or two of the invitation with the first mailing of backer rewards after fundraising wraps (which is very soon -- two weeks!).

The invitations are an edition of 5,000, and ostensibly a limited edition since we won't be printing more, so they are worth hanging on to -- especially if you like graphic design, postcards, or the color purple.

The side in Japanese, we think, is particularly beautiful.

Continued thank yous to our backers. Your support means the world to us!
More updates very, very soon.

Ja mata!
M+M