Kensaku Hosoi (KEN3TV, Lifelogger)
細井 研作（KEN3TV、ライフログ・アーティスト）

Kensaku Hosoi, called KEN3TV, a lifelogger who uses photos and video to create visual artworks based on the concept that the collection of life’s myriad daily experiences can be oddly fascinating, first encountered the TRAVELER’S notebook in 2011.
At the time, Hosoi was captivated by the potential for the new modes of expression made possible by the iPhone. His life had taken on an almost entirely digital focus that included writing articles for magazines on digital topics and giving talks at the Apple Store.
However, two things occurred that began to attract Hosoi to the analog world of paper media.

The first was when he held an exhibition of photographs he had taken using his iPhone.As he hung his photographs for the exhibit, photographs which he had previously only ever seen on a computer display, he experienced a new kind of fascination with how they interacted with the analog media.
The second was when he learned about the existence of self-published zines, which are currently growing in popularity here in Japan.
Just as there is talk about the decline of the publishing industry due to the advancement of digital media, handmade books with publishing runs of only a few hundred copies are being stocked in bookstores and held by countless readers. Observing this phenomenon at an event, Hosoi developed an interest in the type of expression only possible with analog media.

It was at that moment that he first held the TRAVELER’S notebook in his hand, and he says it provided him with his first opportunity to experiment with a new form of self-expression.
Lacking confidence in his own handwriting and illustration skills, Hosoi came up with the idea of pasting media into his new notebook, including photographs, tickets, post cards, and magazine or flyer clippings, and he proceeded to do exactly that.
He quickly realized that it was difficult to paste photos and postcards into his notebooks due to the size of the TRAVELER’S notebook, so he began trimming these items with scissors before pasting them in, which led to even more enjoyment.
For example, he would paste wrapping paper as a background over a two page spread, and then fill it with images of people or buildings, or photographs cut into the shapes of letters. He became thoroughly engrossed in the act of pasting, excited by this new world emerging from the paper pages of his notebook.

It’s in Hosoi’s personality to be unable to sit still when gripped by a new interest, and this time was no exception. He quickly began to involve his friends and host clipping workshops. He began filling his notebooks with clippings in numerous locations and uploading videos of the occasions to YouTube, and he began hosting regular workshops out of a desire to share this mode of expression to the enjoyment of as many as possible, a mode requiring no advanced skills that is accessible to anyone.

Hosoi explained that the TRAVELER’S notebook quite simply changed the way he lives.
With this new discovery of pasting things in notebooks, the added occupation of seeking things to paste transformed his travels, and the presentation of the completed notebooks to others led to new encounters with countless people.
While he is still interested in the digital world, he believes that the advantage of analog media is that it enables one to express oneself directly, just as one is, making it a communications tool to understand oneself, and that this is the true fascination of the TRAVELER’S notebook.

He showed us many of his completed notebooks, but there was one that we found particularly moving that illustrated a trip he made to visit his grandmother using a JR “Seishun 18 Ticket” day pass.
The notebook includes photographs from the journey accompanied by the train ticket he used and the wrapper from the train station’s boxed lunch, a visitor’s stamp from a shrine he stopped by at on the way, a photo of Hosoi with his grandmother, some words written in an unsteady hand by his 97 year old aunt, and on the last page, an illustration he drew of the train despite his lack of confidence in drawing pictures. It is a wonderful illustration, expressing deep warmth despite being an ever so slightly crooked representation of the subject. As we turned the pages of this notebook grown thick with pasted paper memorabilia, those pages spoke to us of Hosoi’s warm personality as they described each scene on the journey, filling us with our own gentle warmth.