Mail Art — Annual of AD Productions in Japan '88,
Rikuyo-sha Publishing, Tokyo, 1988. (Ed.: Kyoji Nakatani. Essay: Shigeo Fukuda. Photo: Masanobu Fukuda)
Mail Art — Annual of AD Productions in Japan '88 is a landmark publication documenting the state of the mail art network as it existed within Japan in the late 1980s, produced by Rikuyo-sha Publishing (六耀社) in Tokyo. Conceived and planned by Kyoji Nakatani, the volume brought together approximately 51 leading practitioners of mail art active in Japan at the time, presenting their work—ranging from stamped envelopes and artist-made objects to three-dimensional postal sculptures and Artistamps—through high-quality color photography by Masanobu Fukuda.
The publication is unique in the mail art field for its design-world orientation: Rikuyo-sha was a prominent Japanese publisher specializing in graphic design and advertising annuals, and the volume situates mail art within the broader visual culture of late-Shōwa-era Japan. An essay by the celebrated graphic designer Shigeo Fukuda, titled "Three Episodes on Mail Art: A Monologue by the Right and the Left," anchors the volume theoretically, reflecting on the postal system as an artistic medium and the role of correspondence as creative communication.
The copy preserved in the Artpool archive bears a handwritten dedication in English and Japanese on the front flyleaf: "For Peter & Angela, from Kyoji Nakatani, 1991.8.8" — indicating that the volume was personally gifted by the organizer, Kyoji Nakatani, to Peter and Angela Küstermann who kindly donated it to Artpool in Budapest.
The catalog is not only a survey of Japanese mail art practice at the close of the 1980s but also an important cross-cultural document, reflecting the genuinely international character of the postal network even as it presents a distinctly Japanese perspective on the medium.
