Greenhouse Bamboo

日世のコーン（cones by NISSEI）

■ Overview

Promotional display provided by NISSEI Co., Ltd., a soft-serve ice cream manufacturer

A soft-serve–shaped stand light used as signage and illumination

Visually signals that soft-serve ice cream is available

■ Availability / Positioning

Generally not sold to the public

Often supplied to stores when installing NISSEI soft-serve machines

Commonly found only on the secondary market

■ Design & Structure

Three-dimensional form: cone + swirled soft-serve top

Internal light source (historically fluorescent; often LED in newer or modified units)

Illuminated top for high visibility, especially at night

Typically around 1 meter in height, designed for storefront placement

■ Function & Effect

Eye-catching display that draws attention from passersby

Point-of-sale promotion that communicates the product without text

Reinforces brand association with soft-serve ice cream

■ Cultural Aspect

Widely recognized across Japan due to long-term use in retail settings

Evokes nostalgia for many people

Considered a retro signage icon from the Showa–Heisei eras

■ Variants / Related Items

Miniature versions (capsule toys, small lights) exist

Hiroshi Yoshida, Park in Canton (廣東公園 / Kōtō Kōen)

Artist: Hiroshi Yoshida (1876–1950, Kurume, Fukuoka) — a leading figure of the shin-hanga (new print) movement, celebrated for his landscape prints and paintings that fuse Western realism with traditional Japanese woodblock techniques

Year: 1941

Medium: Woodcut with colored inks, jizuri (self-printed) seal

Dimensions: Approx. 20.5 × 27.0 cm

Signed: In sumi ink "Yoshida" with artist's seal "Hiroshi" and jizuri seal; pencil signature "Hiroshi Yoshida" in the margin

Subject: A park scene in Canton (Guangzhou), China — one of many works born from Yoshida's extensive travels across the globe, including the United States, Europe, India, Southeast Asia, and China

Characteristics: The print demonstrates Yoshida's mastery of subtle color gradation and atmospheric light, achieved through meticulous multi-block printing. His ability to capture the air and mood of a foreign landscape through traditional Japanese woodblock techniques remains distinctive among shin-hanga artists

Soun Chigusa, Nangoku (Southern Land)

Artist: Soun Chigusa (1873–1944, Kyoto) — studied Japanese painting (Nihonga) under Seiho Takeuchi and Western painting under Chu Asai, pioneering a fusion of Western realism and Japanese painting techniques

Year: 1927

Collection: The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto

Materials / Technique: Color on silk, framed

Dimensions: 175.0 × 85.0 cm

Subject: A black cat sits before a backdrop of agave (Agave, also known as century plant), its sharp, radiating leaves lending a bold tropical presence to the composition. The contrast between the powerful, sculptural form of the agave and the quiet dignity of the black cat creates a compelling visual tension. The agave establishes the exotic atmosphere that gives the work its title, Nangoku (Southern Land)

Rieko Hidaka, From the Space of Trees IV

Artist: Rieko Hidaka (b. 1958, Tokyo) — graduated from the Graduate School of Musashino Art University

Collection / Exhibition: Fukuoka Art Museum

Series: The fourth work in the From the Space of Trees series

Materials / Technique: Painting on hemp paper (mashi) using layered mineral pigments (iwa-enogu), a traditional Japanese painting (Nihonga) technique

Period: Late 1990s to early 2000s (as part of the From the Space of Trees series)

Color palette: Predominantly monochrome, built around blacks created by burning malachite pigment (rokushō), producing subtle tonal gradations reminiscent of pencil drawings

Composition / Perspective: Depicted from a unique vantage point looking straight up from beneath the tree, with trunks, branches, and leaves rendered in meticulous detail across the entire surface

Characteristics: A work that explores the depth and distance between trees and sky through bodily sensation. The granular texture of the mineral pigments creates a surface that seems to breathe, evoking the expansive space beyond the branches

Woman Shooting Cherry Blossoms (2019) — Yinka Shonibare CBE

A large-scale sculpture commissioned for the reopening of the Fukuoka Art Museum in spring 2019

Shonibare’s first artwork on a Japanese theme; now part of the museum’s permanent collection

Depicts a headless female figure firing cherry blossoms from a rifle — a striking contrast of violence and beauty

The globe replacing the head erases individual identity, referencing colonialism and globalization

Central theme: the empowerment of women against persistent global gender inequality