#secretelf

CAS journal entry #63

For the last day of the secret elf week, I decided to get Angka Bayu a list of animes/mangas that he would probably enjoy watching/reading. From the fact that he brings a manga to school, possibly to read in the train or during break time, I deduced that he was very interested in the Japanese modern culture and art. Also, he would ask me frequently what life is like in Japan (living conditions, food, prices of goods and services etc.) and that made me assume that he would like to visit there someday.

The famous Japanese manga series including “The Attack of the Titans”, “Detective Conan”, and “Naruto” have already been read by him and I realized that as a Japanese national it is important to teach him works not many foreigners know. For example, “Liar Game” which is a manga/drama series and was a major hit within the Japanese society is considered a psychologically/sociologically manipulative form of art. Although it might seem almost impossible for drawings to trick the readers, the main aim of the artist or the writer was to use different language tools and hidden messages in order to give hints to the readers (so that they could solve the problems themselves). I personally found this work very inspiring as it was unique and hence I decided to add it in the list. Also although I already acknowledged my lack of art skills, I decided to draw the main characters or logos of some the books he has read. (My personal favourite was the picture of Gorgo, a manly character who is pretty famous in Japan)

CAS journal entry #62

For the 2nd day of the secret elf week, I decided to make a festive card with a message inside which might be a hint for him to find out who his secret elf is. To be honest, it took me ages to find a new present idea. Considering ethical issues, there was a limited range of ideas. However I used applications such as Pinterest to get some inspiration and found an interesting craft which was a Christmas tree pop-up card.

Since I couldn't mention the word "Christmas", I attempted to use alternative terms such as "festive" and "holidays". When working on the tree however, due to the differences in the length/width ratio of each part of the tree (upper, middle, and lower), it was difficult to make the card open perfectly. No matter how you open it, it didn't look like a tree in the first place. Having to face difficulties when finding ideas and now this, it was very disappointing that I had to redo my entire project. But I realized that it would be Angka Bayu who is going to be disappointed even more, and so I tried to find a better (especially simpler) way I could make another card.

That's when I encountered a page showing a card with a Christmas tree on the cover page using scraps of newspaper. When I saw it firstly, it was really inspiring as the card itself or its style wasn't that complex, but its simplicity was what made it smart-looking and chic. The red star on the top made the card look stylish as well. The use of old newspapers was again eco-friendly and since we were both in the eco club, I thought it would be a great idea to give him a gift like that. In terms of ethics, I thought it was nice that the Christmas tree wasn't green like a typical one, instead using white and black. Creating a sense that it's not an ordinary Christmas card would be more appropriate to those who don't celebrate this event.