Just when you think you're standing on the street looking at a wall, she begins to draw live on the wall in calligraphy. Dressed in a kimono, with her black hair flowing and brush in motion, she exudes a Japanese feel, but her attitude towards calligraphy is that of a graffiti artist. Watching the video of Mami's activities, you can see that she is a one-of-a-kind calligrapher.
It all started with a simple memory: "When I was 9 years old, a friend praised me for my calligraphy in elementary school, saying 'that's good,' and I thought maybe I was good at writing." Although he also enjoyed drawing and cutting origami paper with scissors, he continued to attend calligraphy classes behind his parents' house in the mountains.
At one point, he had hoped to go to art school, but ended up enrolling in the calligraphy department at Daito Bunka University. There, he learned not only the techniques of calligraphy, but also the history and background, and the origins of typefaces. "There were so many typefaces I had never seen or written before, so I tried to imitate them." Typefaces change not only with history, but also with the climate. "In cold regions, there are many hard characters, and in warm regions, there are many soft characters. That's what makes it interesting and human. Through calligraphy, you can feel the living history and thoughts of people."
Once you learn one thing, you want to know more about it. He thought he was the only one who was into it, but when he went to the calligraphy department at university, he was surprised to find that there were many people with the same interest, some even more passionate than he was. "It's the same feeling I had when I went to a club for the first time after moving to Tokyo, and I was amazed at how many people could dance to this song in the same way."
A fan of street culture, at the age of 19 she sent an email to a hip-hop label saying, "I think calligraphy and Japanese rap go well together, so I'd like to write the title of your work." This led to Mami's calligraphy being used on the jackets of artists such as Shing02, Awich, and DJ KRUSH. "I thought it would be great to create a scene where calligraphy and hip-hop come together. If I could do that, my life would be a lot more fun, so I sent the email."
Just behind him as he writes is a baby mat on which his young daughter sleeps. "If she starts crying, I can stop writing and go and comfort her right away." 
First, he starts by making ink on an inkstone. "The ink is made from wasabi in a tube, and the ink ground on the inkstone is like fresh wasabi (laughs). That's how different they are." 
After writing, sheets of writing paper are piled up one after the other. From the process of repeatedly writing the same characters, a piece of art is born. 
The title of the exhibition is "Mingzhu Zai Zhang," which means that what is precious is in the palm of your hand. "The daughter in front of me is certainly a precious treasure." 
He uses a baby bottle cap to drip water onto the inkstone. He doesn't care much about the tools he uses as long as he can get started on calligraphy quickly. 
Before performing live calligraphy drawings at events, he sometimes traces the sky with his finger. At that moment, the image of the characters he will write appears in his hand. 
Hanging in the entrance of the studio was a calligraphy piece that read "MAMIMOZI," which is also the name of Mami's Instagram account.
Professional calligraphers have no models to work with. It's different from students in calligraphy classes who simply copy from a model. They ask themselves what to write and how to write it. "Because of pregnancy and childbirth, I wasn't able to do what I wanted for about two years, and I couldn't respond to invitations from China, America, and Mexico. That was tough." However, she came to realize that this was looking too far ahead.
Seeing her little daughter not far away, but right in front of her, she felt there was something precious there. At a solo exhibition held in Taiwan in 2017, she exhibited a piece with her favorite phrase, "Mingzhu zaizhai," written on it. When the gallery owner saw it, he told her, "In Taiwan, these phrases are given when a baby girl is born." Now, having been blessed with a daughter herself, the phrase resonates with her as if it were her own.
The words, which mean that the treasure is already in the palm of your hand, helped me, who had been looking too far away, to look forward. "My room was filled with playpens and mats, so I couldn't write any larger pieces, and I thought this was my chance to create the small pieces I hadn't written before." On the white table, he slowly ground ink, picked up a thin brush, and wrote the characters "Mingzhu in the palm of your hand" over and over again.
Her writing and past activities open the door to new endeavors. "Hello! I receive direct messages almost every day from people saying they saw my Instagram or website." English wasn't her forte to begin with. "I went to an English school when I was 26 and somehow managed to learn it. But with the skill of calligraphy, I can dive into unknown worlds." Activities such as traveling abroad to write and collaborating with brands are important to Mami. "It really opens up new possibilities. I come across information I didn't know and my common sense changes, which has an impact on my work."
Before starting to write, he tries to concentrate. "It sometimes takes me a while to get into the writing mood. On days when I'm not riding, I just can't write no matter how hard I try." 
He also buys props when he travels to perform. "I also buy them at antique markets. It's the same feeling as buying a nice T-shirt at a second-hand clothing store." 
What words to write, what characters to choose? "It doesn't just come to me. I look at various documents and find what to write." 
The white table in the room is Mami's studio. "Before my daughter was born, I would use the whole room to create large works of art." 
He has used dozens of brushes over the years. "I bought them at a calligraphy supply store, received them as birthday presents from friends, and bought them as souvenirs in Taiwan." 
"I sometimes ask craftsmen to make brushes for me." Spreading the word to the world and increasing the number of people practicing calligraphy will also benefit those who make the tools. 
Next to the table where he writes, he has a print of his daughter's footprints made with ink. He cherishes this treasure right in front of him and moves on to a new piece of work.
To write calligraphy that is not just cool, but also contains a message for society, one must understand the world. "Three years ago, when I got my drone license as a hobby, I learned that drones were being used as weapons in conflict zones, so I decided to write the word 'peace' with a drone."
Her desire to send a message to society through calligraphy was sparked by something she saw on TV when she was in high school. "Ellie from the contemporary art collective Chim↑Pom from Smappa! Group was creating art to remove landmines in Cambodia. Maybe because I was at an impressionable age then, I thought that if I became an artist, I should do something that would be useful to society. In reality, though, I haven't gotten to that point yet."
The ambivalence between her sensitivity to things that express an antithesis to society, such as hip hop and contemporary art, and classical calligraphy techniques makes Mami's work unconventional.
"These days, fewer people are making brush handles, inkstones, and ink. To stop this, I want to increase the number of people practicing calligraphy. To do that, I want to go beyond Japan and be active all over the world. That way, I'll be able to use the brushes and tools I like." I want to continue writing more and more. The thoughts of this seemingly unconventional calligrapher are very simple.
