Seasons of Japanese Monetary Policy

WirtschaftsWoche is a leading business weekly magazine in Germany, and I was hired to create the main illustration for a special economic section called “Der Volkswirt”.

Graphic Designer Claudia send me a summary of the article kindly; the article was about the Japanese central bank and its expansive monetary policy. It tells that the Bank of Japan was the global pioneer in a very loose monetary policy, but now they can no longer find the reverse gear and are now even the largest shareholder in the country.

I wanted to explore the seasons of Japanese monetary policy conceptually, and thought that using a Japanese yen bill in an origami folding form would be a cool idea! Claudia and AD Patrick wanted to see a cherry blossom tree/flower in some ways, so it worked out very well.

Because of the nature of editorial illustration (a deadline is usually tight), I try to explain clearly and shortly in the thumbnail stage. Like this time, I added some photo references and visually explained my plan.

I love drawing Asian/Japanese-inspired illustrations, and I hope they carry a unique, natural sensibility of Asian-ness that I have within myself.

The rest of the visual components were added digitally (from separate drawings I did.)