It’s always exciting to land in the new place.

The first morning in Chicago welcomed me nicely. I woke up at 5ish am. The city was still dark.

I crash at my friend, Hiro‘s studio. It’s located in an industrial area, one of the old buildings renovated into a super nice apartment. SimpleScott used to live here, has just moved out, and Hiro took it over and shares with another crew from The Post Family.

Big rusty engine noises of trucks driving around in the hood in the early morning tell me that people are starting another day of life. Through the big window by the bed,  sky scraper of the chic town Chicago is silhouetted against the dawn. Smoky orange sky.

Chicago is a clean, neat, and lovely city. Flat land. Big, tall, square buildings. Wide roads. Quiet. Grounded.

Yesterday, as I was moving up from Chicago Midway Airport in SimpleScott’s car, I thought that this city seemed suitable for truly creative people, who can give a birth to the new from scratch.

Chicago isn’t filled with too much materialistic stimulus and amusement of external world, unlike Tokyo, but does have space and freedom. Definitely different flavor it has from San Francisco, New York, Paris, Barcelona, and London. Despite rather stoic atmosphere, designers and artists gather here. That makes me ponder, “how do they get inspiration and stay creative?”  My immediate answer is: creators living in Chicago need to generate stimulation and inspiration internally. They should be able to build up novel things without visually and auditory vivid, buzzy stuff. This is what I mean by “truly” creative.

Gigantic To-go Coffee Cup @ SimpleStudio