The colophon of Seiko Tachibana’s P.S. Numbers: Remembering Japanese (6x9x1 inch, screen print, 1994) declares that “This is a book dealing with phonetics.” The structure, an accordion book attached only at the back cover, allows the book to be pulled open and displayed all at once or flipped through a page at a time. Each roman number, one through ten, is paired with a hand-drawn Japanese calligraphic character, the phonetic spelling of the number, and on the facing page a silkscreen print that best captures what the number sounds like in English. The way an accordion style book moves implies a sort of rhythm and consistency which can be reflected in the recitation of numbers that a student of a language may become familiar with. The way that the numbers are introduced, one on each two-page spread, allows for space to absorb the information and take in the pattern in which the information is presented. There are arrows or lines drawn throughout the book to help connect the ideas and sounds that are related to the numbers.
This book takes silkscreen printing, a technique used in advertisements and Pop art alike, and places it in conversation with a style similar to older woodblock printing techniques. This historical association does not dominate the book, however, as many of the images incorporate very modern scenes involving rock music, rollerblading, and Sunkist soda. This interaction between new and old imagery and styles works well with the melding and interpreting of languages. The title of the book introduces the idea of memory to the work; it suggests remembering a language and an older aesthetic or art form. As this work was created by an artist who moved from Japan to the United States there is an element of personal memory here as well because the images present scenes from daily life from a country where she no longer lives. The book presents such a small sliver of life and language and the P.S. of the title acknowledges that: these are things that can be easily forgotten and ignored, but, with such a beautiful and attentive book, it is clear that they are worth remembering and appreciating.
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