PaperSpecs Presents: Ichikudo ‘Tokyo Bay Fish’ Calendar

Tsukiji, the world’s largest fish market, isn’t simply the place where much of the world’s seafood is sold each day; nearby Tokyo Bay itself plays host to a wide variety of fish, too.

To celebrate this diversity, and to highlight recent efforts to improve the bay’s water quality, our friends at Japan’s Ichikudo Printing Co. (http://ichikudo.com/ ) produced a 2023 calendar that introduces us to 12 varieties of fish native to the bay, while also showing off the printer’s eye-catching printing and finishing capabilities.

Designed by Ichikudo’s longtime partners Hosoyamada Design Office (https://www.hosoyamada-design.com/ ), the Tokyo Bay Fish Calendar looks like a simple index-card recipe box (remember those?) featuring an aqua-themed color palette UV screen printed onto 150 gm (100 lb.) Burgo Respecta Matte which is wrapped around cardboard. The calendar’s theme, “work local, enjoy local, eat local” as well as other elements on the box, are slightly raised with Spot Gloss UV.

Removing the telescoping lid reveals 12 cards with numbered tabs – 1 for each month of the year. So far, so intriguing.

Plucking the only non-numbered card from the box, I discover it contains the same “Work Local, Enjoy Local, Eat Local” slogan found on the lid, the goal of the project in Japanese kanji, and blind embossed outlines of cutlery on this super-thick, 750 gm (500 lb.) @NewPageCorporation FibreForm Board. Turning it over reveals the English version, and naturally the embossed cutlery on this side is now DEBOSSED.

Now, on to the calendar cards themselves, and what snazzy pieces they are! Each serves up one fish that’s native to Tokyo Bay, rendered in a variety of printing and finishing techniques.

Take January, which celebrates the Cutlass Fish. The illustration is crisply embossed and screen foiled.

The days of the month are screen printed beneath. And just as the bay’s fish come in all shapes and colors, so too, do the illustrations, which are rendered in different color foils, added Spot Gloss UV, and more.

Each card is actually printed on a larger sheet of 330 gm (220 lb.) @iggesundpaperboard Invercote G that has been die cut (to create the numbered tab), scored and folded.

Not only does this tent fold conceal the bruising from the emboss, but the back of the tent also provides an excellent place for a convenient overview of this month and the next 2, as well information about the particular fish featured.

A Red, screen foiled dot marks the area in the Bay in which this fish can be found, as well as some general information about it, and even cooking tips. (Note that November’s Flounder will be delicious as sashimi and kombu sashimi.)

Whichever side you want to display, simply tuck the opposite side into the front of the box – and voila!

Not only is this an excellent way for Ichikudo to show off its print capabilities, but its strong focus on community concerns, coupled with the attractiveness of the actual piece, ensure potential clients will hold on to it all year-round. In short, this calendar is BAY-tiful!