NHK Video: Steve Jobs love of Japanese Art

My friend, Kay Koba, posted a link to this insanely great video today on FaceBook, and after watching it this evening, I had to repost the link here on TD...

[Image: www3.nhk.or.jp]

The Secret Passion of Steve Jobs | NHK WORLD-JAPAN On Demand

From the Macintosh computer to the iPhone, Apple founder Steve Jobs masterminded a series of inventions that changed the world. He was also famously interested in Japanese culture, including Zen meditation and traditional cuisine. Less known was his love of Shin-hanga -- a modern take on ukiyo-e...

[Image: www3.nhk.or.jp] www3.nhk.or.jp

It will be available for watching until September this year. A very worthwhile watch too.

(I actually showed the hair brushing girl piece on my video here a few months ago.)

Here's the Backstory page:

[Image: www3.nhk.or.jp]

The secret passion of Steve Jobs | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News

From Macintosh computers to iPhones, Steve Jobs was the architect of countless era-defining tech innovations. But the Apple founder was also known for his passion for Japanese culture. He often spoke about how he took inspiration from Zen Buddhism and his love of Japanese cuisine.

[Image: www3.nhk.or.jp] www3.nhk.or.jp

Enjoy!
(Thank you, @Kay K.M.Mods !)

Thank you, @JDW, for sharing this! :)

Nice Read - thanks for sharing. I had no idea Steve Jobs was a collector of Shin-hanga wood block prints. That's fascinating to me when you consider shin-hanga and Japanese cuisine intersecting with Jobs era Apple design. Very, very cool. Thanks again for sharing.

Hi All,
Thought it would be nice for a once to post something beyond the usual Maxell mayhem or corroded traces due to leaking caps.
The pictures in this post are showing some renditions of "Mr Macintosh", by the Belgian artist Jean-Michel Folon (1934 - 2005).
Mr Macintosh even made it into the silkscreen of some early 128k logic board prototypes. Eventually the idea got ditched, though.
Further details about this story can be found on the web site Folklore dot org and Vintagemacmuseum dot com.
For those of you who are in the area, I warmly recommend to visit the superb exhibition "Folon - Agency of Imaginary Journeys" currently held in Nagoya, Japan.

More specifically...

Folklore.org: Mister Macintosh

[Image: folklore.org] folklore.org

Steve Jobs strongly advocated for that. I think it just goes to show that some of the most gifted and brilliant people in the world can sometimes come up with the most shockingly bad ideas in the world.

When I first read that story I was shaking my head and asking, "Steve Jobs? What in the world was that gifted man thinking!" And yet I still have respect for him. Fact is, we wouldn't have our Macs without him.

I think it also teaches us something else. Sometimes we're afraid to share our ideas because we fear other people criticizing us. And I think people who didn't like Mr. Macintosh were right to criticize it. But Steve Jobs wasn't afraid. And that, my friends, is how we all should be. We may be wrong sometimes, but we need to be bold and get our ideas out there. Because some of them might be brilliant enough to change the world.