I was overwhelmed by Hiro's series of illustrations based on Kuroishi Yosare, the traditional summer festival in his home town of Kuroishi, in Aomori prefecture. The dynamic strokes and vivid colors in this series somewhat remind us of "Jazz" by Matisse, which was Hiro's favorite work by that artist. I recall that it was a happy challenge for me to create some designs that would work well together with this.