Yes, you're at the right place. This is Aestheticism, a yaoi fanzine. So why the terribly old fashioned picture on the right? The artist, TAKABATAKE Kasyo, was a popular illustrator of the Taishou era. While he produced a huge range of commercial works, he was known particularly for his paintings of beautiful young samurai and androgynous youth. His art, with its unique combination of Western techique and Japanese sensibility, was a perfect reflection of the era. The early Taishow period also saw the creation of Japanese Aestheticism and a style that was similiar to Art Nouveau. You will read more about this fasinating period in Japanese history in the review for Tantei Aoneko, set in the same era.

Nowadays he is often associated with June and its own particular brand of aestheticism. Readers of June magazine will often come across his work in its pages. For more about TAKABATAKE Kasyo, visit this page. If you happen to be in Tokyo, you can also visit one of several galleries with his work. To learn more about Taishou era and its popular culture, take a look at this interesting collection of period photos. While the text is in Japanese, the photographs are worth a look.

For March, we would like to try something new, and involve all of you in a new project. You've all read Jeanne's Filthy Pictures from last month. Now tell us your favorite scene in a yaoi manga. It doesn't have to be explicit, but tell us the scene or scences that reduced you to a puddle of goo on the floor. Send us the pictures with a short explanation, and we'll print the result in the May issue.

If you're on AMLA, you've probably heard of a project to provide genre information on many little known yaoi manga. If you're interested in helping, come join Junecat mailing list on Onelist.

Aestheticism is also looking for more staff members. If you're interested in writing articles or reviews, or if you have ideas for an new section, please contact us.

Mimi