Halcyon Realms

1 week ago | halcyonrealms.com | Vong Yonghow

Japan remains one of the last strongholds in the world where physical media for music ( especially CDs ) is not only surviving but even thriving, and the best testament to that is the giant Tower Records store in Shibuya, a sprawling eight floors dedicated to physical music media.

1 week ago | halcyonrealms.com | Vong Yonghow

This is the official catalog art book for ‘The World Of Shirow Masamune Manga Exhibition’ (士郎正宗の世界展) held at the Setagaya Literary Museum in Tokyo, Japan from April 12th to October 17th 2025. The book collects all the original manga drawings, colored illustrations and other exhibits that were showcased at the event. I visited the exhibition on May 9th and will write more about it in an upcoming post.

2 weeks ago | halcyonrealms.com | Vong Yonghow

I’ve seen Hieu Nguyen’s ( Kelogsloop ) art work pop up on my twitter stream from time to time because I’m a follower, but during my recent Tokyo trip I had a chance to browse a physical copy of this book at Kinokuniya Shinjuku and get a much more close-up look at his work.

2 weeks ago | halcyonrealms.com | Vong Yonghow

‘It Came From Outer Space’ (宇宙から来た!) was a mini sketch art exhibition by renowned manga artist/illustrator Katsuya Terada (寺田克也) held at Gallery House Maya from May 1st to 17th, 2025. The gallery is located somewhere in the Omotesando/Jingumae area, which houses many small and interesting art galleries and shops. I had no idea the exhibition would be in session before I embarked on my Tokyo trip, so it was just good timing that I was in the city at the right time.

3 weeks ago | halcyonrealms.com | Vong Yonghow

Coming some 8 months after the release of the highly anticipated AKIRA 1, AKIRA 2 was released on the same as day Apple Paradise ( a omnibus collection of Katsuhiro Otomo’s short manga stories ) which I will also be reviewing in the coming week/s. I’ve already talked about how this new release of the AKIRA manga ( Young Magazine Serialized edition ) differs from the older releases in my review for Vol 1, so take a read here.