青幻舎 SEIGENSHA Art Publishing

The Kyoto University Museum is a dizzying wonderland of some 2.6 million scientific specimens, from flora and fauna to fossils and minerals. This book offers a personally guided tour of specimens locked away in underground vaults closed to the public, complete with rich photographs and accessible commentary. A chapter with text and sketches by artist Zon Ito documents his experience tagging along on fieldwork for an insider look at the creation of taxidermic specimens of Japanese field mice (Apodemus speciosus).

Includes an essay by novelist Yoko Ogawa

Mikako Muramatsu worked for a publisher prior to embarking on an independent career as a writer and editor. She produces books and magazine articles and also organizes related exhibitions and events. Her interests range widely across domains from everyday culture to the arts and sciences; major works include Kyoto de mitsukeru kotto komono (Small Antique Finds in Kyoto; Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2009), Kyoto no ichi de asobu (Enjoying Kyoto Flea Markets; Heibonsha, 2004), and Itsumo futari de (Happy Old Two; Heibonsha, 2001).

Zon Ito is a Kyoto-based contemporary artist who creates embroidered works as well as animation and small three-dimensional objets. He has exhibited widely both in Japan and abroad, including in Ways of Worldmaking (2011) at the National Museum of Art, Osaka; Primary Field II (2010) at the Museum of Modern Art, Hayama; Louisa Bufardeci & Zon Ito (2009) at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; and When Lives Become Form: Dialogue with the Future Brazil/Japan (2008) at the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo. Solo exhibitions include shows in 2016, 2011, and 2009 at the Taka Ishii Gallery in Tokyo and The End of the Neighborhood (2003) at the Watari Museum of Contemporary Art. He is the author of New Town (Little More, 2006).