The sign came first
Karaten has sold radios and parts on the same Akihabara corner since 1971. The family wanted a new identity that still looked like the shop their grandfather opened.
Hugo redrew the four katakana letters from a 1973 photograph of the first sign, keeping the slight lean the original sign maker gave the last stroke. The same workshop bent the new tubes.
“My grandfather would recognise it from across the street. That was the only test.”
Kenji Arai, owner of Karaten
Filmed at closing time
We filmed the sign’s first night from the opposite pavement, with the evening crowd walking through the frame. The letters now run on the bags, the receipts and the shop’s one delivery van.
