I came across Seiichi Hayashi while living in Japan. His illustrations are used as decoration on small household items, like metal ashtrays, aluminum pencil cases or even stationary. I bought some of these small metal cases as the illustrations really struck me. His depictions of women speak to me in their with melancholic moods and bright colors. Seiichi Hayashi was born in Manchuria in 1945 and had worked in animation before he started doing comics in the 60's. He became famous in Japan for his comic Red Colored Elegy , which was an underground social phenomenon as it dealt with...