This T-shirt was designed in 2012, before the opening of the new airport. The situation is quite different between now and then but I would like to publish the concept as it was back in 2012.

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Quite some time ago, there was an age that many tourists would travel to the islands, the government pouring money in the area for developments and promotions, and the number of tourists increased each year. Starting in 2006, things started to go south when the airline companies got in trouble, one of the main airlines landing in Ishigaki went bankrupt then the economic downturn precipitated by the Lehman brothers bankruptcy in 2008, after that the earthquakes in 2011 was another incident that made things worse for the tourism sector. The 10 years during this time, many businesses went bankrupt and the situation wasn’t getting any better. This T-shirt BEACHJAM was based on my idea that we wanted to get out of the negative spiral which kept on swirling and the island to regain its liveliness. The flip flops scattered on the beach resembles the people racing towards the beautiful ocean. At the moment the whole of Japan is facing a rough time, and deeply hurt by the events that has happened. But we still have to live our lives and get along, this design is to remind us that we have to think positively for a better future. Hoping that we will get more tourists from around the world again!