Nikkei Maru

A tribute to Japanese immigration to America through typography.

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Licenses starting at $40

Nikkei Maru style list

18 Styles

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  • Thin 100
  • Ultralight 200
  • Light 300
  • Regular 400
  • Medium 500
  • Semibold 600
  • Bold 700
  • Ultrabold 800
  • Heavy 900
  • Thin Italic 100
  • Ultralight Italic 200
  • Light Italic 300
  • Regular Italic 400
  • Medium Italic 500
  • Semibold Italic 600
  • Bold Italic 700
  • Ultrabold Italic 800
  • Heavy Italic 900
Nikkei Maru
On the American continent.
Nikkei Maru
A tribute to Japanese immigration to America.
Nikkei Maru
Honoring the stories of Japanese immigrants and their descendants through typography. “Nikkei” refers to Japanese individuals and their descendants who live outside Japan. Five typographic systems were made, each expressing unique concepts, yet all interlaced by a common historical narrative.
Nikkei Maru
The inspiration came from various sources, including hand-lettered on ships; newspapers of the Nikkei communities; Japanese family crests. Offering versatile title fonts whose proportions and stylistic alternatives allow for playful options for title compositions. This process began on June 18, 1908, when the ship Kasato Maru arrived in the country bringing 781 workers to farms in the interior of São Paulo. Consequently, June 18 was established as the national day of Japanese immigration. In 1973, the flow stopped almost completely after the Nippon Maru immigration ship arrived; at that time, there were almost 200,000 Japanese settled in the country. Currently, there are approximately one million Japanese-Brazilians, mostly living in the states of São Paulo and Paraná. According to a 2016 survey published by IPEA, in a total of 46 801 772 Brazilians' names analyzed, 315 925 or 0.7% of them had the only or last name of Japanese origin. The descendants of Japanese are called Nikkei, their children are Nisei, their grandchildren are Sansei, and their great-grandchildren are Yonsei. Japanese-Brazilians who moved to Japan in search of work and settled there from the late 1980s onwards are called dekasegi. Due to the expansion of coffee plantations, which was the major driver of the Brazilian economy from the second half of the 19th century until the 1920s, there was a demand for cheap workforce in rural São Paulo. The first official visit to pursue a diplomatic trade agreement with Japan took place in 1880. On November 16 of that year, Vice Admiral Artur Silveira da Mota began negotiations in Tokyo to establish a Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between the two countries. Mota was received by the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kagenori Ueno.
Nikkei Maru is variable

Nikkei
Maru

Glyphs set overview

Glyphs set overview

Glyphs View

Nikkei Maru's Features

Proportional Caps
B D E F H L P R T U Z
B D E F H L P R T U Z
Case sensitive forms
{[(OH-@11:11!)]}
{[(OH-@11:11!)]}
Alternate a
a
→
a
Alternate g
g
→
g
Alternate S
S
→
S
Standard ligatures
fi ff ffi fl ffl
fi ff ffi fl ffl

A Typeface Woven With Memory.

On the American Continent, Nikkei taking over small businesses, such as shops, restaurants, small hotels, guest houses, barbershops and laundries. These enterprises not only served as support pillars for the Japanese immigrant community but also laid the groundwork for the development of the most influential typographic style of the Nikkei collection.

PP Nikkei is a tribute to Japanese immigration to America through typography, honoring the stories of Japanese immigrants and their descendants. “Nikkei” refers to Japanese individuals and their descendants who live outside Japan.

Designers

Collaborators

Categories

  • Grotesk
  • Italics
  • Sans Serif
  • Text
  • Variable

Styles

  • 18 Styles

18 Styles with 513 Glyphs each
Including Italics & Crest Set

Explore the complete family

Version

1.00

Latest update: March 2024

Available formats

OTF, TTF, WOFF, WOFF2

Language Support

Afrikaans, Basque, Breton, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Gaelic, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lituanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Saami, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Turkish, (and more)

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