Meet the correspondents: TOKYO > Lok Jansen

“I am an architect turned illustrator living and working in Japan. Most of my sketching happens in the metropolis of Tokyo and deals with urban surroundings and the people that live in them.

With the city sketches I’m trying to capture the character of the environments we live in, almost like portraits — but of the metropolis. So I go up on a lot of rooftops and take a lot of walks through the city at night and try to show something of the sensation of living in the sensual, colourful, anonymous embrace of this giant growing organism.

When I’m not drawing up on the rooftops I often ride the subways and trains and watch the flow of people come and go. I do quick one-minute sketches and try to capture the cities’ anonymous inhabitants, and the brief chance encounters I have with them on the train.

Drawing helps me see and through seeing I find my love of the simple things — a frown, the way the light hits somebody’s cheek, a cute house. And through drawing I hope to communicate and share some of these moments.”

• Lok’s blog.
• Lok’s website.