Business and Name Cards

One of my weirder hobbies, at least according to my friends, is my collecting of business and name cards. I've been collecting for about twenty years now, and I've only ever met one other collector face-to-face. The hobby, though, isn't as uncommon as you might think. There is even an International Business Card Collectors website and webring.

A lot of collectors go for specific card categories. For example, some collectors try to obtain name cards of famous people. Signed cards are particularly sought-after. Others go for cards in a particular business category - like business cards of fast-food restaurants, cat enthusiasts, or antique dealers.

I collect anything, but what I seek the most are international cards - particularly those in languages other than english - as well as cards that have an overall good design, including typeface, logo, layout, color scheme, etc.

Currently, these two cards are decorating our tiny apartment wall:

The card on the left is from Matsumura Shoten (松村書店) - a vintage and art book dealer in Ochanomizu (御茶ノ水). The business boasts books from over three eras in Japan - an era denoted by the interval between ascension and death of an emperor. The books in the store are very cool, and actually pretty affordable. Anyway, what's not to like about this card? The logo can't help but bring a smile to my face. The best part is, that's a very accurate likeness of the proprietor of the store. Except in reality, he was frowning.

The card on the right is from the drinking establishment Seiryuumon. Actually, I forget where this place is, but probably it's somewhere in Koenji, Kabukicho, or somewhere in between. That's some crazy shirt he's wearing. And why is he winking? Is there some sort of meaning to it? Is there significance to the dragons on his shirt? Why is he wearing earrings? I think a guy can probably get away with wearing earrings in both ears if he's a foreigner, if he's in Kabukicho Ni-chome, or if he's in Koenji. Or is this a woman? Also, if you look at the middle button down, you see written the kanji for "push" (押). I wonder what that means? Another item of interest is that the business name is written old-style, from right to left. Literally, Seiryuumon (青龍門) means "the gate of the blue dragon." Incidentally, seiryuu comprise the same two kanji as the final two kanji of the Mongolian sumo wrestler - and current Yokozuna - Asashoryu (朝青龍) which means, roughly, "morning blue dragon." I think. Anyway, doesn't the pure friendliness of this restaurant's card just make you want to go there?