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This is the fifth edition of my monthly newsletter, M31, that was sent out on Tuesday, January 6, 2026 — you can subscribe here. and read the first edition here.
M31 – January 2026 – Issue 005
Creative Shanghai in Practice
31.2304° N, 121.4737° E
Quite a few years ago, when I would start a new year, I used to announce via a blog post something that I was planning for the year. It could take the form of a new project, or some sort of initiative, but for me it was a way to set some sort of direction for the year. It’s a “practice” I haven’t done in years — at least since leaving Tokyo just over 10 years ago — and it’s something I was thinking about during my short holiday break. Looking back at what I’ve been doing via my various activities over the last year or two (PauseTalk, PechaKucha Night, FOTO5, Shanghai Design Pins) I started thinking about how all of these things could better work together, and be something I can build on in order to continue to develop new things as a “creative” in this city.
2026 is going to be about building and sustaining a creative rhythm, and I’m calling it “Creative Shanghai in Practice.”
I already have weekly rhythms (FOTO5), monthly ones (M31), and bi-monthly ones (PauseTalk, PechaKucha Night — although PKN is almost turning into a monthly affair), and I plan on adding some fun new ideas to these, that fall into these rhythms, and in some cases create new ones. I don’t want to already talk too much about them, but you’ll hear about them soon enough as I launch them in the coming months.
Lastly, as part of this year-long initiative, I want to start giving myself quarterly themes to be inspired by — first up, “Edges & Beginnings.”
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What’s M31? It’s a name I used close to two decades ago as my sort of publishing imprint/company label for the activities I was doing while I lived in Tokyo, and I’ve decided to revive it. It’s simply inspired by my birthday of May 31. The logo you see above was designed by Ian Lynam, and is part of a set of 31 logos he created for me back in the late 2000s, which I’ve decided to start re-using for this newsletter.
All the activities I organize in Shanghai have dedicated groups in WeChat, where you’ll get the latest updates, and so please contact me to be added to any of them.
PauseTalk
Some great news to start the year! PauseTalk Vol. 100 is now set to take place on Thursday, January 15 at Cotton’s (294 Xinhua Road, 2nd floor) – yup, a new venue for the series. As usual, the official (moderated) session will start at 19:30, and it should now be a great environment to keep chatting (and drinking) after it’s done (I usually end the official session at around 21-21:30). There is no entry fee, and although not obligatory, I would encourage everyone to order at least 1 drink, as a thanks to the owner. I’m very excited for this, and although it’s a new space for me, I think the location will be more convenient for many. For more detailed updates, you can join our group on WeChat (contact me to be added).
Also, in keeping with this idea of creative practice I mentioned at the top, although I won’t be changing how I run the session — start with a round of intros by everyone attending, and then I start asking questions based on what was shared — I do plan on weaving in questions relating to the themes I’m currently exploring.
You’ll find archives of past events on the PauseTalk website, which includes recaps for each session.
PechaKucha Night
Last month’s PechaKucha Night (Vol. 49) — pictured above, held on Thursday, December 11 — was an absolute blast, and I think we celebrated George and I’s 20th PKN together here in Shanghai in style. My “Movies That Made Me” presentation seemed to get a lot of interest (from the number of people who came up to me after the presentation to talk about movies), and the “PechaKucha Mix” (I created a deck, and two people presented it without knowing anything about the content) was as fun as it was when I used to do it at my Tokyo events, and we’ll definitely be revisiting this format in the future.
As for our next event, yup, Vol. 50 is already just around the corner, set for Thursday, January 22 (a week after my PauseTalk Vol. 100 event, so it’s going to be a busy January). We’re also returning to Haworth in Jing’an, the space we used for last month’s Vol. 49, as it offered up a great environment, it’s very well located, and it seemed very appreciated by the crowd there.
As for the rest of 2026, I expect we’ll be running the series monthly/bi-monthly like we did in 2025.
You can always check our Shanghai page on the official PechaKucha website to see the listings for the latest events, and contact me if you’d like to be added to our group on WeChat.
FOTO5
The themes we explored in the FOTO5 photography club over the past month were FILTERED, MUSIC, ABANDONED (pictured above), and CHRISTMAS (all links are to my contributions, as shared on Bluesky).
Doing this activity has been so much fun this past year — finally giving me the kick in the ass I needed to start thinking more creatively about photography — and I’m excited to keep it going in 2026, and evolve it a bit. One of the first things that will be changing starting this month is to be more deliberate with the weekly themes — and so for this first quarter I’ll be using “Edges & Beginnings” as a starting point, and then use each week/month to explore this overarching theme. For example, the first weekly theme/prompt of this year is “Edges of Light.”
In the FOTO5 photography club, each week I share a theme/prompt and everyone is invited to take five photos that are inspired by that theme. If you’re interested in partcipating, contact me so I can add you to the group on WeChat.
Shanghai Design Pins 
Here are some of the latest Shanghai Design Pins that were shared in the group since last month.
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485 Metagalaxy (Architecture List) — a mixed re-use space
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Design in the City 2026 (Design Shanghai) — upcoming design event taking place March 5-22, with exhibitions/spots all over the city
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Ink Ink Market (Dezeen) — a new food market designed by Linehouse (pictured above)
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TopoPoster: International Poster Design Exhibition (official website) — held in December 13-22, as a prelude exhibition to the upcoming inaugural Shanghai Graphic Design Biennale
Shanghai Design Pins is a group on WeChat where we share design-related spots (and events) in Shanghai — contact me to be added.
Shanghai Field Notes
What’s this? I like teasing things, and so I’ll just leave this new section as is, and you’ll see what it’s all about next month. Hint: it sort of builds on this newsletter, and involves print.
One More Thing
Every year — for 16 years now — I end it by posting a giant list of my favorite media released during that past year, and so here’s the one I shared for 2025. It includes my top 5 (in alphabetical order) for a multitude of categories, including games, movies, TV, anime, music, comics, and more. Also, I’ve been tracking my reading habit for the past few years — trying to get back into a rhythm of reading books regularly — and this past year ended up being a great year for me, which you can see here.
And so that’s it for this month. I hope you’ll continue to follow along with what I’m up to in 2026, and that this experimentation in being more deliberate about how I frame my creative output this year will be something that results in interesting things to share in this newsletter throughout the rest of the year.
For more on me, you can alway have a look at my personal website (where I share the newsletters in case you missed previous editions) — I’ve been blogging since 1998 — or for lighter stuff (and lots of movie reviews) you can follow me on Bluesky.
M31 – January 2026 – Issue 005
Creative Shanghai in Practice
31.2304° N, 121.4737° E