Yasumasa Morimura may be Japan’s most well-known appropriation artist. He’s reimagined some of the best-known images in the world. Morimura has painted himself into iconic pieces of art and superimposes himself into historical photographs. His aim has been to push racial, ethnic and gender boundaries in his conservative Japan and

Last week, I spoke about the People’s Climate March and my disdain for corporate sponsored parties disguised as demonstrations. Lest I be viewed as nothing more than a cranky naysayer, I want to highlight a protest movement with real vision and brilliant tactics. Hopefully some of the idealists here in

This photos sums up Japan rather well My good friend Sato is a Japanese-American who now lives in Japan. A few  years ago I had a dream that he was getting married. While he wasn’t at the time I decided that when he did get married I would attend the

For those of you who may not remember, it has been nearly a year since that devastating earthquake hit Japan, causing a nuclear accident. Shortly after the disaster, actor James Yaegashi called on friends in the New York theater community to “do something to help our fellow artists on the

If there’s one thing that can make a 9.0 earthquake more terrifying, it’s meltdown at a nuclear power plant. While you probably don’t have a spare helicopter or nuclear physicist to lend to Japan, you can help the earthquake relief effort by taking a Shibori workshop. The Textile Arts Center

Well, isn’t this something. Here I was always under the impression that Hello Kitty just sort of, like, happened. Like one day we all went to sleep and the next we woke up and there was this ubiquitous, mouthless cat that was emblazoned upon anything with a surface. And, probably,

There comes a time in everyday when your mind wanders into the gutter and you start thinking things like, “Gee, I wish I knew more about the history and current trends of Japanese masturbatory aid technology.” Pete’s Candy Store can answer all your questions. Tonight, they’re starting back up the