Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Things are heating up again in Japanese politics. The House of Councillors election for the Japanese Diet’s upper house is expected to take place in July 21, 2013. As a result, it’s J-Politics all the time in the Japanese news cycle and until then, we won’t find out whether the ruling party, LDP, will have a firmer foothold. Until then, you can get your fix of both art and politics at 281_Anti-Nuke’s exhibition at the Pink Cow bar in Roppongi, Japan.Tourists and Tokyoites may have seen 281′s work conspicuously stickered on public property throughout the city. Giant Robot did a brief entry on sighting on his designs last Fall. Since then, 281′s prominence has grown as more news outlets have reported on his work. His art stands on its own, but his agenda is a bit bit clearer now that he’s agreed to a few interviews. His position on nuclear energy is a given. Most of this is an extension of his opposition to Japanese politicians in general who he feels carelessly put the country in harms way due to poor regulation of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants that underwent a meltdown after the Earthquake and Tsunami in March 11,2011. He agrees with critics who accuse the Japanese government and TEPCO of (unintentionally) ‘creating’ the nuclear disaster through their own corrupt mismanagement and incompetence. Hence why both ex-PM Yoshihiko Noda from the political ‘left’ and current PM Shinzo Abe from the ‘right’ are targets of his rage. They’re each a part of the establishment that enabled TEPCO to haphazardly play dice with the country’s future. It’s this political context thatt has led connoisseurs to deem him Japan’s ‘Banksy,’ an English graffiti artist who–like 281–operates anonymously. Most of 281′s art is still visible on the streets of Shibuya, Shinjuku, and other parts of Tokyo. However, a lot of it has either faded or been defaced, so it’s more preferable to see his art in a more preserved state at The Pink Cow. Even if political activism is beneath or beyond you, you can at least act like you know. The Pink Cow 5-5-1 Roppongi Roi Bulding B1F Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032 Open 5pm-Late (Closed Mon) Last food order: 10:30pm Reservations and Info: cowmail@thepinkcow.com For more information: visit www.thepinkcow.com.
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I was wandering around Shibuya the other night and ran across a construction divider plastered with stickers of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. The stickers gradually sprung up shortly after the 1 year anniversary of the 3.11 nuclear disaster. These and many others are the work of a designer/underground artist cryptically named “281 AntiNuke” targeting Tepco Photographer Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert documented some of 281′s handy work throughout the city along with a photograph of what appears to be 281 himself standing beside one of his stickers. I can’t find any other information on this artistic crusader otherwise. So far, I haven’t seen these two photos uploaded online. One is a an Obama Hope poster parody with the President’s visage replaced by a collage of nuclear trefoils. The other is another of Noda as a ventriloquist dummy with the tagline “Follow the Follower.”
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