Danny Choo is a guestblogger on Boing Boing. Danny resides in Tokyo, and blogs about life in Japan and Japanese subculture – he also works part time for the empire.
Tokyo University professor and world-renowned CG artist Yoichiro Kawaguchi had this amazing exhibition at Yushima Seido, a temple in Ochanomizu, which ended yesterday. Lucky me, I was in the 'hood and caught the last bit of it, including a small closing event held by Kawaguchi himself.
I wrote an article about him in Wired several years ago, so we had a little chat. He created these ultra super modern sea animal prototypes and planted them in front of the temple's architecture, creating this stark contrast between old and new that somehow perfectly depicted what Japan is today.
You can also see more pics n videos at Mitaimon – in Japanese but the photos and videos should give you a feel of the wonderful objects that were on display – one of the videos pasted below.
While I enjoy this type of art, I also appreciate the sculpting that goes into the work of anime figurines. Many folks see them as being perverted but I'm finding difficulty in understanding how the nekkid bronze statues on display *in public* (with bewbs and pack lunches hanging out) are not?
And if you are interested in how anime figurines are sculpted, you can see the process in my previous tour of the Good Smile Company offices.
Blockquote from Tokyo Mango.
