Aug 27, 2026

Favorite Japanese artists, past or present

With Yayoi Kusama's passing being covered in the media today, I wanted to know about your favorite Japanese artists, past or present. Obviously Kusama is one of mine, but I always like hearing about other artists that I haven't been introduced to before.

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genkidesu

Love to travel, interested in J-beauty products and consider myself a convenience store snack aficionado. Navigating the ever-present challenges of expat life, particularly about my TCK's (third culture kids).

9 Answers

TonetoEdo

on Aug 28

My home is decorated with a handful of Uemura Shoen prints. She painted "bijinga", beauties in the Taisho era.

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BigfamJapan

on Aug 30

The first that comes to mind - Hayao Miyazaki. I never watched anime until I came across his work. I am also fascinated by with Hokusai's work, especially The Great Wave as well as his Mt Fuji works. *I deleted my original answer, because I had said I still 'only' watch Miyazaki's anime, but when I thought about it - that is not true at all. I do watch other anime now, but Miyazaki's remain my favorite!

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BigfamJapan

on Aug 30

A local (Kawagoe) artist I support is Kimio Yajima.

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TonetoEdo

on Aug 31

@BigfamJapan Can you tell us more? I can't find the artist solely on the romaji name.

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BigfamJapan

on Aug 31

@TonetoEdo he's a Styrofoam artist. On City-cost: https://www.city-cost.com/blogs/BigfamJapan/G6AV8-living_kawagoe_shi_saitama and on my blog, about a dozen photos of his work, you'll definitely recognize at least one: https://insaitama.com/kawagoe-styrofoam-art/

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TonetoEdo

on Sep 1

@BigfamJapan Ah, yes! Has he done any new installations this year?

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helloalissa

on Sep 1

Great question by the way. I'm really sad about Kusama san. The documentary Infinity was great and I've been wanting to go to her museum in Tokyo and thinking about her work a lot this year. It's probably going to be way harder to get tickets now. Nara Yoshitomo has been one of my favorites for a long time. Another artist I enjoy is Tada Reiko, more known for illustration work, and years ago we met a couple times. Murakami Takashi, Azechi Umetaro, Gomi Taro, Yokoo Tadanori, and Sugiura Hisui are others whose work I like a lot. I could go on and on...

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BigfamJapan

on Sep 22

@TonetoEdo yes, a fab piece based on the Toshogu "三猿"(See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil) only frogs! A photo of it on City-cost: https://www.city-cost.com/blogs/BigfamJapan/GQYYl-living_saitama_kawagoe_shi_saitama

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TonetoEdo

on Sep 23

@BigfamJapan Thanks for the link! I love the frogs' poses.

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