Japan’s Banksy

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At first no one noticed them, the visual footnotes created by Japan’s version of Banksy. The artists — for they are six, not one — go by the name Chim↑Pom. This had been one of the recent works by the shock-art collective. They discretely painted burned-out nuclear power plants over an existing mural at Tokyo’s busy Shibuya train station.

When viewed against the 100 foot long mural “The Myth of Tomorrow” by the late Taro Okamoto, it’s not surprising few people took notice of the clever editorial commentary.

Today, the nuke paintings have been removed while restorers try and figure out how to bring back Okamoto’s original images.

Chim↑Pom apparently have said that Okamoto would have appreciated what they did, that it was in alliance with his view of the world.

A bit difficult to draw that conclusion. But “The Myth of Tomorrow” does feature front-and-center a person being hit by an atomic bomb.

More here on some of the Chim↑Pom antics at Time Out Tokyo and here at Virtual Japan.