Yoshitomo Nara is a Japanese artist. He lives and works in Nasushiobara, Tochigi Prefecture, though his artwork has been exhibited worldwide. Nara has had nearly 40 solo exhibitions since 1984. His art work has been housed at the MoMA and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). His most well-known and repeated subjects are "big-headed girls" with piercing eyes, who one Nara scholar describes as having "childlike expressions [that] resonate with adult emotions, [their] embodiment of kawaii (cuteness) carries a dark humor, and any explicit cultural references are intertwined with personal memories."
Nara at the Yokohama Art Museum, 2012
Hirosaki is a city located in western Aomori Prefecture, Japan. As of 1 February 2023, the city had an estimated population of 163,639 in 71,044 households, and a population density of 310 per square kilometre (800/sq mi). The total area of the city is 524.20 square kilometers (202.39 sq mi).
Image: Hirosaki castle Aomori JAPAN
Image: Mt. Iwakisan from Hirosaki Castel 2008
Image: Ōgi Neputa
Image: Hirosaki Saisyoin 1