Japan - Third Monk

Sep 10, 2014Jun 17, 2016

Ashikaga Flower Park: Home to the Most Beautiful Tree in the World (Ashikaga, Japan)

Travel 50 Miles north of Tokyo and you will find the peaceful city of Ashikaga. Founded in 1921, it is home to Japan’s oldest and largest Wisteria tree found in Ashikaga Flower Park.

This tree is described as the most beautiful tree in the world.

Relax With Ashikaga Flower Park Wisteria Tree

The tree is huge, an impressive nearly 2,000 square meters (half an acre). The tree’s life began in 1870, and is meticulously cared for. Due to the weight of its vines, they must be held up by steel supports.

This allows visitors of the park to walk beneath its amazing canopy and bathe in the pink and purple light reflected by the beautiful hanging blossoms.

> Most Beautiful Tree in the World | Off Grid World

Aug 19, 2014Jun 17, 2016

Creating Funny Illusions at the Japanese Trick Art Museum (Photo Gallery)

The Takao Trick Art Museum is located at the foot of Mt. Takao west of Tokyo, Japan. Trick Art challenges visitors to interact with 3D paintings to make funny and creative photo ops. The game is a of tug of war between the artist and the observer.

Jul 15, 2014Jun 17, 2016

Surreal Dream Art From 1970s Japanese Culture (Gallery)

Combining dreams and art produces psychedelic imagery because they share the same boundless canvas.

Surreal dream visions are highlighted in these dream art scans from 50watt’s collection of 1970s’ Japanese illustration catalogs.

Shigeru Izumiya

Hidetoshi Umeda

Ryu Kumita

Tadami Yamada

Shuhei Hasegawa

Haruo Takino

Toshinobu Imai

Yukio Ueda

Hanmo Sugiuura

Mar 30, 2014Jun 17, 2016

Psychedelic Japanese Sci Fi Art (Gallery)

Visions of space and the future from Japanese culture in the 70s and 80s.

Kazuaki Iwasaki

One of our favorite sites, 50watts’ has a running feature where they showcase Japanese sci fi art scans from their ever-growing collections of books and catalogs on Japanese illustration and design.

We love looking through old book illustrations, and the sci-fi genre always is chalk-full of the most surreal, colorful, and bizarre. This is a fantastic collection of obscure artists and their fantastic imaginations that you would otherwise never see! – Juxtapose

Sadao Sato

Hisashi Saito

Noriyoshi Orai

Shusei Nagaoka

Takuro Kamiya

Akira Yokoyama

Natsuo Noma

Yoji Kuri

Yasuhiro Yomogida

Nayoyuki Kato

Tadanori Yokoo

McDonalds Apocalypse, Artist Unknown

Kazumasa Nagai

Visit 50 Watts for the full collection of Space Teriyaki

Jul 28, 2013Jun 17, 2016

Tadanori Yokoo, Psychedelic Japanese Art Compilation (Photo Gallery, Video)

Perhaps best known for his psychedelic ’70s album covers for The Beatles and Earth, Wind, & Fire, Tadanori Yokoo is arguably the most influential Japanese graphic designer of the 20th Century.

He got his start working with avant-garde theatre and has occasionally been called Japan’s Andy Warhol. Their interest in process appears similar, using iconic imagery and vivid collages to convey complex or thought provoking ideas.

Tadanori Yokoo Genka Series

In 1975, Tadanori Yokoo produced hundreds of pen and ink drawings for Genka (“Illusory Flowers”), a historical novel by Harumi Setouchi that recounts the struggles of Tomiko Hino, the wife of shogun Yoshimasa Ashikaga (1435-1490). The illustrations, were published along with the novel in a long series of installments in the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper.