JapanProbe Friends - Featured Members


Yoshitomo Nara arrested in New York

March 11th, 2009 by James

nara

A famous Japanese artist has been arrested in New York City [Via Jean Snow]:

Yoshitomo Nara, a contemporary Japanese pop artist known for sculptures and paintings of doe-eyed figures, was arrested in late February for tagging graffiti in the Union Square subway station, a New York Police Department official said Monday.

The artist was arrested at 3:10 a.m. on Feb. 27 and was charged with criminal mischief, possession of graffiti instruments, making graffiti and resisting arrest, detective Martin Speechley told Kyodo News in a phone interview.

Nara, who has already been released, has said that he enjoyed the experience of being held in a jail cell and that it was “like in the movies.”

[image of the graffiti taken from The Art Collectors via Watashi to Tokyo]

—-



Related Posts:
 

Japan Photo of the Week: Deer of Nara Park

Japan Photo of the Week: Japan’s Top Fall Spots

Hard Gay Manga Coming Soon!

Nara’s New Mascot

Another Nara mascot??!!


RSS feed | Trackback URI

24 Comments »

Comment by Rick L.
2009-03-11 10:09:30

Yeah, that wall looked so beautiful, before he drew on it.

Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

 
Comment by leitmotiv
2009-03-11 10:18:50

Monster gaijin.

Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

 
Comment by Dan
2009-03-11 10:49:20

Definitely enjoyed his gallery in Hirosaki.

Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

 
Comment by hl
2009-03-11 13:34:32

I could see a fine, a reprimand, and making him buy supplies and clean it up or repaint. But two days in jail?

Wow, I didn’t know that graffiti was punished so harshly.

Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

Comment by Ikunochan
2009-03-11 16:57:53

Hmm…If I were caught vandalizing some location in Japan, I’d probably be deported. Seems like a lucky slap on the wrist for a spoiled brat from here.

Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

Comment by Eddie
2009-03-11 22:07:18

No you wouldn’t. What are you talking about?

Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

(Comments wont nest below this level)
Comment by Ikunochan
2009-03-12 07:12:07

Do you know that for sure? By comparison, I’m interested in what the penalty would be in Japan for vandalization of public property, whether by foreigners or Japanese.

Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

 
Comment by The Overthinker
2009-03-12 21:32:09

A fine, no more than 50,000 yen (save in Nara). I cannot imagine you would be deported.
http://www.47news.jp/CN/200406/CN2004062201001523.html

Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

 
Comment by Ikunochan
2009-03-13 11:04:16

Thank you Overthinker, for the link.

It’s interesting to know, though when I said that, I meant it somewhat sarcastically since I’ve read so many accounts of Japanese police supposedly harassing foreigners just for innocently riding down the street on their bikes. It made me wonder what they might do to one caught defacing public property. :)

Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

 
Comment by ponta
2009-03-13 12:58:09

http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/racism-in-japan-%E4%BA%BA%E7%A8%AE%E5%B7%AE%E5%88%A5%E5%A4%A7%E5%9C%8B%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%EF%BC%9F
I think this is a balanced account of J police “harassing” foreigners.”

Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

 
Comment by Ikunochan
2009-03-13 13:29:57

I love it, and I absolutely agree!

Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

 
 
 
Comment by Stanley
2009-03-12 00:40:18

Yeah, in New York City and many other major cities there has been a boom in graffiti related incidents. In response, the pigs are really sticking it to artists/vandals and throwing some of the more prominent taggers in jail for months to years along with fines that need to be paid.

Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

 
Comment by Abby-Sophia
2009-03-12 04:48:29

If you’ve ever had to scrub graffiti off something, you’d think that the 2 days wasn’t long enough.

Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

Comment by Randwulf
2009-03-12 10:07:11

And if it’s done on red brick there is no scrubbing it off, you have to get it sandblasted, and so that sandblasted area doesn’t stick out, you get the whole wall done. Yeah, 2 days is not nearly enough.

Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

(Comments wont nest below this level)
 
 
 
Comment by Space Cakes
2009-03-11 13:45:22

This makes me want to dust off my Fantomas “Suspended Animation” album.

Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

 
Comment by tyson
2009-03-11 14:21:24

He was kept in jail for more than just drawing on the wall. Probably started arguing with the police and started a scuffle.

Although, having seen graffiti in NYC, I personally think he was arrested for drawing that ugly ass picture with lame text. “Cool here”?

Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

 
Comment by mike
2009-03-12 12:40:12

his name is Yoshitomo, not Yoshimoto (in the headline). See the news blurb.

Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

 
Comment by ray
2009-03-12 16:11:50

I would pay money to have that piece of wall where he graffitied.

I freaking love his work

Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

 
Comment by Haf
2009-03-15 17:03:07

“possession of graffiti instruments”, WTF? What are graffiti instruments anyway? I thought they use mostly cans of spray paint? Since when is the posession of those illegal?

“Looks, he’s got a lighter, that’s a marijuana instrument, arrest him!”

Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

 
Comment by jewlienyan
2009-10-09 13:45:42

Haha, the life of the artist! I could imagine him drawing that picture going “Oh Snap I got caught again!” and dashing for it.

Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

 
Comment by Namimori Hibari
2010-01-26 07:51:45

Pretty extreme. I can understand two days though. Yashitomo is my freaking idol! Did he have to pay a fee at all? Walls need more color on them, I think that two days was a bit much. Then again, it is better than having to clean the wall…

Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

 
Name (required)
E-mail (required - never shown publicly)
URI
Your Comment (smaller size | larger size)
You may use <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong> in your comment. (Please close your HTML tags.)

If your comment isn't showing up, it's probably stuck in the spam filter or in moderation. Instead of typing the same comment over and over and sending it, contact us. Most comments are visible within a few minutes of their posting.
This site is not an open forum: we have rules. Read our discussion policy for more details.

Trackback responses to this post