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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppBrbgoJO54endofvid
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A masked artist makes a sticky issue out of radiation in Japan with protest street art.
Full story:
This man's stickers are one of the few visual signs of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Known
only as "281 Anti-nuke", he has covered Tokyo streets in stencils
depicting prime ministers as vampires and children shielding from
radioactive rain.
He says that he aims to remind people of the
reality of radiation and that revealing his identity will only distract
people from his message.
The Fukushima nuclear disaster and its
subsequent handling by plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco)
prompted wide-spread anti-nuclear sentiment and public protests in
Japan.
The street artist says the disaster gave his art meaning.
Many
of 281's designs depict children threatened by nuclear power, with the
three-pronged atomic symbol taking the place of flower petals, a
biscuit, or an inflatable ring.
281 has also branched beyond the
nuclear issue to tackle other topics such as the upcoming consumption
tax hike or Japan's bid for the 2020 Olympics.
281 says he wants
his art to be a signpost for people to be aware of what's happening—and
if it can make people stop and think, then he is happy.
He is a
rare specimen in a country where graffiti writers face heavy legal
penalties and strong social disapproval, and where netizens have called
for his arrest.
Book shop owner Keisuke Narita re-sells some of
281's stickers and says many people still have an interest in what the
stickers mean.
Narita says the earthquake and nuclear disaster
has made more people willing to look at society and find things they
disagree with.
The most politically sensitive stickers have the
shortest half-life, lasting less than the average three days it takes
for his stickers to be torn down.
Although he sees many Japanese
people taking photos and uploading them to blogs and Twitter, 281 admits
that most of his fans are not in Japan, where he wants to have the
biggest impact.
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