In 1971, when artist Kenji Yanobe was a child, he often played in the abandoned site of Expo '70, not far from his family home in Osaka. A year before, under the theme of "Progress and Harmony for Mankind," Japan's World Exposition had showcased a vision of the future that included an array of advanced technologies such as robots and nuclear power.
As the 6-year-old Yanobe wandered among futuristic displays in the process of being dismantled — which he would later call "Ruins of the Future" — he passed beneath Taro Okamoto's 70-meter-high "Tower of the Sun," the symbol of the Expo. It was an experience the artist never forgot, and it is no stretch to say that had the young Yanobe not stood before Okamoto's towering totem back then, he may never have become an artist.
Taro Okamoto would have turned 100 on Feb. 26, 2011, and in celebration of his centenary, several exhibitions have been held to honor the prolific career of this hugely influential artist. The last in the series is "Kenji Yanobe: Sun Child, Child of Taro" at the Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum in Minami Aoyama, Tokyo.
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