Takashi Murakami is a Japanese contemporary artist who was born in February 1, 1962. He grew up in Tokyo, and was always a big fan of Japanese comics, so much so that he attended the Tokyo University of Arts just to work in the animation industry. It was there, however, that he got interested in traditional Japanese, called Nihonga. After graduating from his university, Takashi began to explore Japan’s contemporary art, and was disappointed. He thought that Japan’s contemporary art was too influenced by the “western world.” In response, his initial artworks usually involved satire and social criticism. His own pop icon, Mr. Dob, was also created at that time. An example of Mr. Dob is in the picture on the top right, where a face with the letters