Art & Culture Painting the town

The Yodokabe mural project seeks to transform Osaka’s Juso neighbourhood into an art attraction in time for Expo 2025

Osaka, Kansai.

By Lim Chee Wah

GRAFFITI IS A DIVISIVE SUBJECT in Japan. While attitudes towards this form of street art have relaxed in recent years, it’s still not widely accepted. Which is why it’s encouraging to see that the Yodokabe mural project, which seeks to revitalise the Juso neighbourhood in Osaka’s Yodogawa ward with vibrant murals, has taken off – with the support of local residents, no less.

The project founder, Bakibaki from the live painting duo Doppel, started with a largerthan-life mural inspired by the nurse Florence Nightingale. The colourful mural, painted on the side of a building adjacent to the local ward office, was created to say thank you to medical frontliners during the pandemic. It gained much support from the local community, and with that Bakibaki initiated a crowdfunding campaign in August 2021 to help raise money to add more murals to the downtown suburb across the Yodogawa River.

What’s really impressive is that all the murals by Yodokabe are sanctioned works of art, created with approval from building owners and local authorities. One of the largest works is a tribute to the late Japanese avant-garde artist Taro Okamoto. Painted by Doppel, the enigmatic piece spans the side of a four-storey building (about 13 metres tall), which you can easily spot even while riding the metro line in the distance.

Bakibaki often cites the artistic character of Brooklyn, New York as his inspiration. He plans to create a similar vibe in Juso, making it more attractive with art. The Yodokabe mural project aims to create works at about 30 sites in and around Juso and get them ready in time for Expo 2025.

The project has enjoyed steady growth and worldwide attention in the past couple of years. Several prolific international street artists have now added their signature styles to the walls in Juso.

Alex Face from Thailand painted his iconic bunny Mardi. Los Angeles-based Lauren YS paid homage to Japan’s female samurai warriors known as onna-bugeisha on a two-storey building while New York-based Dragon76 transformed the adjacent wall with his futuristic samurai. The latest work, which features a sushi-eating skull, appeared on a shop shutter in front of Juso Station, contributed by Nychos, an Austrian illustrator and urban artist based in Los Angeles.

Looks like Juso is on to a winning formula. The neighbourhood could very soon become an art destination in its own right, and perhaps even serve as an inspiration for other cities in Japan.

For more information, see yodokabe.net.