09/10/20 Budokan Mural: To Catch the Moon
“The piece itself is really an immigration story and a representation of how sports was able to maintain hope for a lot of Japanese Americans especially during their internment during WWII, and living as a Japanese American in this community in Los Angeles, it really does symbolize hope for many of us in Little Tokyo. Although the scaffolding was terrifying and a bit more dangerous looking than we thought, it couldn’t have gone any better and alongside my partner Paul, we were able to complete it very smoothly. I think most of my murals generally play with the vibrant sense of color and living in a city that’s overwhelmingly gray but vibrant with life and culture, I’m hoping my work is able to express a little bit of how we all feel, how we all really are, and feeling inside, living inside the walls of the city. In recent memory, having lived near and in Little Tokyo, I do believe that this is one of the most important buildings to be built here. It’s extremely important within the community to have a space here for all of us to know we can gather and feel like we are part of something. We are creating a space not just for our generation, and not just for Japanese Americans, but really something that represents a hope that’s much bigger for any future community that will exist within Little Tokyo.” – Kent Yoshimura
