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It’s Not What It Seems By Artist Hikaru Cho

Japanese artist Hikaru Cho is already well-known for her bizarre and realistic body paintings, but now the Tokyo-based artist has applied her talent to everyday food items as well. In her playful “It’s Not What It Seems” series, she turns common foods into other kinds of food using only acrylic paint and her extraordinary talent.
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22 Mar 2014 11:32:00
A performer wearing a lion mask performs the Ise Daikagura lion dance at the remote village of Yamanawa on February 08, 2021 in Ryuo, Japan. Ise Daikagura is a group of traditional Lion Dance performers who pray in front of farmers houses and businesses for good grain harvests and disease-free lives. Performers play sacred music using drums and flutes with two lion mask dancers. A lion mask is considered a symbol of God, who enters the house and performs in front of the Shinto God, a statue placed inside the house, mostly in the kitchen. These prayers are called “Kamodo Barai”. After the prayers, they are gifted with money, rice, sake and Japanese sweets from the householders. A group can travel for more than one hundred days to thousands of households and businesses throughout rural-villages in western Japan, and pray to those who are unable to visit the country’s most sacred shrine, the Grand Ise Shrine in Mie Prefecture. The group started its performance in the Edo era between 1603 to 1868 according to Japanese history. The Japanese government designated it as an important folk cultural national property in 1981. (Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images)

A performer wearing a lion mask performs the Ise Daikagura lion dance at the remote village of Yamanawa on February 08, 2021 in Ryuo, Japan. Ise Daikagura is a group of traditional Lion Dance performers who pray in front of farmers houses and businesses for good grain harvests and disease-free lives. (Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images)
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18 Feb 2021 09:27:00
A Japanese woman and her daughter leave Daikichi kimono rental shop Wednesday, June 22, 2022, in Tokyo's Asakusa area famous for sightseeing, before attending their family friend's wedding. Japan is bracing for a return of tourists from abroad, as border controls to curb the spread of coronavirus infections are gradually loosened. Yusuke Otomo, who owns the kimono rental shop, can barely contain his excitement. (Photo by Hiro Komae/AP Photo)

A Japanese woman and her daughter leave Daikichi kimono rental shop Wednesday, June 22, 2022, in Tokyo's Asakusa area famous for sightseeing, before attending their family friend's wedding. Japan is bracing for a return of tourists from abroad, as border controls to curb the spread of coronavirus infections are gradually loosened. Yusuke Otomo, who owns the kimono rental shop, can barely contain his excitement. (Photo by Hiro Komae/AP Photo)
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01 Jul 2022 02:29:00
A man (bottom) suspected of shooting former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is tackled to the ground by police at Yamato Saidaiji Station in the city of Nara on July 8, 2022. Shinzo Abe was shot at a campaign event on July 8, a government spokesman said, as local media reported the nation's longest-serving premier was showing no vital signs. (Photo by Yomiuri Shimbun/AFP Photo)

A man (bottom) suspected of shooting former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is tackled to the ground by police at Yamato Saidaiji Station in the city of Nara on July 8, 2022. Shinzo Abe was shot at a campaign event on July 8, a government spokesman said, as local media reported the nation's longest-serving premier was showing no vital signs. (Photo by Yomiuri Shimbun/AFP Photo)
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13 Oct 2023 03:35:00
Japanese craftsman Sumikazu Nakata writes the Chinese character of “victory”, which is a part of the phrase “Certain victory”, as he adds the final touches on a Daruma doll, which is believed to bring good luck, at his studio “Daimonya” in Takasaki, northwest of Tokyo November 23, 2014. (Photo by Yuya Shino/Reuters)

Japanese craftsman Sumikazu Nakata writes the Chinese character of “victory”, which is a part of the phrase “Certain victory”, as he adds the final touches on a Daruma doll, which is believed to bring good luck, at his studio “Daimonya” in Takasaki, northwest of Tokyo November 23, 2014. Daruma dolls, representing the Indian priest Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism in China, is used to bring luck. It is also a favorite item of election candidates where they traditionally paint only one eye on the doll when they start their campaign and paint the other eye if they win in the election. (Photo by Yuya Shino/Reuters)
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24 Nov 2014 13:39:00
“Woman with Umbrella in Rain” by Raimund von Stillfried. Artist: Kusakabe Kimbei (Japanese, 1841–1934), 1870s. (Photo courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

“Woman with Umbrella in Rain” by Raimund von Stillfried. Artist: Kusakabe Kimbei (Japanese, 1841–1934), 1870s. Commercial photography studios in Meiji-era Japan were renowned for the subtlety and refinement of their coloring techniques. This hand-tinted image of a young woman caught in a heavy rainstorm achieved its naturalistic effect by knitting together multiple strands of artifice: the greenery in the foreground was a studio prop; the flaps of the kimono were suspended by thin wires to create the impression of a strong wind; and long, diagonal marks were made on the negative to suggest streaks of rain. (Photo courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
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12 May 2013 10:13:00
A woman walks behind the installation “Wandering boy is forever attractive” (1985) by Tetsumi Kudo during the press preview at the exhibition “Tetsumi Kudo – Retrospective” in the Fridericianum in Kassel, Germany, Friday, September 23, 2016. The exhibition offers an in-depth, comprehensive view of works by the Japanese artist Kudo. It starts on Sept. 25, 2016 and lasts until Jan. 1, 2017. (Photo by Jens Meyer/AP Photo)

A woman walks behind the installation “Wandering boy is forever attractive” (1985) by Tetsumi Kudo during the press preview at the exhibition “Tetsumi Kudo – Retrospective” in the Fridericianum in Kassel, Germany, Friday, September 23, 2016. The exhibition offers an in-depth, comprehensive view of works by the Japanese artist Kudo. It starts on Sept. 25, 2016 and lasts until Jan. 1, 2017. (Photo by Jens Meyer/AP Photo)
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24 Sep 2016 11:18:00
Young Japanese women dressed in colourful Kimonos take a photo of themselves as they gather for a ceremony marking the 'Coming of Age Day' at the Toshimaen Amusement Park in Tokyo, Japan, 11 January 2016. The Coming of Age Day is the day to celebrate young people who turn 20 years old while the age of 20 is considered the beginning of adulthood and is the minimum legal age for voting, drinking and smoking in Japan. (Photo by Kiyoshi Ota/EPA)

Young Japanese women dressed in colourful Kimonos take a photo of themselves as they gather for a ceremony marking the “Coming of Age Day” at the Toshimaen Amusement Park in Tokyo, Japan, 11 January 2016. The Coming of Age Day is the day to celebrate young people who turn 20 years old while the age of 20 is considered the beginning of adulthood and is the minimum legal age for voting, drinking and smoking in Japan. (Photo by Kiyoshi Ota/EPA)
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13 Jan 2016 08:02:00