Japannery

This is one of a series of illustrations I did for the long-defunct AMAZING STORIES magazine. It dates from 1991, and illustrates a science fiction/fantasy story by N. Lee Wood. The story takes place in an alternate universe where Japan won World War II and Westerners are subjugated. In this imperial Japan, a Dutch girl (figure in lower left) is a servant to a famous and wildly eccentric Noh theater actor, who always goes about masked like a Ninja. What no one suspects is that the actor is really a time-traveling alien visitor with a very inhuman appearance. The true alien face of the actor is depicted in the scary mask which he wears during the Noh plays. The Japanese writing says "Ginza - Tokyo." I copied it off a T-shirt in my collection. The author later bought the original of this image: watercolor on board, 13.5" x 10".

Anything Japanese is totally chic these days, so I thought I'd rummage in my archives for the one picture I had which used motifs from that culture. Perhaps I'll do more Japannery at some point.