Title: Pika Pika Medium: Super-8, Photography, Artificial Intelligence, Acrylic on Canvas, Silkscreen, Augmented Reality, NFT Year: 2026 Dimensions: 30 in x 40 in Color Composition: Orange 64.2% · Red Orange 25.7% · Yellow 4.6% · Deep Red 3.0% · Pale Yellow 1.6% · Cream 0.9% Tone: Mid Tone, lightness 36 out of 100 (0 is black, 100 is white) Journal: May 5, 2023 We stayed with Kohtaro until midnight in the middle of Shinjuku illuminated by billboards of giant Nintendo characters. Right before the video shoot we were introduced to an extremely bright vending machine arcade. There were many crane games filled of fun prizes with blinding flashing lights and loud buzzing sounds. I chose to play. My mom, Gabrielle, had always used to play and win at these games back when I was a kid in the 90’s visiting the Atlantic City beach boardwalk amusement parks. I channeled my mother, and on the first try I lowered the crane over a large Pikachu’s head and it lifted it out of the box and down the shoot! I guess our family had a knack for carnival games. I gifted the Pokemon to Kohtaro and asked him to play with the large yellow plushie during his shot. I focused the lens of the portrait to express the film grains pigment. Crafting blurred soft shapes of iconic Japanese characters.