I've always known that "cuteness factor" please a big part in Japanese marketing tactics. I should know; when I was in grade school I drove my parents to just a hairline's consideration of putting me up for adoption to avoid any more of my pleas for Sanrio products. Still, it was a bit disorienting to see a gigantic Hello Kitty splayed on the most prominent billboard in a major subway near Ginza. To add to the mystery, this Hello Kitty campaign is for one of the largest Japanese cellphone service carrier with an equally enigmatic name, Softbank. I'm really not sure to whom this campaign speaks.

My phase of Hello Kitty obsession culminated when I was in 5th grade, complete with a red plastic Hello Kitty lunchbox that made me feel like I was walking on cloud-nine everytime I took out my soggy Wonder Bread tuna-mayo sandwich. Until one day some loser bully kicked it out of my hand from behind as I was walking home from school and it cracked beyond repair. Talk about Pussy-envy...What I like about these multi-frame collages is the presence of time. The space remains the same, but the pedestrians come and go like mismatched body parts floating like Cheshire Cat's smile.