Today’s Smile

This web project addresses daily life in Japan following the Great East Japan Earthquake and the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Updated daily, the site presents abstract graphics linking the wind direction near the Fukushima nuclear power plant with the direction of the black haze oozing from the center of the rising-sun flag. The visuals gradually switch to a series of animated explosions and distorted electronic sounds, generating strange patterns and flashes of light that are ominous even as they sometimes look like a face breaking into a broad smile. Because all the elements are generated randomly and in real time, each viewing is unique.