Looks Delicious! Exploring Japan’s Food Replica Culture, on view at Japan House Los Angeles from September 18, 2025 to January 25, 2026, nuanced overview of this unique intersection of craftsmanship, commerce and cultural expression. Not quite art, not quite not art, Japan house once again has a show of objects that makes too many art shows in Los Angeles appear to be what they kinda feel like: stale as year old hamburger buns. To be honest, it's probably just in my head and this isn’t really about Art. The last time Japan House brought the roof down on the LA art scene was in 2023 for Pokemon X Kogei: Playful encounters of Pokémon and Japanese Craft, which was a stunning group show. To be clear, Japan House is not an art gallery, it’s a cultural project funded by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so it’s situated outside of the Los Angeles art scene. It might be said that Japan is waging a covert culture war via the Public Security Intelligence Agency (PSIA) by enlisting prominent members of the Japanese craft economy, in this case the legendary food replica guru, Takiz Iwasaki. It makes total sense that the show includes an 18” hamburger replica. I can only assume this is symbolic of conservative American interests. After some research, I found that the PSIA has no definite goals with the current project as they were hedging their bets on the outcome of the 2024 election, which didn’t turn out to be so great. Current mission status (as discovered by ChatGPT): It’s not worth the trouble. America is basically a rabid dog chasing and eating its own tail for the foreseeable future. Anyway, none of the PSIA stuff is true and probably nowhere near funny. I just made it up with the help of a bored imagination infused with graduate school levels of JSTOR pdf’s and an interest in mid century Modernism. I’m not sorry, though....