From 2009 through 2011 the Japanese monthly magazine Geijutsu shincho featured a twenty-one-article series in which Takashi Murakami and the preeminent art historian Nobuo Tsuji engaged in a creative dialogue.For each article，Tsuji selected a group of thought-provoking Asian paintings and objects and Murakami re-imagined them.The series was entitled“Japanese Picture Contest”(Nippon e-a wase) ，making reference to the ancient aristocratic pastime of courtiers composing paintings and submitting them for judgment as examples of their knowledge and refined sensibilities.