I have a new favorite Purikura booth (sorry Candy Carnival). Gyza³ is the vanity purikura machine of Japanese fashion designer Alisa Ueno. To put it in perspective, if the GYZA³ was made in the west it would feature Kylie Jenner or Tavi Gevinson. You can see Ueno’s presentation of the booth at her blog here: http://ameblo.jp/ueno-arisa/entry-12015007803.html It’s kind of fascinating to see how she presents her self-portraits using her own designs and aesthetics.
The Gyza³ represents a lot of the current trends with modern purikura machines. Gone are the gaudy sparkles, starbursts, and wacky character stamps that were used to create campy garish portraits. You don’t even pick your backgrounds until you decorate your photos. Gyza³ and its generation of purikura booths aim for a transformative glam experience that smooths your skin, enlarges your eyes, and reshapes your body. Instead of wacky characters your decorative options are mostly text and phrases, instead of flashy sparkles we get hearts and photorealistic jeweled objects, the results are magical realism throwbacks to the 80’s.
In the past month I’ve visited San Francisco’s local Gyza³ booth at Pika Pika with several artists. Below are portraits of myself and Rob Fatal, J. Leimone, Margarita Azucar, and Sarah Guerra.
I haven’t looked that young and skinny in a decade. For a mere $12, Gyza³ will give you images of yourself that rival the photoshopped gloss of most magazine covers while a Japanese cover of Ariana Grande’s Break Free plays in the background. I’m all about it!
More Gyza³ portraits coming soon!
Peace,
Rio
I recently had another great purikura session with the one and only professor 
This past weekend I ventured to Pika Pika in Japantown to compete in their very first scavenger hunt. Joining me were the 
One of my favorites was the gory scene to the left below conceived and executed by Melinna.
And here’s a video of how it was made:
Of course I couldn’t resist taking some animated gifs so here are a few of the crew in action at Pika Pika.
Last but not least I compiled a video of all of our in-booth hijinks below.
Rio
Seeing these two cans propping up a window in Margarita Azucar’s apartment instantly brought me back to my childhood and warmed my heart. Growing up in an old San Francisco Victorian apartment my parents used all sorts of object to prop open our windows. We used books, old toys, Lincoln Logs, and other random things to keep our windows open on a hot day. I’m hella nostalgic right now.
This past Sunday I got together with the infamous 
During our first session of Homegirl Purikura Mayra turned all sorts of heads in Japantown while she was decked out in her chola gear and persona. With Evil Rose in the mix we were a walking spectacle. Tourists who were in the area for the Nihonmachi Street Fair didn’t know what to make of us. Our presence was unavoidable.
Evil Rose was a natural Purikura artist, Mayra and I showed her the basics and she just took off with it. Mayra also continued her unique and intense approach to her Purikura practice. I decorated a couple of images but for the most part I stood back as a facilitator for this session. It was a thrill to see this powerful pair of cholas team up and work as artists together.
Lastly, I finally got to try out The Cube, the newest Purikura booth at Pikapika. I can’t wait to share the images that came from it. It was definitely the most sophisticated and technically advanced Purikura booth I’ve ever been in.
Following our Purikura adventure we all decided to head to the Mission District for a shoot in Balmy Alley. Evil Rose is not only a model/performer but a professional photographer herself. We turned our cameras on Mayra who lived up to her reputation as the ultimate Chola muse. Below are some photos, to see the full gallery of images check out 
Couldn’t let Christmas slip past me without sharing this bit of holiday purikura posted by the notorious 
Halloween 2009 was on a crackin’ this year in the Mission District. Thanks to some last minute makeup and wardrobe assists from Mariela and my Mom, I became Zombie Frida. Even for a flesh-rotten member of the undead community I was quite the hot mess.
Mariela on the other hand looked great as a vampire. We hooked up and haunted the streets of the Mission in search of blood, brains, and candy.
Since I’ve been doing so much about Purikura these days I think I’ll leave you all with something from the motherland. Here is infamous multi-ethnic Japanese adult-film superstar Maria Ozawa taking part in some Halloween Purikura which she posted on her blog.
Graphic Art, Tortillas, Comics, and Troublemaking 