Shusaku Arakawa Shusaku Arakawa Shusaku Arakawa, who spoke of himself as an "eternal outsider" and "abstractionist of the distant future," first studied mathematics and medicine at the University of Tokyo, and art at the Musashino Art University. He was a member of Tokyo's Neo-Dadaism Organizers, a precursor to The Neo-Dada movement. Arakawa's early works were first displayed in the infamous Yomiuri Independent Exhibition, a watershed event for postwar Japanese avant-garde art. Arakawa arrived in New York in 1961 with fourteen dollars in his pocket and a telephone number for Marcel Duchamp, whom he phoned from the airport and with whom he eventually
Arakawa River (Fukushima) ineffective, and the river continued to periodically flood, culminating in a large-scale flood on August 5th, 1986. In 2004 the Arakawa River's flood control system was completely overhauled, and 13 new check dams were built along the main river and numerous other dams built on its tributaries. In 2008 the Agency for Cultural Affairs designated the Arakawa First Check Dam as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property. In 2007 the Arakawa River tied with six other rivers for having the best quality river water in country based on biochemical oxygen demand tests conducted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and