#1: New Massachusetts Flag Design Proposal at Nipponzan Myohoji
[2025] Designed a proposal for the new Massachusetts state flag in collaboration with the Massachusetts Seal, Flag, and Motto Advisory Commission and Nipponzan Myohoji.
Background
The current Massachusetts flag has been widely criticized as a symbol of colonization and oppression due to its visual representation of Native American communities. In response, Nipponzan Myohoji worked with the Massachusetts Seal, Flag, and Motto Advisory Commission to advocate for a redesign, an effort that successfully led to the passage of legislation initiating the creation of a new flag. As a theolo-graphic artist and member of the project’s technological committee, I contributed conceptual frameworks and visual design proposals that translated ethical, historical, and cultural considerations into a new symbolic direction for the flag.
Tool: Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop
The current MA flag.
#2: “The Last Passenger” pamphlet design project
Title: The Last Passenger (最後の乗客 / Saigo no Jōkyaku)
Director & Writer: Takashi Horie
Runtime: ~55 minutes
Setting: A small coastal town in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan — about a decade after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of March 2011.
[2024] Designed the official pamphlet of the international award-winning movie “The Last Passenger.”
Background
The Last Passenger is grounded in Japanese Buddhist spirituality, which understands death not as an absolute end but as a transitional state within the cycle of existence (samsara). In this view, the boundary between the living and the dead is porous and relational, allowing emotional connections to persist after death—especially in post-disaster contexts marked by sudden loss. Rather than framing the supernatural as horror or fantasy, the film reflects long-standing practices such as memorial services (hōji), household altars (butsudan), and offerings for those who died without closure, presenting spiritual presence as an ethical and compassionate continuation of human bonds.
Story Summary
Set in Miyagi Prefecture years after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, The Last Passenger follows a taxi driver who encounters mysterious passengers late at night, all requesting rides to a coastal area destroyed by the disaster. As the journey unfolds, the boundaries between memory, loss, and presence begin to blur, confronting him with unresolved grief and the lingering echoes of those who never returned. Through quiet encounters on empty roads, the film reflects on how the living continue to carry—and accompany—the dead in the aftermath of collective tragedy.
Tool: Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop