When The "Other" Inspires

While looking at this piece created by artist Mickalene Thomas (click here for more), I was reminded of erotic Japanese prints of Geishas. 

This memory then brought me back to when I heard A Taste of Honey cover the Japanese love song Sukiyaki. A Taste of Honey was a R&B/Disco band that had their first major hit with Boogie Oggie Oggie, which still turns it out to this day. 

I remember as a 12 year-old boy hearing, the Puerto Rican and African-American girls at I.S. 383, in Brooklyn, singing this song during lunch. Oh how they loved singing the final verse "sayonara."

I love it when we see beauty in other cultures and it becomes an introduction to appreciating what "other" cultures have to offer to us.