Press "Enter" to skip to content

Graphic designer admits to ‘spraying graffiti for 30 years’

Masayuki Kanbara tags under the name “SMOKEE” (Twitter)
TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a male graphic designer who admits to having sprayed graffiti in Shibuya Ward over three decades, reports the Sankei Shimbun (July 28).

At around 4:00 a.m. on April 18, Masayuki Kanbara, 47, allegedly sprayed text over a roughly 4-square-meter area of the wooden fence of a building in the Hatagaya area.

“I’ve been spraying graffiti for 30 years, [but] I don’t have any memory as to the locations,” he told the Yoyogi Police Station in not commenting on the allegations.

Masayuki Kanbara (Twitter)

According to police, Kanbara, who lives in Nakano Ward, uses the moniker “SMOKEE” when tagging buildings. His tags can be found on walls, roads and buildings in multiple locations in the ward.

Immediately after the incident in Hatagaya, a guard for the building alerted police. Officers arriving at the scene found Kanbara nearby with a can of paint that was the same color as the graffiti would on the fence.