Tomorrow Girls Troop’s feminist art delving into East Asian cultures has first solo U.S. platform at NJCU gallery

Group’s founder explains how hard it’s been to get a U.S. platform

This courtesy photo shows a Tomorrow Girls Troop, adorned in a pink bunny mask, taking part in a march with a poster that reads “My Body My Choice” in Japanese and English.

Tomorrow Girls Troop (TGT) founder Midori Ozaki knows what it’s like to be informed by great contrasts. With TGT having “We Can Do It! ”— their first solo U.S. show at the Visual Arts Building at New Jersey City University through Dec. 18 — Ozaki reflected on why 10 years ago she started the feminist artist collective that focuses exclusively on the lack of gender equality in East Asia.

Ozaki, who resides in California, started TGT because she became a mom, she said in an interview with Chilltown Blues.

“Because I wanted to teach Japanese culture and language to my baby, I started to join the Japanese moms group; and because also I'm an artist, I joined an artist moms group,” Ozaki said. “So artist moms as a group, basically the majority of them are American and then there are lots of educated immigrants; and then the Japanese mom group …”

Ozaki paused. “Japanese families … They have a very interesting system. Japanese companies have a branch in the United States and then they force their employees to come and work in the United States only for a couple of years or so … They're not like long term residents here, so a lot of the time they don't speak English, but they don't have any problems financially because the reason why they are coming to United States is because the company is paying for them.”

These were the two worlds that Ozaki found herself hopping between for playdate purposes, she said.