Patti Smith has shown her drawings and paintings before in Japan -- some years ago at the Museum Eki in Kyoto. But it is a safe bet that most of her Japanese fans are more familiar with Smith the rock'n'roller, that sexily disheveled female version of Mick Jagger who kicked out prepunk jams from New York City during the 1970s.
The music press loved to call Smith "the high priestess of rock" and there are still a heck of a lot of people out there who, upon hearing her name, will sift through the detritus of their youth and find the then semiscandalous cover of Smith's hit album "Easter" before exclaiming, "Oh yeah, that girl with the underarm hair!"
Well, those people don't really know Smith, and I guess I didn't really know her either. Last Friday I stopped by the opening of "Strange Messenger and Cross Section: The Work of Patti Smith" at the Parco Gallery in Shibuya, and all that changed.