Forget using your old Metcards for roaches or chewing gum disposal. You can use them to create gob-smacking words of art.
Well that's what the people at Shinjuku Takashimaya Department Store did. They created a 3.2 x 2.1 metre work of Astro Boy pixel art made from 138,000 recycled Tokyo Metro tickets.
The special mural was made to mark the opening of Tokyo’s new Fukutoshin subway line.
Created by volunteers from Takashimaya and other Shinjuku-area businesses, the work shows Astro Boy, Uran, Professor Ochanomizu and Higeoyaji (Mr. Mustachio) in Shinjuku along with the new Fukutoshin train.
The Astro Boy art comes after employees at the Takashimaya department store in Osaka created four reproductions of world-famous paintings using 320,000 old train tickets late last year.
One of the words was a 2.3 x 1.6 metre rendition of da Vinci’s
Mona Lisa (which can be seen in our related images). According to reports, about 300 employees sacrificed their breaks and free time for three months to complete the artwork.
** Thanks to Pink Tentacle for bringing it to our attention.