Tokion Magazine

Japanese magazine, founded in 1996 and dedicated to contemporary art, fashion, music and film. Following several ownership changes and with local United States, UK and Hong Kong editions at some point, Tokion is currently published by Infas Publications, Inc. headquartered in Tokyo. The company restarted it from scratch, and the first "comeback" printed issue came out in October 2020. Tokion was launched by two American ex-pats in Tokyo, Lucas Badtke-Berkow and Adam Glickman, who wanted to establish a "cultural bridge" between Japan and the USA. In 1998, an American editorial office opened in Los Angeles, relocating to New York City two years later. Tokion's focus gradually shifted from the Japanese underground subcultures towards street fashion and global mainstream arts coverage. The magazine featured interviews with many renowned and aspiring creators and artists, such as Lou Reed, Richard Prince, Francesco Clemente, Roger Corman, Ed Ruscha, Jeff Koons, Harmony Korine, Miranda July, Cory Arcangel and Simone Shubuck. In 2002, Badtke-Berkow sold his share in the magazine to Adam Glickman, who continued publishing Japanese and US editions. He sold the rights for Tokion's Japanese edition to Infas Publications in 2005, while the American version was purchased independently by a publisher Larry Rosenblum. (In 2009, "Tokion USA" changed ownership again, briefly continued as Tokion's FACTORY Magazine since late 2010. It went defunct and slowly abandoned circa 2016).