Everyone’s talking about the ‘blue tsunami.’ In Japan, it’s complicated.

The Boston Globe · Javier C. Hernández, Kiuko Notoya · 2026-11-05 23:27 UTC

The “Great Wave” was repurposed to depict Democrats’ landslide victory in midterm elections.

TOKYO — The Japanese masterpiece known popularly as the “Great Wave” has long been celebrated as a pioneering cultural work.

But on Wednesday, the print, created around 1831 by artist Katsushika Hokusai, appeared in an unlikely place: the cover of The New York Post. The “Great Wave” had been repurposed to depict Democrats’ landslide victory in midterm elections, with President Trump shown being menaced by a breaker. “BLUE TSUNAMI,” blared the headline.

The rendering came as a surprise to the staff of the Sumida Hokusai Museum in Tokyo on Thursday, which displays the artist’s woodblock prints, paintings, sketches, and artifacts.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe · All coverage of this story