--- description: Find out why Yoshitomo Nara is one of the 100 most influential people of 2025. title: Yoshitomo Nara: The 100 Most Influential People of 2025 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc903f795d4c17b92/6998c5cc07a30d949477ceb2/time100-2025-yoshitomo-nara.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 16, 2025 # Yoshitomo Nara by Stella McCartney  Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara poses for photographers next to artwork "Slight Fever, 2001" during the presentation of the retrospective art exhibition "Yoshitomo Nara" at the Guggenheim Bilbao Museum in the Spanish Basque city of Bilbao on June 27, 2024\. (Photo by ANDER GILLENEA / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION - TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION (Photo by ANDER GILLENEA/AFP via Getty Images) Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara poses for photographers next to artwork "Slight Fever, 2001" during the presentation of the retrospective art exhibition "Yoshitomo Nara" at the Guggenheim Bilbao Museum in the Spanish Basque city of Bilbao on June 27, 2024\. (Photo by ANDER GILLENEA / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION - TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION (Photo by ANDER GILLENEA/AFP via Getty Images)Ander Gillenea—AFP/Getty Images I recently had a drink with Yoshitomo Nara in Tokyo and left feeling so full of gratitude; it is such a precious gift to know this fine gentleman and the art he has given us. His work is not only childlike, innocent, and direct—it also carries messages that we need to hear, presented in a way we can digest with humor and clarity. Nara is an artist who is truly in the moment, in the spirit. He is alive. When you look at his art, you see and feel him. His love of rock ’n’ roll. How he views the world through the eyes of a child who doesn’t understand why we have war and not peace; why we have killed nature instead of ­living in harmony with her. He is a pure jewel. I feel privileged to know him and am so proud that he is getting [global recognition](https://www.artbasel.com/events/detail/88959/Yoshitomo-Nara-My-Imperfect-Self?lang=en "undefined"), because I can’t think of anyone more deserving. After spending time with Nara, I feel full of his energy and full of excitement to get to know him more as the years unfold. _McCartney is a fashion designer_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2025/7273834/yoshitomo-nara/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2025/7273834/yoshitomo-nara/"},"headline":"Yoshitomo Nara","datePublished":"2025-04-16T10:30:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:46:32.366Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2025/7273834/yoshitomo-nara/","keywords":["TIME100","franchise","Magazine","Special Project","sponsorshipblock","Accolades","t100artists2025"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc903f795d4c17b92/6998c5cc07a30d949477ceb2/time100-2025-yoshitomo-nara.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc903f795d4c17b92/6998c5cc07a30d949477ceb2/time100-2025-yoshitomo-nara.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2025/7273834/yoshitomo-nara/","name":"Yoshitomo Nara"}}]}] ```