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He says the PIE title “Something Wicked from Japan: Ghosts, Demons & Yokai in Ukiyo-e Masterpieces” is among the top all-time Apparition bestsellers.

Nods to L.A.’s urban sprawl are paired with vivid graffiti lettering and spray paint, punctuated with blazes of gold leaf and carefully rendered figures inspired by Japanese Ukiyo-e art.

Roasted carrots are strung from the ceiling; halved baguettes stand pointed ends up in thick swirls of butter that resemble waves from Japanese ukiyo-e paintings.

Too often, he said, English-reading audiences conceive of Japanese fiction as akin to Ukiyo-e woodblock painting with a “koan-like inscrutability,” Malissa said.

When Japan announced its reopening to business travelers and international students earlier this month, Tatsumasa Sakai, 70, the fifth-generation owner of a shop that sells ukiyo-e, or woodblock prints, in Asakusa, a popular tourist destination in Tokyo, hoped that the move was a first step toward further reopening.