This paper examines the Japanese contemporary art’s affinity with subculture by looking into the work of Aida Makoto (1965-), who employs visual and narrative elements drawn from Japanese contemporary subculture in expressing his explicit ‘anti-modern’ or ‘anti-western’ view. The flourishing subculture in contemporary Japanese society could have been resulted from the lack of modernist culture or system. This can be related to the troubling issue of modernity in Japan, which was once the earliest ‘modernized’ nation in Asia, yet totally defeated in WWII. Although the seminar of ‘kindai-no-chokoku (overcoming modernity)’ held in 1942 did not produce any productive discussion on overcoming the west, it served as a theoretical background to justify the Japanese invasionist policy and the eventual fantasy to overcome the West. Upon the forced ending of WWII by the attack of two atomic bombs, however, the issue of modernity in Japan in relation to the west became more complicated. Aida approaches complicated the issue of modernity in Japan by touching on the following four aspects;a hatred of the generalized notion of western modernity, a resistance to Modernism as an artistic style, a cynicism about Japanized Modernist art, and an unresolved relationship between Japan and ‘modernity,’ addressed by ‘kindai-no-chokoku.’ It should be noted that Aida’s adoption of subculture reveals his evasive view avoiding modernist methods. By drawing on Japanese subcultural media such as manga, animation or games, which is largely (science-)fictional, tragi-comic, slapstick or nonsensical, Aida attacks modernism by curtailing its seriousness. Instead of providing a serious criticism of modernism, Aida’s work widens the gap between the historical reality and what is represented. By means of exaggerated and comical attacks, Aida ironically achieves a gradual deconstruction of the authoritarian modern.