[1][2] In the 1980s, Teraoka shifted palette and scale to depict AIDS as a subject, transforming his ukiyo-e derived paintings into a darker realm.

In 1989 during a trip to Australia, he realized that the general public as well as some medical practitioners did not fully understand the impact the virus could have on the Australian populace.

He created watercolors based on traditional woodblock prints that depicted kitsune foxes who represent, in Japanese folklore, divine entities who operate as messengers.

[1] These paintings reference modern day social and political issues, such as the September 11 attacks and abuse in the Catholic Church.

In 1996, he was featured in a solo exhibition at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution and in 1997 at the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco.

[6] In 1997, Masami Teraoka: From Tradition to Technology, the Floating World was published by the University of Michigan Press.