Featured Events in Tokyo in December 2024 (July Updated)

A 5-minute walk from Oji Station, Oji Jingu Shrine is one of Tokyo's most important shrines, famous for its New Year's parade based on an ancient legend. According to this folk tale, a group of foxes from the Kanto region gathered under a large tree and dressed as humans in an attempt to enter Oji Inari-Jinja, a shrine dedicated to the fox god. This famous story was painted by the famous ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Hiroshige, and it was originally the inspiration for the fox parade held every New Year's Eve since 1993. Participants wear fox masks and carry lanterns as they parade through the streets around Oji Inari Shrine.

MAM Project 032 marks the first chapter of Syrian-French artist Bady Darul's (b. 1986, Paris) traveling exhibition series Land of Dreams, which will be displayed in several international venues over the next few years. Darul has become known for his work that interweaves historical events, themes of global migration, and his own Arab roots with fiction. Having imagined and created stories about fictional countries with his brother as a child, Darul initially produced works using books as his primary medium, but in recent years has expanded his practice to include assemblage, collage, and video. This exhibition recreates the size of Darul's apartment, which he first visited in 2014, and brings together works created over the past decade in that space, highlighting the central themes of encounter and migration in his work. Darul has often combined his own life story and thoughts with the personal histories of others, such as Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl who died in the Hiroshima atomic bombing, and Syrian immigrants living and working in Japan today. His work is politically charged, as it depicts universal human issues that transcend borders, identities and geographical constraints, in a sharp, sometimes humorous, and multifaceted way. Land of Dreams travels backwards through the 16th century expansion of European colonialism by traveling from East Asia to the Middle East and then to Western Europe. Starting from the first European arrival of the Portuguese in Japan in 1543, the exhibition connects the various histories of these three regions and explores the route across the Middle East in response to the personal story of Darul, the son of Syrian immigrants who moved to France. Land of Dreams is a joint project conceived by the Mori Art Museum, the Jameel Arts Centre (Dubai) and the Gulbenkian Modern Art Centre (Lisbon).

When did the aesthetic appreciation of excavated artifacts begin, and when did excavated artifacts begin to appear in artworks? The story of how Taro Okamoto and Isamu Noguchi "discovered" the aesthetic value of excavated artifacts, which had previously been treated as archaeological materials, after the war has become legendary. The very clear binary opposition of "Jomon vs. Yayoi" developed into the so-called "tradition debate" among people involved in architecture and art in the mid-1950s. However, since the modern era, these two are not the only people who have focused on artifacts dug up from the ground. Excavated artifacts have sparked cultural phenomena in a wide range of fields, not only in art, but also in crafts, architecture, photography, film, theater, literature, traditional performing arts, thought, and even television programs. Why did the excavated artifacts attract so much attention at one time, how did their reputation spread, and why did artists become so passionate about unearthing the artifacts? This exhibition focuses on art, tracing the genealogy of "excavated motifs" that have emerged on the stage of cultural history from the Meiji period to the present, while exploring the changes in the way people have looked at haniwa, earthenware, and clay figurines. By unravelling history and learning about its complex subtleties, the cultural and social "strata" that lie beneath our feet will emerge.

Takesada Matsutani is a Japanese avant-garde artist living in Paris and Nishinomiya. Matsutani has been active as a painter since the 1950s, and his practice also includes object-based sculpture, prints, and installations. Matsutani was a member of the Figurative Society from 1963 until its disbandment in 1972.

The moon has fascinated people since ancient times and has been a theme in culture and art around the world. One Hundred Aspects of the Moon is a series of works by Yoshitoshi Tsukioka that depict various themes related to the moon. Tsukioka was active from the late Edo period (1603-1868) to the Meiji period (1868-1912) and is considered the last ukiyo-e woodblock artist. The series depicts aspects of the moon related to a variety of themes, including Japanese and Chinese stories, historical anecdotes, warriors, women, monsters, and ghosts. The exhibition will feature 20 works from One Hundred Aspects of the Moon in two sections, as well as works by contemporary artists who also use the moon as a theme. Visitors can experience an immersive world filled with works related to the moon, such as spaces depicted in ukiyo-e woodblock prints where the moon appears to appear before your eyes, and the combination of architecture and moon art.

Visit the beautiful yet sad world of beloved anime Tokyo Ghoul through 3D exhibits, interactive experiences, and photorealistic imagery.

This special exhibition focuses on gold and silver colors in ceramic painting decoration. The exhibited works include Chinese ceramics, which were the first to be made in the world, and Islamic Rasta, which uses colorants such as copper oxide and silver oxide to create a shining metallic luster, as well as Japanese ceramics that have been constantly working on gold and silver colors since the 17th century. Through these gold and silver color decorations, you can surely feel the rich connotation and unique personality of Japanese ceramic culture.

The founder of the museum, Matsuoka Seijiro, was familiar with Gidayu from a young age. During wartime, he visited soldiers to entertain them and gave passionate performances. He was also involved in the establishment of the Gidayu Association, a general incorporated association, which was launched in 1970, and provided financial support. In his art collection, he has amassed a large number of paintings themed around Bunraku. He also has a collection of other paintings themed around Noh masks and Noh and Kabuki, which suggests that he was a broad lover of traditional performing arts. This time, we will guide you into the world of traditional performing arts, focusing on paintings themed around Bunraku, Noh, Kabuki, and more.

A new mineral (= new mineral) composed mainly of rare earths, discovered on Mt. Suisho in Kawamata Town, Fukushima Prefecture, was named Miyawakiite-(Y) and a paper on it was published on October 25, 2024. This exhibition will display the type specimen (type specimen) used in research on the new species and registered at the National Museum of Nature and Science.

The Japan Camera Museum (Director: Kei Tanino) will hold a special exhibition, "From the 19th Century to the 21st Century: Jumping Out! Expanding! The History of Stereo and Panoramic Cameras" from Tuesday, October 29, 2024 to Sunday, February 2, 2025. A stereo camera is a camera that uses two lenses side by side to capture the same subject. When you view the two photos with each eye using a viewer, you can see the subject in three dimensions. Panoramic cameras are cameras that capture a wide range, and various types have been made, such as those that use ultra-wide-angle lenses and those that rotate the lens or camera body. Today, there are more and more news about XR (cross reality), VR (virtual reality), AR (augmented reality), MR (mixed reality), and other technologies, and opportunities to actually experience them are increasing. The challenge to realize these did not start in modern times, but has been undertaken since the 1830s, when the imaging medium "photography" was born, and it is clear that people have long sought imaging and visual experiences. This special exhibition focuses on cameras that take "stereo (three-dimensional) photographs" and "panoramic photographs," which could be said to be the origins of such visual experiences, and introduces the process of their evolution. Actual materials will be exhibited tracing the history of cameras that take stereo photographs, viewing devices, and cameras that take panoramic photographs. Additionally, one part of the venue will have a corner where you can actually view stereo photographs, as well as an exhibition of panoramic photographs.

At Showa Kinen Park (Tachikawa City, Tokyo), the "Autumn Night Walk 2024" event will be held from October 31 (Thursday) to December 1, with lights at night that make the yellow and autumn leaves stand out even more. Held on Sunday. This year is the fifth time it has been held, and in addition to the lighting of the ginkgo trees and the Japanese garden, the bonsai garden, which celebrates the 20th anniversary of the opening of the park, will also be open at night, and the bonsai trees can also be illuminated. Enjoy a "special autumn" different from previous years, including the display of famous products not seen in other festivals. The highlight of this year is the Bonsai Garden Night View event. The Bonsai Garden was established in November 2004 as Japan's first state-run mature bonsai exhibition facility. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the opening of the park, and we will hold a special Bonsai Garden Night View event. In order to show the best qualities of bonsai, we pay special attention to the color and lighting of the lights, and we also work on the fusion of traditional Japanese culture and digital technology, such as using a large projector to project moving images. The illuminations of the "Kataai Ginkgo Trees" and "Japanese Gardens", which are held every year, will continue. The "Kataai Ginkgo Trees", in particular, is a very popular photo spot with a sound and light show, and 98 ginkgo trees are lined up in a row for 300m, which is spectacular. In addition, the Japanese Garden welcomes visitors with "Japanese" effects, such as the use of Japanese umbrellas and wind chimes, and free rental of Japanese umbrellas. Strolling along the pond, you can see about 300 maple trees illuminated by lights and pine trees covered with snow. A wonderful view different from the daytime will unfold.

Pace is pleased to present an exhibition of work by American artist Arlene Shechet at its recently opened Tokyo gallery in Azabudai Hills.On view from November 1 to December 21, Arlene Shechet: Beyond Belief marks the artist’s first-ever solo show in Japan. Bringing together sculptures, works on paper, and tapestries, this presentation will offer a broad view of Shechet’s diverse body of work. The upcoming exhibition in Tokyo coincides with the final days of her acclaimed presentation Arlene Shechet: Girl Group, featuring six new large-scale outdoor sculptures, at Storm King Art Center in New York. Born in New York City in 1951 and now based in upstate New York, Shechet is widely known for her genre-defying ceramics and evocatively titled hybrid sculptures that combine steel, clay, and wood. Simultaneously organic and architectural, her works invent new vocabularies and push the boundaries of sculpture and space. Uniting seemingly disparate shapes, colors, and materials, Shechet’s works, while abstract, are imbued with psychological and emotional resonances to invite reflection and empathy. She is represented in major museum collections around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Whitney Museum of American Art in New York; the National Gallery of Art and Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C.; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, Texas; the Centre Pompidou in Paris; and the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney.

The Ishibashi Foundation Collection now consists of approximately 3,000 works, including Impressionist paintings from the latter half of the nineteenth century, modern paintings from the twentieth century, modern Japanese paintings from the Meiji period on, postwar Abstract paintings, early modern art from Japan and elsewhere in East Asia, and ancient Greek and Roman art. Here we introduce, throughout the year, a variety of works selected from the collection. Special Section Matisse’s Studio Interiors were consistently important elements in paintings by Henri Matisse (1869-1954). Particularly from the 1940s on, his studio was a vitally important space, where daily life and creating came together. This exhibition, in connection with the acquisition of his Dancer and Rocaille Armchair, Black Background (1942), explores, through works in the Ishibashi Foundation Collection and from multiple viewpoints, the role of the studio in Matisse’s paintings.

Pliny the Elder’s encyclopedic Naturalis Historia (77 CE) includes the story of the daughter of a ceramic tile maker in Corinth, a city in ancient Greece, wanting a record of the young man she loved, who was setting out on a trip. She drew an outline of his shadow on the wall. In the latter half of the eighteenth and the early nineteenth century, that story was often mentioned as the origin of painting. In fact, if we look at the history of art in Europe, “depicting a person,” figure painting, has long been a significant element in creating works. For example, self-portraits have been both opportunities to display one’s skill and experimental settings for trying new styles. Portrait painting has been a staple source of painters’ livelihoods. In addition to actual human figures, portraits also depict the characters in stories. This exhibition introduces the abundance of paintings of the human figure.

This exhibition explores the emotion of nostalgia (“sentimentality for the past”) found in nostalgic landscapes. “Nostalgia” derives from a compound of the Greek nostos (“homecoming”) and álgos (“pain”) meaning the emotional ache of being unable to return to one’s homeland. Originally denoting homesickness, the word today refers broadly to the complex emotions we feel when encountering scenes or situations that stimulate our recollections of days gone by. This exhibition features artists of diverse generations whose works range from nostalgic paintings of everyday hometown life and memories of people to expressions of fantastic art. Viewers are invited to soak up “scenes that live in memory,” reminisce about old times, and enjoy sweet and sour feelings of nostalgia. Nostalgia is not always sentimentality about the past, however; it also has a power to refresh our spirit by helping us remember our childhood dreams and original aspirations. We hope your journey in a world of nostalgic images, conjured by artists of vastly different generations and backgrounds, will help you face life anew in these times of drastic change.

It is a "starry forest" where you feel as if you can reach the stars. Enjoy the wonderful lights on the lush open terrace. The concept of the "OMOHARA Christmas Lights" is to decorate the rooftop terrace "Omohara no Mori" surrounded by trees, and the image is based on the image of a "starry forest" where you can almost touch the stars. The scene depicts many shooting stars falling in the center of the Omotesando Harajuku area, and the lights extend from the central courtyard to the trees lining the street. During the period, the forest is decorated with ornaments and leaves with animal patterns such as polar bears and reindeer, and you can feel the warmth. Even if you are in the city center, you can enjoy the fantastic lights on the open terrace surrounded by lush greenery.

What meanings does the word “nostalgia” have? Nostalgia is what we feel when recalling things now lost or places and times we can never revisit. We may also get a feeling of wistfulness, similar to nostalgia, when looking at a photo or painting of a scene that is new to us. Through paintings, prints, photographs, and drawings held in the collections of Tokyo Metropolitan museums and administrated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Collection, this exhibition traces Japan’s changing landscapes from the early 20th century to the present, in order to ponder the character of the “nostalgia” people have discovered in them. The nostalgia manifest in works by artists such as Kawase Hasui and Domon Ken is liable to touch anyone, even if the times they portray differ entirely. The “nostalgia” of Taisho- and early Showa-era scenes, lost in Japan’s rush to modernize, and the “nostalgia” of the American culture sweeping the nation after the war can touch us in same way as the “nostalgia” of townscapes that fell to homogenized redevelopment in Japan’s period of rapid economic growth. Our thoughts of bygone days encourage us to reflect meaningfully on our lives, feel empathy for other people, and sustain hope for the future. This exhibition, by showing the diversity and constancy of “nostalgia,” offers viewers an opportunity to reflect on themselves as members of today’s turbulent society.

The Tokyo Dome City Winter Illumination is one of the most popular light events in Tokyo in winter. It is famous for its unique theme and design, using LED lights to create a dreamy landscape that covers every corner of Tokyo Dome City. The event usually starts in mid-November and lasts until around mid-February of the following year. No additional tickets are required to watch the event, which is very suitable for families, couples or tourists to visit at night.

Perrotin Tokyo presents Parlour, an exhibition by Jens Fänge that invites us into a world of echoes and fragments—a domain that feels less like a room than a shadow of a room. The term parlour itself reaches back to the Middle Ages, when in monasteries silence was absolute, save for the parlour, the sole room where conversation could resume. Here, Fänge’s parlour becomes a private, domestic theater where people, animals, and ordinary objects appear like half-remembered scenes, familiar yet spliced and rearranged, as if he has reanimated an interior world from elsewhere, conjuring it through a kind of painterly alchemy.

Pacel Gallery is pleased to announce a group exhibition in November featuring the work of Xu Zhen, one of the most sought-after Chinese artists. Works by Lu Pingyuan and Li Hanwei will also be included, both represented by MadeIn Gallery, founded by Xu Zhen. MadeIn Gallery was founded in 2014 with Xu Zhen’s vision of “always keeping an eye on the infinite possibilities in art and culture.” The gallery has become a major player on the international stage, and has recently participated in Art Basel and Frieze Los Angeles. “Competitive Meditation” is a phrase that appears in Xu Zhen’s latest series of Zen paintings. For his recent solo exhibition at the Yoshimotogang Art Center, Tibet’s first contemporary art institution, Xu Zhen created a series of works that reference the Japanese Zen painting tradition and overlay political cartoons. Zen painting originated during the Song and Yuan dynasties, and was further developed in Japanese culture, and now takes on more dynamic forms such as manga and animation. Xu Zhen’s artistic practice encompasses this complex cultural spectrum, condensing it into a seemingly simple yet profound “enlightenment.” Through this concept, the artist does not intend to evoke a significant meaning outside of the art itself, but rather aims to make us aware of the basic existence that is always a part of our lives. By stripping his work of the overly mythological weight, Xu Zhen maintains a calm, neutral stance, even suggesting a willingness to be the object of criticism, rather than just the critic. Currently (until November 2024), Lu Pingyuan is also participating in a group exhibition at the Centre Pompidou. Since 2012, Lu Pingyuan has been constructing a series of works that are at the intersection of fiction and reality. In his “Good Fortune” series, Lu Pingyuan considers artificial intelligence as a new ideological construction, giving AI the role of “god”, inputting self-created story texts and traditional mythological images into AI, thus giving rise to new mythological images. By using traditional Chinese paper-cutting techniques, which were historically used to summon gods, he once again materializes these “gods” from paper. In his long-term interaction with AI to depict sacred figures, Lu Pingyuan criticizes this “useless but necessary” human behavior while reclaiming its meaning. His “Language Game” series visualizes human language as a living organism. By using the traditional Chinese ink painting technique of “leaving blank space”, Lu Pingyuan’s work not only represents dialogue, but also reveals a vast and silent realm that transcends the scope of language. In contrast, Li Hanwei’s work examines how emerging technologies intervene and increasingly dominate our perceptions, communication methods, and identity construction. In new works from the “Witness” series, which are being exhibited for the first time at PARCEL, Li Hanwei uses advanced information processing technologies, including AI mapping, fingerprint recognition, CG rendering, and 3D printing. These works explore the increasingly blurred boundaries between humans and machines. Although these technologies seem to offer apparent freedom, in fact, they are subject to many “inevitable limitations” - a situation that cleverly alludes to our highly mediated daily environment. Li Hanwei’s work always prompts viewers to reflect on how these limitations permeate even the most seemingly liberating technologies. This exhibition will mark the first public presentation of Xu Zhen’s latest works in Japan, as well as all other works on display. At a time when painting faces evolving media that challenge its original value, the exhibition explores the thematic tensions generated by certainty and ambiguity between various media, covering a variety of creative forms from ink painting and paper cutting to Zen painting, as well as two-dimensional and three-dimensional digital printing. More than sixty years ago, Daisetz Suzuki wrote: "In a mechanized worldview, an industrialized society, and a field of thought driven by conceptualism, the creative instinct of human beings is suppressed. If we continue along this path, I believe we will inevitably move towards the tragic fate of mutual destruction." In the contemporary era, we are not facing a single overwhelming crisis, but a multitude of dispersed and scattered problems. Artists and their works are constantly asked to provide solutions, but we also face the risk of forgetting that art must first retain its independence and self-awareness. This exhibition challenges us to re-examine the concept of "competitive meditation" and provides us with an opportunity to reflect on artworks and ourselves in this context. —— Jin Qiuyu, curator.

This fifth edition of the museum’s “Corporations and Art” series looks at the diverse business activities of the Tokyu Corporation. Through such perspectives as “Tokyu and the Neighborhoods of Setagaya,” “Tokyu and Urban Development,” and “Tokyu and Culture,” we examine the historical relationship between the company and Setagaya, the changes undergone by the area’s neighborhoods and lifestyles, and the ways in which Tokyu’s cultural activities have contributed to society. Photographs, works of art and literature, videos, models and maps illustrate the cultural environment that Tokyu has nourished over the past century.