It is difficult to criticize Art Fair Tokyo, the commercial art fair that celebrates its ninth edition at Tokyo International Forum in Yurakucho this weekend. Truth be told, it's a wonder that the event has reached nine editions at all, what with the inherent fickleness of the art market and Japan's interminably sluggish economy — not to mention the financial crisis of 2007 and the Great East Japan Earthquake and nuclear disaster of 2011.
For evidence of how tough it must have been to keep the event going since it was first held, back in 2005, look no further than the list of pretenders that tried to pull off something similar during the same period but ultimately threw in the towel: 101 Tokyo, Art@Agnes Art Fair, Tokyo Frontline, Emerging Directors' Art Fair: Ultra, +Plus The Art Fair and G-tokyo, the last of which announced earlier this year that it was folding for good.
It is also worth noting that AFT itself was a reboot of a bigger and brasher — but ultimately short-lived — fair called NICAF, or International Contemporary Art Fair Japan, which flamed out in 2003 after eight editions.