Sushi is arguably Japan’s most popular cultural export — and modern design would probably run a close second. So when, in 1988, the two were "combined" in the form of a sushi bar designed by the iconic Shiro Kuramata, well, perhaps it was only a matter of time before the whole thing would be dismantled and shipped abroad.
Now the inevitable has come to pass.
On May 28, some 40 luminaries of the local design world gathered to bid farewell to what was once known as the Kiyotomo sushi bar, a compact, modestly postmodern space tucked into one of the backstreets of Tokyo's Shinbashi district. Those Japanese luminaries were joined by curators from Hong Kong's M+, the still-unopened "museum of visual culture" that acquired the bar's facade and interior and will eventually present them in its permanent display when it opens to the public in 2017.