When the National Art Center Tokyo was inaugurated Jan. 21, it was expected to attract about 1.5 million visitors in its first year.

But the facility, which has become part of a trendsetting "art triangle" in the fashionable Roppongi redevelopment area, has already cleared its target.

An exhibition of Claude Monet, a founding member of the Impressionists, drew about 700,000 alone.