When the all-night outdoor art extravaganza Roppongi Art Night kicks off at 5:59 p.m. — sunset — on Saturday, it will represent the realization of many different goals long held by many different people.
Soon after the Mori Art Museum opened within the Roppongi Hills development in 2003, people were looking ahead to 2007, when it would be joined nearby by the National Art Center, Tokyo, and the Suntory Museum of Art, in the Midtown development. When all three museums opened, people thought, they would surely get together to hold some big art event that would firmly establish the night-club mecca of Roppongi as Tokyo's new cultural center. Those expectations were expressed in the pages of major newspapers, meetings within the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and in action plans within Minato Ward.
At the center of it all was Fumio Nanjo, then deputy director, now director, of the Mori. In his capacity as Roppongi Art Night Organizing Committee chairperson, he explained how expectations for Roppongi resulted in the upcoming event.