There is an idea common today that almost anything can be "art." This probably has something to do with a certain Frenchman who exhibited a urinal as an "artwork" many moons ago; not to mention more recent absurdities. But, despite the looseness of the "art" category, there are occasions when it resists some of the things that museums and curators try push into it. A case in point is the Museum of Modern Art, Hayama's "Beads in Africa" exhibition.

Perhaps inspired by the stunning spectacle of last year's El Anatsui exhibition, which featured artworks by an African artist that were literally made from garbage, the museum has now decided that the time has come to dust off items of African beadwork and elevate these to high art status.

"It is the aim of this exhibition to present this incomparable art form to the world within the context of an art museum," the museum's director, Tsutomu Mizusawa, writes optimistically in the exhibition catalogue.