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October 14, 2025
 

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CULTURE

Art

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Ryan Gander’s “The Find” transforms Okayama into the site of a scavenger hunt for coins that anyone is free to take home.
CULTURE / Art
Artists turn Okayama into Murakami-esque city of wonder
The fourth edition of the triennial Okayama Art Summit transmutes the sensibility of Haruki Murakami’s “1Q84” into an urban art program.
CULTURE / Art
Artist Ari Bayuaji materializes monsters from ocean plastic
From his series “Weaving the Ocean,” the demon Rangda is on display at Go for Kogei 2025, while the more benevolent Barong sits in a glass case in Roppongi.
CULTURE / Art
Architecture art exhibition highlights unsung industry artists
For only the second time in its 39-year history, the “Architecture in Perspective” exhibition will take place in Japan's capital.
“Between Currents and Bloom,” an eye-popping crocheted seascape by Indonesian artist Mulyana, dazzles with Instagram-ready cuteness while recalling a vibrant ocean now threatened by warming seas.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 22, 2025
Aichi Triennale’s message to the art world: Free Palestine
By Thu-Huong Ha
At Aichi Triennale 2025, Hoor Al Qasimi, the festival’s first foreign artistic director, takes a stand in support of Palestine.
Shuji Nakagawa created a teahouse using the same technique for making traditional wooden buckets.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 19, 2025
A bucket becomes a house in the hands of craftsman Shuji Nakagawa
By Thu-Huong Ha
At Go for Kogei 2025, a third-generation woodworker envisions new forms for a humble vessel.
One notable section of the “Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989-2010” exhibition is a predominantly pink room featuring works that explore the lives of Asian women, such as Minako Nishiyama’s “The Pinku House”and footage of Lee Bul’s performance “Sorry for suffering — You think I’m a puppy on a picnic?”
CULTURE / Art
Sep 19, 2025
‘Prism of the Real’ makes two turbulent decades tangible with art
By Jennifer Pastore
Born of a partnership between The National Art Center, Tokyo and M+, the show reveals how artists across borders grappled with a changing world.
Shinji Ohmaki’s “Tokinokage” exhibited at Fuji Textile Week 2021 shows the use of fabric as art.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 13, 2025
Japan's major art events converge this fall
By Zoria Petkoska and Thu-Huong Ha
Dozens of biennials, triennials, art festivals and fairs are taking place between September and December.
A <i>shunga</i> work by Utagawa Toyokuni (1769-1825) is on display at an exhibition of erotic Japanese art in the Kabukicho red-light entertainment area in the Shinjuku district of central Tokyo.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 8, 2025
Traditional Japanese erotic art exhibition puts female pleasure in focus
By Tomohiro Osaki
An erotic form of ukiyo-e, shunga is often dismissed as mere pornography. An exhibition in Kabukicho aims to highlight its artistry.
Artist Nikita Kadan and dancer Min Tanaka modeled their art and choreography respectively on prosthetic limbs as commentary on the island’s history of being a center for isolating people with Hansen’s disease.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 23, 2025
Healing Oshima Island's history of disease with a touch of art
By Uliana Dobrova
Min Tanaka opened the Setouchi Triennale’s summer session on Oshima, Kagawa Prefecture, with a site-specific dance at Nikita Kadan’s sculpture, an allegory for support.
The inverted cone, one of Atsushi Kitagawara’s six signature elements in architecture, is a key feature of the Nakamura Keith Haring Collection museum building.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 16, 2025
Atsushi Kitagawara’s exhibition finds poetry in architecture
By Gendel Gento
Award-winning architect Kitagawara's work is displayed at the Nakamura Keith Haring Collection museum he designed, making it both a venue and a centerpiece of the exhibition.

As the Osaka Expo comes to a close, what will its legacy be?
After a run-up marked by apathy, organizers soon found they had the opposite problem as crowd control became a concern.
Ghost of Yotei’s bloodstained fun sidesteps Ainu identity
Ghost of Yotei, the follow-up to 2020's smash hit Ghost of Tsushima, is a violent, vengeful and engaging romp through 17th-century Hokkaido that fails to stick the landing on its most sensitive cultural material.
After ruling bloc collapses, LDP and opposition scramble to find needed votes for PM
Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday after leaving the ruling coalition earlier in the day.
What if everything we think about obesity is wrong?
Recent research shows obesity may be driven by ultraprocessed and hyperpalatable foods that disrupt fullness signals and lead to overeating.
After plenty of ups and downs, Osaka Expo concludes with message of unity
The sun sets on the Grand Ring on the final day of the Osaka Expo on Monday.
Ghost of Yotei’s bloodstained fun sidesteps Ainu identity
Ghost of Yotei, the follow-up to 2020's smash hit Ghost of Tsushima, is a violent, vengeful and engaging romp through 17th-century Hokkaido that fails to stick the landing on its most sensitive cultural material.
At Osaka Expo, gas giants promote a greener future. But is it a lot of hot air?
The Gas Pavilion had welcomed around 500,000 visitors by the end of August, making it one of the most popular exhibits at the Osaka Expo.
‘Takaichi trade’ starts unwinding as political calculus upended by Komeito exit
Less than a week ago, Sanae Takaichi seemed set to become Japan's first female prime minister.
‘Save the Ring’ calls intensify as Osaka Expo’s end nears
Visitors lounge on the grassy hill on the top of the Grand Ring during the 2025 Osaka Expo in the city of Osaka in May.
A Japanese comedian walks into an Aussie bar … and stays there
Takashi “Waka” Wakasugi stopped by the Tokyo Comedy Bar in Shibuya Ward last month following his stint at Edinburgh Festival Fringe performing his show “Comedy Samurai.”

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building
By Patrick St. Michel

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