Reform-minded art gallery managers in Tokyo's Ginza district are welcoming new kinds of guests, including first-timers and children, with tours to encourage and nurture potential patrons in an attempt to weather the economic downturn.

Ginza Yanagi Gallery Co., a major gallery operator, is leading a joint project with more than 10 other galleries, accepting guests on tours a few times a month in the upscale shopping district, which is dotted with some 200 galleries.

In July, a group of six, including office workers, took part in a tour of five galleries featuring both Western and Japanese paintings.

The guests, taking advantage of the opportunity to talk to gallery operators, asked several questions about the trade, inquiring about such things as the differences between pictures with frames and without them, and the dissimilarity between paintings drawn with mineral pigments and oil colors.

"I didn't want to go to a gallery by myself. But this tour helped me visit one more easily," one participant said.

The minimum price of such tours, including professional lectures and sweets, is ¥2,000.

Yoko Noro, vice president of the art company, said the industry needs reform.

"The art market was too tied up with financial instruments, thus making it hard for ordinary people to approach it," Noro said.

The galleries also tried to increase younger clients by offering a tour of four galleries to 60 third-graders from Taimei Elementary School in Ginza the same month.