It is practically impossible to beat the odds and attain major recognition and success in Japan as an individual artist. When an artist does achieve success it is usually the result of a miracle -- or nepotism. It is not uncommon for gallerists who want to promote a particular artist to arrange a show for them overseas before holding one here, hailing them as having "made it" in New York or wherever to boost their local appeal.
The reasons for this dire situation, and why under the current circumstances Japan will never see the equivalent of the New York art scene of the 1980s or the YBA (Young British Artists) phenomena of the 1990s -- love it or hate it -- are obvious. There is simply little or no government support for contemporary art and consequently little public support or comprehension. In this climate of ignorance gallery attendance is low and falling. The bulk of what funds the government does allocate to culture go to traditional fine and performing arts, like pottery, kabuki and noh. All well and good, but that leaves the realm of contemporary art marginalized, and the artists struggling in a cultural and financial vacuum.
In addition to this, the art market is not competitive -- there are not enough hungry gallerists reliant on making a "discovery" to get rich or even on making a sale to pay the rent. The majority simply do not need to because they make money off the artist, who pays to exhibit -- sometimes as much as 200,000 yen and more for as short a time as a week. The few commercial galleries (dealer galleries) are run by gallerists who are usually independently wealthy and treat their work more as a hobby than a business.