Japan occupies an odd niche in the art world. Its own indigenous artistic traditions are balanced against an almost fanboy fascination with certain aspects of the canon of Western art, while there is an often half-hearted attempt to stay plugged into the global contemporary art scene with its various trends and attempts at relevance.
What this boils down to in practice is that many of the big museums put on shows of Western art and/or traditional Japanese art, attracting big audiences, while a few institutions also do their bit to support the more "experimental" side of art, which tends to receive only lukewarm support from the public and collectors.
This is the default setting of the Japanese art world. The only real disruption was caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. This heavily impacted the art world with an inundation of quake-related art and events, as Japan's art establishment struggled to come to terms with the tragedy.
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