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December 25, 2024
 

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CULTURE

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The year saw multiple noteworthy exhibitions dedicated to important artists who passed away in 2024, including neo-pop designer, sculptor and illustrator Keiichi Tanaami, who died in August.
CULTURE / Art / 2024 in Review
A year of ruin and renewal for Japan’s art world in 2024
Amid struggles caused by a weak yen, galleries turned to innovative ideas and collaborations.
CULTURE / Art
‘From 0 to 1’: Aiku Kurotaki’s fabric of existence
The artist's wool sculptures play off the idea of string theory, which conceptualizes subatomic particles as infinitesimal strings vibrating in fixed patterns.
CULTURE / Art
Yuko Mohri is a maestro of unstable elements
After a banner year at the Venice Biennale, the creator of jazzy kinetic sculptures opens her first large-scale exhibition in Japan.
This year’s T3 Photo Festival features work by contemporary artists such as Fuyuhiko Takata, whose video piece “Cut Suits”shows white-collar workers becoming naked by cutting their business attire off of each other. 
CULTURE / Art
Oct 18, 2024
T3 Photo Festival reflects on past and present of the medium
By John L. Tran
The Tokyo event marks the 50th anniversary of a landmark New York show of Japanese photography by juxtaposing images from that era with works by contemporary artists.
The Taro Nasu gallery in Tokyo, with work by the French artist Benoit Pieron on view.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 10, 2024
In Tokyo, the Taro Nasu gallery focuses on conceptual art
By Vivian Morelli
Striving to be unique, the small gallery is bringing attention to artists from around the world whose works have rarely been seen in Japan.
Japan Sword Co. is a regular exhibitor at the Antique Dealers’ Fair & Exhibition in Tokyo. Its booth at a previous event in 2021 featured more than a few treasures.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 10, 2024
Hold history in your hands at this triennial antiques fair in Tokyo
By Zoria Petkoska
Open to the public, the Antique Dealers’ Fair & Exhibition will allow visitors to see pieces up close, which might just spur a purchase.
Bourgeois is perhaps best known among the general public for her giant steel spider sculptures, particularly in Tokyo, where a nearly 10-meter tall bronze cast of the original spider has loomed over the walkway in Roppongi Hills since 2003.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 4, 2024
Japan’s biggest Louise Bourgeois exhibit yet leans into ambivalence
By Thu-Huong Ha
At Tokyo’s Mori Art Museum, a large-scale retrospective of the visionary artist emphasizes her complex feelings toward femininity, memory, parenthood and the human body.
“A Whisper in the Eye of the Storm,” by Canadian artists Caitlind R. C. Brown and Wayne Garrett is an outdoor installation of around 14,000 recycled lenses of varied prescriptions.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 27, 2024
Weather makes for an unpredictable artist at Nagano art festival
By Thu-Huong Ha
Fram Kitagawa’s Northern Alps Art Festival embraces its inconvenient location and the natural elements.
Gwangju Biennale’s artistic director Nicolas Bourriaud developed the theme “Pansori: A Soundscape of the 21st Century” to make the event “an opera you can walk into.”
CULTURE / Art
Sep 21, 2024
Japan’s art world seeks connection at Gwangju Biennale
By Jennifer Pastore
At the longest-running contemporary art festival in East Asia, the Japan Pavilion's display nods to historical tensions between Japan and Korea.
Keiichi Tanaami died on Aug. 9 after a 60-year career as a Pop Art pioneer. He was 88.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 24, 2024
Remembering Keiichi Tanaami's surreal grotesqueries
By Thu-Huong Ha
The Pop Art pioneer passed away at age 88 on Aug. 9. His posthumous retrospective, “Adventures in Memory,” turns nightmare into fantasy.

Is Japan ready for 60 million tourists?
Visitors to Kyoto walk along a street near Kiyomizu Temple in April. A popular tourist spot, Kyoto has seen what locals feel to be an overwhelming amount of tourists in 2024.
Honda-Nissan megamerger in the works
Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida (left), Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe (second from left) and Takao Kato, CEO of Mitsubishi Motors, hold a news conference on merger talks on Monday in Tokyo.
Picturesque Japan hot spring town limits day trippers
Ginzan Onsen hot springs in Obanazawa, Yamagata Prefecture
Bankruptcies and suicides rise as Japanese struggle with mounting debt
Lawyers estimate that personal bankruptcies in Japan are on track to reach the highest since 2012 this year.
Japan accuses Google of violating antimonopoly law
The Japanese antitrust watchdog said that Google forced smartphone makers to preinstall its search app on their devices, sources say.
For baseball fans, 2024 brought The Summer of Shohei Ohtani
Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani reacts to a standing ovation from fans after hitting his 50th home run of the season, against the Marlins in Miami on Sept. 19.
Trump's Pentagon policy pick pushed for Japan to spend 3% of GDP on defense
Elbridge Colby (center) speaks at the Threat and the Strategy panel during the Air Force Association Air, Space and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, in September 2019.
A brief history of ‘osechi ryōri,' Japan's edible tradition for the new year
Japan's traditional New Year cuisine has a long history, though modern developments have led to slight changes in the way things work.
Japan accuses Google of violating antimonopoly law
The Japanese antitrust watchdog said that Google forced smartphone makers to preinstall its search app on their devices, sources say.
Casual workouts, cool living, ‘complete’ food: Japan’s health trends of 2024
In 2024, efficiency trumped effort among Japan's fitness-focused aspirants.

Podcast

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

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Visitors to Kyoto walk along a street near Kiyomizu Temple in April. A popular tourist spot, Kyoto has seen what locals feel to be an overwhelming amount of tourists in 2024.
Is Japan ready for 60 million tourists?
By Kathryn Wortley

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Site designer on why expos matter more than ever

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