Darren Gore

With an abundance of art shows happening this season, it'll be hard to catch all of the latest installations before they disappear. Nonetheless, we've got a list of the top art exhibitions taking place in some of Tokyo's most popular galleries to help you figure out where to start – we've also included free exhibitions in this list. For a full day of art excursions, you should also check out Tokyo's best street art and outdoor sculptures, or fill your Instagram feed at the newly reopened teamLab Borderless. Note that some museums and galleries require making reservations in advance to prevent overcrowding at the venues.  RECOMMENDED: Escape the city with the best art day trips from Tokyo

Tokyo is one of the world's top food cities. Not only do we possess the most number of Michelin stars in the world, we are also home to the best restaurant and pizza in Asia. However, it's not just the international accolades that make Tokyo a beloved foodie destination. This vibrant, cosmopolitan city has a diverse and dynamic restaurant scene, with countless new openings popping up on a daily basis. To help you keep track of all that's new in Tokyo, we've compiled in this list some of Tokyo's most buzz-worthy and high-profile new venues which opened within the last six months or so. Here you'll find a cool, contemporary take on izakaya fare, a surprisingly affordable wagyu beef bowl, modernist cuisines by way of internationally celebrated chefs who run Michelin-starred restaurants in their home countries, and more. RECOMMENDED: 8 best no-reservation restaurants, cafés and bars in Tokyo

This family-friendly destination, located in suburban Tachikawa, is devoted to the important (for all ages!) concept of play. Sitting just outside the vast Showa Kinen Park, it comprises an art museum focused on the expression of ‘play’, together with a one-of-a-kind indoor play area named Play Park. You’ll also find a smaller, similarly play-focused café and shop on the premises. Play Museum (stylised as 'Play! Museum') holds four themed special shows each year, in which exhibits encompassing storybooks, anime, manga, poetry, installations and more come together to captivate children and adults alike. Previous events have included exhibitions celebrating perennial favourites Miffy, Winnie the Pooh, and ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ creator Eric Carle. Play Park, meanwhile, is an indoor playground where kids are encouraged to think for themselves through encounters with the new and unknown. In place of the play apparatuses typically found in parks, an assortment of architects and other creatives have developed highly original play equipment, in which the method of play is not immediately obvious. Instead, youngsters get to enjoy working this out for themselves. Play Park also features zones where children and parents/carers can play together.

The 21st-century reinvention of Shibuya nears completion with the staggered opening of Shibuya Sakura Stage. This 254,620-square-metre complex, centred on the Sakuragaokacho district south of Shibuya Station, is the fifth and final element of developer Tokyu Group’s transformation of ever-vibrant Shibuya, following projects including Shibuya Stream (2017) and Shibuya Scramble Square (2019). Shibuya Sakura Stage, which gets a grand opening on July 26 2024, now makes for much smoother pedestrian journeys both into the heart of Shibuya from the south, and in the opposite direction over into Daikanyama and Ebisu. Gone is the confusion of old, resolved by some stunning new public architecture: the lower levels of the complex’s 39-floor Shibuya Tower contain an ‘Urban Core’ where escalators and stairs are embedded into what looks like a supersized masterpiece of futuristic abstract sculpture. Also welcome in a district largely dominated by major brands will be Shibuya Sakura Stage’s role as a platform for independent and emerging businesses and creatives. In addition to around 100 stores opening on the lower floors of the Shibuya Tower and its 30-storey sister Sakura Tower, the development will be home to Manoma, a centre to support entrepreneurs and creatives working in the food and drink industry, as well as a ‘global creation base’ named 404 Not Found. The latter facility will host events from a diverse mix of creatives encompassing music, art, food, tech and more. Out in the op

Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978; Greek-born and of Italian parentage) astounded the art world of the 1910s with paintings of town squares and interior scenes that combined sharp clarity with distorted perspectives, disparate motifs, and a fantastical atmosphere in order to convey the strangeness that he felt was concealed just beyond the everyday. The artist later dubbed this style ‘metaphysical painting’. This major retrospective is the first large-scale showing of de Chirico’s work in Japan in a decade. The artist’s almost seven-decade-long career is explored comprehensively through a series of themed sections including ‘Metaphysical Interior’, ‘Mannequin’ and ‘Piazza d'Italia (Italian Piazza)’. As these exhibits trace, after 1919 the artist pursued a more classical style of painting, yet still drew upon motifs from his earlier, more dreamlike work. Surrealist trailblazers Salvador Dalí and René Magritte, themselves no strangers to the uncanny, were among those blown away by de Chirico’s metaphysical paintings. This show, which also includes the artist’s sculptures and set designs, is a rare opportunity to immerse oneself in de Chirico’s singular vision. The exhibition is closed on Monday (except May 6, Jul 8, Aug 12) as well as May 7 and July 9-16.

Following its rather upmarket take on conveyor belt sushi with Omotesando’s Kaitensushi Ginza Onodera, the operator of NYC’s Michelin-starred Sushi Ginza Onodera now takes a similarly elevated-yet-casual approach to ramen. Noodle Ginza Onodera, the group’s first venture into this field, is again located in fashionable Omotesando. Onodera has tapped a perhaps unlikely figure to head up its debut ramen joint. Keiichi Terada has won acclaim (and a Michelin star, four years running) for introducing wood grilling to French cuisine at the group’s Makiyaki Ginza Onodera restaurant. The less-than-predictable choice of chef, though, brings something special to the (usually) humble bowl of ramen. Noodle Ginza Onodera’s soup, which is slowly simmered with roast duck and a variety of aromatic vegetables, is intended to reach the heights of umami. The egg noodles themselves are custom-made to an exclusive recipe using only flour sourced from Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido. For the full expression of Terada’s vision of gourmet-level ramen, try the Noodle Ginza Onodera Supreme, which features truffle wontons among its toppings. This restaurant looks set to be the template for Onodera Group's future ramen-centric openings both in Japan and internationally, in the same way the group has rolled out branches of Sushi Ginza Onodera across the globe.

This debut Japanese solo show from Chicago-born Theaster Gates takes place at one of Tokyo’s most prestigious art venues. Gates’s rise to prominence is very much part of the art world’s increasing recognition of the voices of African-American and other non-white communities. A truly multi-disciplinary creative – focused primarily on sculpture and ceramics but also working in architecture, music, performance, fashion and design – Gates strives to preserve and promote Black culture via projects as large as a Chicago initiative that has transformed over 40 abandoned buildings into public art spaces. Also key to Gates’s vision, and a central theme of this show, is the influence that Japanese cultural and craft traditions have had on the artist over the past two decades. From initially travelling to Japan in 2004 to study ceramics, encounters and explorations over the subsequent decades have led Gates to formulate 'Afro-Mingei'. This is a creative ideology inspired by Gates’s identification of a spirit of resistance shared by Afro-American culture and Japan’s Mingei folk crafts movement. It imagines Black aesthetics and Japanese craft philosophies coming together in our globalised era to form a future hybrid culture. This exhibition explores the Afro-Mingei concept through installations including a revolving, mirror-surfaced 'iceberg' that pays homage to Chicago house music, and an endlessly reverberating church organ. There are also works utilising materials as disparate as Japan

Animal life is not something commonly associated with Tokyo – a city that, arguably more than any other world capital, is built for human convenience. Nonetheless, as this exhibition vividly demonstrates, the relationship between Tokyoites and animals has run deep ever since the city’s establishment as Edo over four centuries ago. Around 240 exhibits, on loan from the vast collection of the Edo-Tokyo Museum, explore this human-beast connection from the establishment of the Edo Shogunate in 1603 through to more recent times. This show is an expanded ‘homecoming’ edition of ‘Un Bestiare Japonais’, a highly acclaimed event held at Paris’ Maison de la culture du Japon in 2022 and 2023. Tokyo’s love of cats and dogs, still highly evident today, is seen here in pieces ranging from ukiyo-e woodblock prints from the masters of that genre, to the often cute motifs used in both traditional crafts and more modern toys and ornaments. A print by the legendary Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858; shown in the exhibition’s second half) features a plump domestic cat as it gazes from a window, with Mt Fuji on the distant horizon. Less lovable creatures are referenced too, as in Harunobu Suzuki’s (1724-1770; exhibition’s second half) depiction of a mother and her child hanging up a mosquito net. Edo and Tokyo history is illuminated through this diverse selection of exhibits. Pre-mass industrialisation, the city relied heavily upon the ‘labour’ of horses, and a section unique to this Tokyo edition fea

This is the very first opportunity to view the National Museum of Western Art’s complete set of ‘The Disasters of War’, a series of prints by Francisco de Goya (1746-1828) depicting the Spanish War of Independence. Across some 82 monochrome images, the Spanish artist unflinchingly documents the suffering, both civilian and military, caused by this conflict against invading French forces that lasted from 1808 until 1814. Goya also sharply satirises the political moves that went on behind the scenes. A number of techniques are used to achieve murky depths of grey and black appropriate for such subject matter, including etching, burnishing, drypoint and aquatint. In a print titled ‘Against the Common Good’ we see the ‘accounting’ of war being carried out by a demon with bat wings extending from his skull, while the less figurative ‘Cartloads to the Cemetery’ shows the body of a long-limbed young female being unloaded from a cart prior to her funeral. Together, these works convey the wretchedness that accompanies human conflict in any era. Furthermore, the series asks a question that is more pertinent than ever, in a present marked by the ‘fake news’ phenomenon: what should we do when truth and justice break down, and the dark side of civilisation is revealed? The exhibition is closed on Monday (except April 29 and May 6) and May 7.

Tokyo Arts and Space (TOKAS) has since 2001 been holding this annual exhibition as part of its multi-faceted support for young and emerging Japanese talent. 2024 sees the event comprise solo shows by six up-and-coming artists, whose work encompasses painting, photography, video, installations and more, split into two sessions running from April through to June. Part one (April 6 to May 5) features Chisa Takami’s ‘℃ | The Ring of 23 Degrees’, which comprises videos and performances on the themes of ‘ambiguity’, ‘voids’, and the ‘presence of mediating objects’ (performances held on Saturday and Sunday only; see website for schedule). Naoto Nakamura, meanwhile, presents ‘Fernweh Trupp’, in which a narrative written by the artist unfolds in an apartment-like installation which combines imagery, furniture, and sound design. Finally, Chiho Okuno contributes ‘Training for My New Body: I Want to See My Back’ in which videos, engravings and three-dimensional pieces depict the world as seen by rabbits, an animal that has a near-360-degree field of vision. Part two (May 18 to June 16) then presents Kanako Hiramatsu’s ‘Heap Up Sand’, in which the artist takes inspiration from the activity of ants to create an environment that incorporates multiple perspectives. This is joined by ‘Dogs and FPS’ from Satoshi Kikuya, an animated work giving viewers the perspective of a character who becomes lost while following a dog. Finally, Sayaka Toda’s ‘Echoes of the Unspoken: The Silent Voices of the

The Tokyo Contemporary Art Award, established in 2018, is a prize intended to encourage mid-career artists to make further breakthroughs in their work by providing winners with several years of continuous support. Here, the two winners of the award’s fourth edition each present shows that, despite their creative diversity, both involve visitors and their actions becoming key elements of the art. Through this, both shows lead audiences to examine their relationships: with fellow humans, animals, and society’s expectations. Saeborg, born in 1981 and based in Tokyo, creates and performs as a latex bodysuit-clad ‘imperfect cyborg, half human and half toy’ that enables the female behind this guise to transcend such characteristics as age and gender. Here Saeborg presents ‘I Was Made for Loving You’, for which a section of the venue has been transformed into a life-sized toy farm. Visitors will experience a highly immersive installation-performance that transcends the boundaries between the body and synthetic materials, and between human and animal. Michiko Tsuda (born in 1980 and working in Ishikawa prefecture) presents ‘Life is Delaying’, an installation that uses video to explore the notion of physicality. The work recreates the private world experienced by a family at home through the perspective of someone operating an old-school video camera. The piece was inspired by Tsuda’s childhood memory of a video camera appearing in her family residence. Here, fictitious documentation

The mid-century modern (MCM) aesthetic, most commonly associated with the work of Charles and Ray Eames, emerged in the years following WW2 and thrived from the 1950s to the ’70s across the USA, Europe and Scandinavia, also influencing the Japanese design of the time. Now, this mode of interior, product and architectural design is more popular than ever: in Tokyo, the Eames’ famed shell chair is seen everywhere from hip cafés to dental offices. Tokyo Modernism 2024, taking place from late March through to mid-May, celebrates mid-century modern style through a program of events allowing you to get hands-on with iconic and rare items, meet expert MCM dealers, and maybe pick up something to enhance your home. The Modernism Show (April 18-21), the program’s main event, sees guest rooms of Muji Hotel Ginza host pop-up shops where the owners of around 30 MCM-focused galleries and vintage shops, from both Japan and across the globe, will showcase and sell their often difficult-to-source items. Tickets are required for this exhibition, with prices starting from ¥3,000. Over at Idée Tokyo in Marunouchi, the Modernism Auction (March 22 to April 9; then April 12-23) will offer rare pieces previously owned and used by gallery and shop owners participating in Tokyo Modernism 2024. Items range from functional furniture designed by names such as Alvar Aalto and George Nakashima to decorative pieces from artists including Lisa Larson. Back in Ginza, Muji Atelier presents the Mid-Century Muji

Craft, creativity, heritage and modernity all converge in this immersive visual journey through the 187-year history of American jewellery maestros Tiffany. Within the gallery space of Tokyo Node, situated in the soaring Toranomon Hills Station Tower complex, ten rooms are filled with hundreds of captivating creations that range from one-of-a-kind items to iconic accessories that has become part of popular culture. One standout amongst many is the very first iteration of Tiffany’s emblematic ‘Bird on a Rock’ brooch. This was conceived by longstanding Tiffany designer Jean Schlumberger, whose work for the brand won over clients including actresses Audrey Hepburn and Greta Garbo. As with many of Schlumberger’s works, this magnificent nature-themed piece reminds us that, for all of their luxury and glamour, diamonds are ultimately something derived from the earth itself. The exhibition also explores Tiffany’s relationship with Japan, which stretches back to the company’s earliest days. Many designers closely associated with Tiffany, including Elsa Peretti and Edward Chandler Moore, took inspiration from traditional Japanese arts, making ‘Tiffany Wonder’ a spiritual homecoming for some of the featured works. Tickets are available online. The exhibition is closed on the following dates: April 17 (5pm-8pm), April 22 (6.30pm-8pm), April 30 (5pm-8pm), May 8 (11.30am-1pm, 5pm-8pm), May 13 (6pm-8pm), May 16 (6pm-8pm).

One of the most influential figures in twentieth-century sculpture finally gets a comprehensive career retrospective in Japan. Romanian-born Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957) is considered one of the pioneers of modernist sculpture, thanks to his bold exploration of pure form. Around 90 exhibits, including 2D works such as fresco, tempera and drawings as well as sculptures, demonstrate how his muse flourished after a period working as assistant to Auguste Rodin. Brancusi’s artistic practice came to combine wild shapes influenced by non-Western art forms, such as African sculpture, with an acute sense of the materials he was working with. In earlier, plaster sculptures such as ‘The Kiss’ (1907-10), human and animal figures are abstracted yet still clearly identifiable. By the late 1920s however, as illustrated by the bronze-cast ‘Bird in Space’ (1926), Brancusi’s subjects are rendered as abstract silhouettes almost entirely distinct from their natural form. This retrospective includes over 20 sculptures on loan from the Brancusi Estate, as well as works from other collections both Japanese and international. The exhibition is closed on Mondays (except April 29, May 6), April 30 and May 7.

The boundary between nature and contemporary art becomes headily indistinct at this huge art installation outside Tokyo in Tochigi prefecture. The Genki-ro is a towering, furnace-like structure erected within a subterranean space, and the latest in a series of large, highly experiential works by artist Takashi Kuribayashi, whose practice explores the boundaries between nature and society, the body and everyday life. This stirring piece of art functions as both something to appreciate with multiple senses, and a literally immersive experience that could be described as a sauna fuelled by both herb-infused steam and Kuribayashi’s creative powers. 画像提供：TRAPOL「大谷元気炉六号基」 The Genki-ro (literally, ’the furnace of vitality’) stands down in a tree-enclosed, open-air space in Utsunomiya’s Oyamachi, on land usually closed to the public. Its custom-built furnace boils water infused with medicinal herbs, then sends the aromatic steam through a pipe and up out of a sculptural arrangement of wood resembling the hollowed-out base of a voluminous tree. The surrounding ‘cavern’ is pervaded with a sense of healthy revitalisation. 画像提供：TRAPOL「大谷元気炉六号基」 Basic admission to the Genki-ro space costs ¥1,500. A more stimulating experience, however, can be had for a ticket price of ¥3,500. This option allows entrance to a windowed, sauna-style room pumped full of the Genki-ro’s high-temperature steam. Photo: Trapol ‘Bathing’ in this pungent medicinal steam requires that you bring swimwear: visito