Sébastien Raineri

タイムアウト東京 > アート&カルチャー > 「KYOTOGRAPHIE 2025」に行くべき6のこと 春が広がる京都。写真という芸術メディアを通じた、文化交流のための国内随一の国際的なプラットフォーム「KYOTOGRAPHIE」が開催される時期だ。京都の伝統とイノベーションが融合したこの国際写真祭は、京都1000年の遺産と国際的な文化発信地としての役割が合わさっている。 KYOTOGRAPHIEは単なる国際写真祭ではない。京都への入り口である。京都の寺院、伝統的な町家、近代的なランドマークなど、詩的な背景の中、毎年恒例の本写真祭は、京都という文化都市をオープンエアのギャラリーへと変えていく。 明治時代の酒蔵から京都駅の洗練された鉄骨まで、京都の最も象徴的であり、かつ思いがけない場所に、考え抜かれ、埋め込まれた力強いビジュアルが期待できるのだ。2025年4月12日〜5月11日（日）の会期で開催される今年のテーマは「HUMANITY」。ここでは英語版編集部によるKYOTOGRAPHIEが、毎春アートファンにとって行くべきディスティネーションとなる理由を6つ紹介したい。

The Setouchi Triennale is one of Japan’s most celebrated contemporary art festivals. Since its inception in 2010, the showcase has brought world-class art to the islands of the Seto Inland Sea in the form of site-specific installations, interactive projects, and performances that integrate seamlessly with the natural and cultural environment. Visitors can explore artworks scattered across Naoshima, Teshima, Shodoshima, and around 10 other islands, encountering everything from avant-garde sculptures to traditional crafts reinterpreted in contemporary forms. Returning in 2025 to once again transform the Inland Sea area into a massive open-air museum, the Triennale is held across three seasons: Spring (April 18 to May 25), Summer (August 1 to August 31) and Autumn (October 3 to November 9). The festival always brings together artists from around the world to engage with the region’s rich history, breathtaking landscapes and vibrant local communities, and the 2025 edition will continue this legacy with new commissions that reflect themes of ecology, sustainability and coexistence – urgent topics in an era of climate change and depopulation. Read on for our picks of things not to miss at the 2025 Setouchi Triennale. RECOMMENDED: Check out our ultimate guide to the Setouchi area

As spring unfolds in the ancient city of Kyoto, the spotlight once again turns to Kyotographie – Japan’s premier international platform for the exchange of culture through the artistic medium of photography. Celebrating its home city’s unique blend of tradition and innovation, this festival intertwines Kyoto’s thousand-year legacy with its role as a beacon of international culture. But Kyotographie isn’t just a photo festival: it’s a portal. Set against the poetic backdrop of Kyoto’s temples, teahouses, traditional machiya dwellings and modern landmarks, the annual springtime celebration transforms Japan’s cultural capital into an open-air gallery. Expect powerful visuals thoughtfully embedded in some of the city’s most iconic – and unexpected – venues, from a Meiji-era (1868–1912) sake brewery to the sleek steel face of Kyoto Station. Running from April 12 to May 11, this year’s edition of the festival highlights the unifying theme of ‘Humanity’. Here’s why Kyotographie makes for an essential addition to any art fan’s spring itinerary.

Their time in the subcultural shadows long gone, manga and anime are now common sights at prestigious art museums around the world, with large-scale exhibitions showcasing otaku culture and popular titles popping up from New York and London to Singapore in recent years. But Tokyo is still the world capital of anime and manga shows, and this year brings another packed slate of highlights to exhibition venues around the city. These are our picks of the best displays coming up in 2025 – from cyberpunk dreams and epic sagas to art inspired by the world’s most famous monster. RECOMMENDED: The best art exhibitions to see in Tokyo this year

The art year 2025 in Tokyo is looking packed, with a hefty slate of exhibitions and events highlighting everything from cutting-edge contemporary art to thousand-year old treasures. The visionary sound installations of Ryuichi Sakamoto can be appreciated at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo through the end of March, while spring sees the Mori Museum highlight the intersection of art and digital technology and the Azabudai Hills Gallery showcase the eclectic work of Tomokazu Matsuyama. Big draws in the latter half of the year include an in-depth look at the career of Expo 2025 site designer Sou Fujimoto and the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum’s celebration of 1920s fashion. Mark your calendars… RECOMMENDED: The best new attractions and facilities opening in Tokyo in 2025

At 8.15am on August 6 1945, a single atomic bomb dropped by the US military obliterated Hiroshima, claiming an estimated 140,000 lives by the year’s end. Marking eight decades since the devastation, the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum’s ‘Hiroshima 1945’ consists of 160 haunting photographs and two films that document the A-bomb’s human cost: bodies shattered by radiation, survivors wandering in shock, the cityscape reduced to ashes. These materials, many of which were preserved against the odds during the censorship regime imposed by the US occupation after the war, form part of the Visual Archives of the Hiroshima Atomic Bombing, which was submitted as a candidate for the Unesco Memory of the World register in 2023. The images were captured in the immediate aftermath of the bombing by survivors, photojournalists and photographers. The exhibition – a collaborative effort bringing together major Japanese media organisations – marks the first time such a comprehensive visual record has been assembled for public viewing. As nuclear threats persist and conflicts rage around the world, ‘Hiroshima 1945’ is an urgent reminder of the devastating power of nuclear weapons, and amplifies the pleas of Japan’s nuclear survivors for the world to never repeat the tragedy of Hiroshima.

The whimsical world of Moomin returns to Tokyo this summer with ‘Tove Jansson and the Moomins’, opening at the Mori Arts Center Gallery from July 16 to September 17. Held in celebration of the 80th anniversary of the first Moomin novel, the exhibition offers an opportunity to explore the artistic universe of Tove Jansson, the Finnish creator behind one of the world’s most beloved literary families. Organised in cooperation with the Helsinki Art Museum, the exhibition brings together approximately 300 items that trace Jansson’s multifaceted career. From early, surrealist-inspired oil paintings and satirical cartoons from the pre- and post-war periods to original illustrations and sketches for the Moomin books and comics, the show reveals the depth and diversity of her creative legacy. Personal items and lesser-known works, many being shown in Japan for the first time, provide further insight into Jansson’s imaginative world. Visitors will also be treated to immersive installations that bring the Moomin Valley to life, inviting both long-time fans and new visitors to step into the poetic and philosophical realm of the Moomins – a world shaped by Tove Jansson’s personal values, humour and enduring artistry.

Classical elegance and Mediterranean heritage meet daring innovation in the artisanal jewellery of Bulgari, the Rome-based luxury house that’s become synonymous with exceptional craftsmanship over its 140-year history. This show, the brand’s largest in Japan and its first in a decade, offers an opulent journey through nearly 350 pieces of jewellery and contemporary art. Its name a portmanteau of the Greek words kalos (beautiful) and eidos (form), the show presents a kaleidoscopic narrative where colour is both the medium and the message. It showcases Bulgari’s use of hues as a hallmark of its innovation, from the postwar ‘chromatic revolution’ in gemstones to the vibrant combinations that define the brand’s legacy today. Divided into three thematic chapters, the exhibition explores colour through scientific, cultural and sensory lenses. Contemporary artists Mariko Mori, Lara Favaretto and Akiko Nakayama offer personal meditations on the theme, while scenography by architect Kazuyo Sejima and design studio Formafantasma unites Roman grandeur with Japanese minimalism.

Explore the roots of modern Japanese visual culture through the vibrant and ephemeral printed media of the early 20th century at the Sompo Museum of Art this summer. The Shinjuku museum’s ‘Taisho Imagerie’ exhibition features approximately 400 works from the collection of the late Toshiyuki Yamada, a noted scholar and collector, and the co-founder of the Taisho Imagery Society. The show offers a rare opportunity to trace the aesthetic evolution of Japan’s publishing industry from the early 1900s through to the late 1920s. The Taisho era (1912–1926) in particular marked a golden age of graphic design, where Japanese sensibilities intertwined harmoniously with the global currents of Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Western illustration techniques. Highlights include striking works by seminal artists such as Takeji Fujishima, Hisui Sugiura and Yumeji Takehisa, alongside a rich array of magazines, postcards and posters. Together they evoke the fleeting yet powerful visual language that defined an era – one where literature, art and music converged on the printed page, laying the foundation for contemporary Japanese pop culture.

While the ongoing Expo 2025 art exhibitions all over Osaka are soaking up plenty of attention, the Kyoto ddd Gallery is quietly presenting one of this summer’s most interesting Expo-adjacent shows. Tracing the evolving identity of World Expositions through graphic design, ‘Modern Expo Posters: A Graphical Journey Through World Expos’ offers a glimpse into the visual language that has defined Expos over the past seven decades. The exhibition showcases 14 posters from 11 world’s fairs, starting with Expo 1958 in Brussels – the first in the modern Expo era – and culminating with the bold vision of Osaka’s Expo 2025. Also featured are posters from two Specialised Expos in Okinawa and Tsukuba, and the International Garden and Greenery Exposition in Osaka.  More than promotional materials, these posters embody the spirit and themes of their respective Expos, reflecting the aspirations and challenges of each era. Highlighting the diverse visual approaches of acclaimed designers such as Kenya Hara, David Hockney and Yusaku Kamekura, the exhibition invites visitors to explore how Expos have transformed from showcases of objects into platforms for addressing global issues and imagining collective futures.

Few artists have left as enduring a mark on the global contemporary art scene as Yayoi Kusama. The Matsumoto native is celebrated for her singular visual language built on repetition, nets and polka dots – motifs rooted in childhood hallucinations and nurtured through her years in New York’s avant-garde scene. Her pioneering ‘Infinity Nets’, mirrored rooms and pumpkin sculptures have become iconic symbols of self-obliteration, cosmic unity and radical introspection. Now in her nineties, Kusama continues to create at a remarkable pace. ‘Repetition & Proliferation’ explores a lesser-known but vital aspect of her oeuvre: printmaking. On view at the Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art until September 7, the show features approximately 330 prints, including works held by the Matsumoto City Museum of Art – the world’s most extensive Kusama collection – as well as pieces from the artist’s own archive. Ranging from vivid silkscreens and whimsical lithographs to introspective etchings, these prints reveal Kusama’s fascination with reproduction and motif accumulation. Highlights include the luminous Pumpkin series, the introspective Love Forever silkscreens, and rarely seen monochrome etchings that underscore her formal rigour.

Since its debut in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2001, Tite Kubo’s Bleach has conquered the hearts of manga fans the world over with its epic battles, intricate lore and unforgettable characters. Spanning a whopping 74 volumes and selling over 130 million copies globally, the series is a cultural powerhouse, further amplified by its long-running anime adaptation (2004–2012), four feature films and, now, the climactic Thousand-Year Blood War arc, which began airing in 2022.  This summer, fans can immerse themselves in the world of Bleach at Tembo Park Sunshine 60 Observatory in Ikebukuro: ‘Bleach: The Locus of the Brave II’ showcases Tite Kubo’s latest artwork, rare production materials from the anime, and behind-the-scenes insights into visuals such as the ‘Bleach 20th’ promotional video and the special ‘Oldrose’ music video.  You’ll get to explore interactive zones, including an installation highlighting the names of ‘soul-cutting’ swords (zanpakuto), a ‘black coffin’ incantation experience, and themed photo spots. Exclusive merchandise and a themed café menu featuring characters such as Ichigo, Rukia and Byakuya complete what looks like a must-visit show for Bleach enthusiasts.

One of Japan’s most influential and iconoclastic artists, Tadanori Yokoo has spent over six decades reshaping the boundaries of contemporary art. From his bold graphic designs in the 1960s to his later exploration of painting, photography and installation, the Hyogo native’s oeuvre makes for a kaleidoscopic journey across time, culture and personal mythology. His ever-evolving practice is marked by a restless spirit of experimentation and a refusal to settle on a single, ‘complete’ form of expression. This ongoing journey informs ‘Mikan: Myself, Incomplete’, on display at the Gucci Ginza Gallery until August 24. Offering a glimpse into Yokoo’s inner world, the show brings together around 20 works, including six previously unexhibited new pieces. Ranging from self-portraits to depictions of family, they’re all centred on the theme of incompleteness and the ongoing journey of artistic creation. Don’t miss the rooftop installation, a vivid reconstruction of Yokoo’s striking red scaffolding piece from Expo 1970, which sparked conversation for its bold representation of the unfinished. This collaboration with Gucci underscores the shared values of transformation, evolution and co-creation, inviting viewers to reflect on the beauty of the incomplete in both art and life.

A veritable who’s who of ukiyo-e, the Ueno Royal Museum’s early-summer showcase shines the spotlight on the form’s most celebrated artists. Running until July 6, the exhibition features approximately 140 works, offering an extraordinary opportunity to explore the golden age of Japanese woodblock printing through its most iconic figures. The show presents a rare assembly of masterworks from five legendary artists who shaped the ukiyo-e tradition across diverse genres. Kitagawa Utamaro’s graceful and sensual portraits of women from the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters evoke the refined elegance of Edo’s vibrant nightlife, while Toshusai Sharaku’s dynamic and enigmatic actor portraits, produced over a brief yet prolific period, remain some of the most striking works in Japanese art. Meanwhile, Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji master Katsushika Hokusai reveals the boundless imagination that eventually earned him global fame. Utagawa Hiroshige’s poetic landscapes, with their rain-soaked streets and moonlit scenes, transport viewers through Edo’s seasons, while Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s bold, humorous warrior prints showcase his innovative spirit and visual wit.

From protest icon to actor, painter and cultural agitator, Shigeru Izumiya has never been easily defined. A fixture of Japan’s creative underground since the 1970s, Izumiya first emerged as a rebellious folk singer before expanding into television, film and visual art. Now, at age 77, he returns with his Cyberpunk Exhibition, a bold new solo show curated by Yasumasa Yonehara at The Gallery Omotesando. Running from May 16 to June 15, the exhibition unveils Izumiya’s long-gestating cyberpunk vision – a world of chaos, rebellion and emotional intensity rendered in raw, uncompromising brushwork. At its heart is the debut of Rolling Thunder, Izumiya’s debut cyberpunk manga, steeped in the dystopian anxieties of AI, surveillance and fractured humanity. Reflecting a career-long refusal to conform, Izumiya’s art rejects aesthetic polish in favour of visceral urgency. His canvases, like his music, bristle with defiance, giving voice to those left behind in a hyper-technological world. The exhibition will also feature weekend talk-and-live sessions with Yonehara, offering deeper insights into Izumiya’s process and provocations.

Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning- marks a bold new chapter in the world-conquering franchise. As the first-ever collaboration between two titans of Japanese animation – Evangelion creators Studio Khara and Gundam’s Sunrise – this highly anticipated production fuses two distinct creative legacies into a dynamic reimagining of the mecha genre. To celebrate this ground-breaking project, Anime Tokyo Station is hosting an exclusive exhibition from May 24 to August 11. Visitors will be treated to a curated collection of scene stills from the film version, immersive life-size displays recreating pivotal moments, and production materials such as original scripts. Standees of key characters and mobile suits bring the universe to life, while an AR photo zone invites fans to pose alongside motifs from the series for an interactive experience. With free admission and content tailored for both long-time fans and newcomers, the show offers the perfect opportunity to step into the world of giant robots.

Pace Tokyo is hosting the first solo exhibition in Japan by acclaimed American artist Tara Donovan until July 3. A pivotal figure in contemporary art, Donovan is celebrated for her transformative use of everyday materials – plastic cups, straws, Slinkys, pins and CDs – into sculptural and perceptual experiences that defy categorisation. Rooted in the traditions of Postminimalism and the Light and Space movement, her work has earned her a MacArthur ‘Genius’ grant and a place in major museum collections around the world. Donovan’s Tokyo show surveys two decades of her boundary-pushing practice. Highlights include ‘Haze’ (2003), a mesmerising wall installation composed of drinking straws, and ‘Stratagem IX’ (2024), an eight-foot sculpture crafted from recycled CD-ROM discs that refract light in dazzling, ever-changing patterns. Also featured are recent wall-based works using reconfigured Slinkys and a new pin drawing created specifically for this display.

Seventy years after the King of the Monsters first emerged from the depths of the Pacific, Godzilla returns to Tokyo by way of a sweeping, boundary-defying art exhibition at the Mori Arts Center Gallery. Running until June 29, ‘Godzilla The Art Exhibition’ marks the fifth instalment of the celebrated Godzilla: The Art series and one of the most ambitious artistic reinterpretations of the cinematic icon to date. The exhibition employs contemporary art to showcase Godzilla as a mirror for modern anxieties, a symbol of cyclical destruction and rebirth, and an evolving artistic archetype capable of speaking across media, cultures and generations. It’s also an absolute blast, providing a monster-sized serving of material for die-hard Big G fans and lizard laypeople alike to geek out over. Art beyond the silver screen Ever since making its first cinematic appearance in 1954, Godzilla has loomed large as a vessel for cultural and historical tensions. Born from the trauma of nuclear warfare and inspired by the real-world fallout of hydrogen bomb testing, the irradiated lizard initially symbolised Japan’s post-war fears. But over time, this figure has taken on new shapes: protector, anti-hero, metaphor for environmental catastrophe. Photo: Maki Matsumoto | Haroshi "GODZILLA" TM ＆ © TOHO CO., LTD. © HAROSHI Courtesy of NANZUKA | Roby dwi Antono "Godzi-lab" TM ＆ © TOHO CO., LTD. © Roby Dwi Antono Courtesy of NANZUKA ‘Godzilla The Art Exhibition’ makes it clear that there’s no single a

If you’re looking to escape the city and soak up some inspiration in soothing surroundings this Golden Week, consider heading out to the Hyogo coast between May 4 and 6. That’s when the Hayashisaki Matsue Beach House in the city of Akashi will open its doors for ‘The Homesick Moon’, a collaborative exhibition between celebrated Thai artist Juli Baker & Summer and Akio Isshiki Architects. Photo: Ludovic BalayInside the house at Hayashisaki Matsue Beach The venue, a 50-year-old seaside home lovingly restored by and for the aforementioned architectural firm, provides an immersive environment for an event that blends art, architecture and dialogue while reflecting on memory, light and place. Photo: Yosuke OhtakeThe venue seen from the outside Known for her radiant illustrations and poetic storytelling, Juli Baker & Summer presents a series of lantern-inspired works designed to harmonise with the house’s warm, nostalgic atmosphere. Her exhibition explores the emotional resonance of light and how it connects rural and urban experiences, past and present, and homesickness and belonging. Photo: SuppliedArtwork by Juli Baker & Summer The event also features a series of talks and a portrait workshop, including a talk session on May 4 about regional revitalisation through international artistic collaboration, and a family-friendly portrait session with Juli Baker & Summer on May 5. Proceedings will close with a discussion on the intersection of art and architecture on May 6. The e

Deservedly known as the ‘God of Manga’, Osamu Tezuka continues to loom large over Japanese pop culture more than 35 years after his passing. A visionary whose artistic and philosophical contribution to the medium of comics is without equal, the Osaka native created a wealth of works now considered masterpieces. Phoenix (Hinotori; 1967–1988), however, stands apart as Tezuka’s self-proclaimed ‘life’s work’: a sprawling epic that weaves together past and future, delving into profound questions about life, death, and humanity’s eternal struggle for meaning. Tokyo City View at Roppongi Hills now presents the first large-scale exhibition dedicated to this epic saga. Running from March 7 to May 19 2025, ‘Osamu Tezuka’s “Hinotori” Exhibition’ offers an unprecedented look into the artist’s most monumental undertaking. It’s a display worth making the trip for, whether you’re a hardcore Tezuka acolyte or a complete newcomer to the manga form. Photo: Sébastien Raineri The god of manga Over the course of a career that spanned more than four decades – from the immediate post-World War II period to the dawn of the Heisei era – Osamu Tezuka revolutionised the medium of comics, shaping its narrative and artistic conventions. With more than 700 titles and 150,000 pages, his extensive body of work laid the foundation for modern manga and anime. Born in 1928, Tezuka’s artistic vision was shaped by Western cinema, early Disney animation, and Japanese storytelling traditions. His breakthrough wo

If your familiarity with Ryuichi Sakamoto is limited to his scores for films like Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence and The Last Emperor, a visit to the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo this winter or spring may prove startling and satisfying in equal measure. At ‘Ryuichi Sakamoto: seeing sound, hearing time’, on at the MOT until March 30 2025, the interdisciplinary segment of Sakamoto’s oeuvre takes on a monumental dimension by way of a multisensory experience that connects sound, space and time. Encouraging contemplation, lingering and meditation, the immersive retrospective offers an unparalleled opportunity to discover the artist’s sound installations and traces his experimental and pioneering journey through landmark pieces as well as previously unseen works conceived shortly before his untimely death in 2023. Photo: Kisa Toyoshima Room-sized artworks explore Sakamoto’s concept of ‘installation music’, under which the artist and his collaborators designed environments for the public to experience sound in physical space. These three-dimensional experiences interact dynamically with the museum’s architecture and highlight Sakamoto’s understanding of technology as an essential tool for making sense of the world as a whole, including the relationship between humans and their environment. An eclectic career – and a lingering influence Born in Tokyo in 1952, Ryuichi Sakamoto’s passion for music began early, inspired by a home rich in art and literature. His love for Debussy an