Arts & Entertainment
Your guide to Tokyo's arts scene: exhibitions, theatre performances, plays and film
The best ongoing exhibitions in Tokyo
Peter Doig exhibition
Contemporary Scottish figurative painter Peter Doig is having his maiden exhibition in Japan at the National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo, where you can see a range of his works, from his earliest to some of his most recent. His style draws on artists like Paul Gaugin, Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse and Edvard Munch while incorporating imagery inspired by movie scenes and advertisements to create art with a romantic yet mysterious feel. The highlights are his overwhelmingly large paintings that span over three metres wide, making you feel as though you are part of the scene.
RK:NEOrient
Japanese photographer RK has risen to Instagram fame over the past few years, gaining over 400,000 followers with colourful, detail-packed images that convey the sense of daily life in Asia’s ultra-high-density cities. He also excels at revealing the unintentional symmetries and other patterns that appear in the cluttered architecture of cities such as Tokyo and Hong Kong. Here RK departs from the claustrophobia of his best-known work to present a ‘vision of crimson fantasy’. Solitary female figures, traditionally clad in the vibrant red hue that signifies good fortune in many Asian cultures, appear amid muted cityscapes and natural surroundings. The resulting impression is that these are goddesses who have manifested themselves on earth, unnoticed by all.
Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London
London’s National Gallery is revered far and wide for its comprehensive collection of European master painters, and ranks as one of the ten most visited art museums in the world. This show, held in Tokyo before travelling to Osaka in July, is the very first time in the institution’s almost two-century-long history that a large-scale exhibition of highlights from its bountiful collection has been held outside of the National Gallery’s own walls. A total of 61 works, all being shown in Japan for the first time, are divided into sections with themes such as ‘Landscape Painting and the Picturesque’ and ‘The Golden Age of Dutch Painting’, with artists including Monet, Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Vermeer, to name but a few.
Prismatic Cloud at Ginza Six
The ritzy Ginza Six department store will be decked out with a mesmerizing cloud-like art installation created by Japanese designer and artist, Yoshioka Tokujin, from February 27 until the end of October. His works have been displayed all around the world including at the Musée d'Orsay and the Art Institute of Chicago. Recently, Tokujin turned heads with his designs for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic torches. As the name Prismatic Cloud suggests, Tokujin’s gigantic sculpture is made from over 10,000 white prism rods dangling from the top in the centre of the building, creating the illusion of a cloud hovering just below the ceiling.
Yasumasa Morimura: Ego Obscura, Tokyo 2020
One of the last chances to enjoy an art venue that is among Tokyo’s most pleasant: the Hara Museum, which occupies a distinguished European-style former residence dating back to the 1930s, is set to close at the end of this year. Artist Yasumasa Morimura has, as this show documents, spent the past three decades using photography, film and performance to retrieve his ‘self’ from layers of accumulated national, cultural and personal history. Across work sure to resonate with the Instagram generation, for whom every selfie involves a degree of ‘performance’, Morimura shows himself in the guise of figures as diverse as Marilyn Monroe and infamous author Yukio Mishima: the latter is depicted staging his failed 1970 coup d'état just before committing ritual suicide.
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Special Exhibition "The World of Traditional Performing Arts – Kabuki, Bunraku, Noh and Kyogen, Gagaku, Kumiodori"
Note: The start of this exhibition has been delayed indefinitely due to the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak. Opening hours and dates are subject to change. The five types of Japanese performing art recognised as elements of Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO are kabuki theatre, bunraku puppetry, noh and kyogen (comic theatre), gagaku (traditional court music) and kumiodori (Okinawan musical theatre). All five are featured extensively in this ambitious exhibition, presented by the Japan Arts Council and Japan Cultural Expo, which zooms in on the notion of Japanese beauty through a focus on the interplay between humans and nature. Besides watching performances of the five arts, you'll be able to admire costumes, props, instruments and other related items, watch videos of notable shows, and even briefly turn into a kabuki actor yourself by taking advantage of some digital ingenuity. Making Japan's time-honoured performing arts accessible to first-timers, the exhibition is a great way to experience this seemingly opaque sphere of traditional culture.
Film
Best arthouse and independent cinemas in Tokyo
Arthouse cinemas in Tokyo are a thing of beauty. Away from the commercial chains you’ll find some of the loveliest, buzziest and friendliest movie houses. The films on show are often more interesting too, with retro classics, indie gems and the odd documentary offering an alternative to Hollywood’s latest CGI fest. Here are our favourite places in town, all of them guaranteed to reignite your love of a trip to the flicks. Also see: How to watch five films for under ¥6,000
Classical & theatre
Zakuro Show
New to the world of traditional Japanese music? Don't be intimidated – Zakuro Show is a bilingual musical performance that's enjoyable and easy to understand. Located in the intimate Hall 60 in Omotesando, musical ensemble Aioi (Growing Together) plays traditional and modern melodies with the koto (Japanese harp), jushichigen (Japanese bass harp), shakuhachi (traditional bamboo flute) and taiko drum. In between songs, the ensemble will explain their instruments in both Japanese and English. Photos and videos are allowed throughout the performance. At the end of the show, you'll have a chance to meet with the performers and take pictures. // !function(d,s,id){var Js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="https://zaiko.io/widgets/all.js.php";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","ZAIKO-jssdk"); // Time Out Tokyo Tickets2020-03-26和楽器ライブ演奏 ZAKURO SHOW @ HALL 60 OmotesandoBUY NOW
Blade Runner in Concert
Revisit Ridley Scott’s cult classic with the accompaniment of a live music ensemble in this special screening of 'Blade Runner'. The original film, starring Harrison Ford, was released in 1982 but set in the imagined future of 2019. The science fiction film follows former LA police officer Rick Deackrd (Ford) as he hunts down a fugitive group of bioengineered humanoids known as ‘replicas’. We may still be many years away from flying cars but a modernised dystopian with deadly humanoids is probably best enjoyed through the experience of cinema rather than in reality anyway.
007 ‘Skyfall’ in Concert
Think of the word ‘Skyfall’ and you can almost hear the impassioned sound of violins in Thomas Newman’s Academy Award-winning score in this thrilling installment of the James Bond franchise. Lose yourself in the soundtrack played live by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra as you watch the action on the big screen at Tokyo International Forum. The film, which is Daniel Craig’s third time playing the titular character, centres on a standoff between Bond and former MI6 agent Javier Bardem (Raoul Silva) as he plots to kill the Head of the Secret Intelligence Service played by Dame Judy Dench. Sam Mendes’ take on the Bond series is a grittier one compared to the previous installments about the womanising spy, but Craig’s stoic persona and budget-breaking explosions are just the kind of spectacle that deserves its own live orchestra.
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Tokyo National Museum
If you have just one day to devote to museum-going in Tokyo and are interested in Japanese art and artefacts, this is the place to visit. Japan’s oldest and largest museum houses over 110,000 items. Past the ornate gateway, there’s a wide courtyard and pond surrounded by three main buildings. Directly in front is the Honkan, or main gallery, dating from 1938, which displays the permanent collection of Japanese arts and antiquities. The 25 rooms regularly rotate their exhibitions of paintings, ceramics, swords, kimonos, sculptures and the like. The Toyokan building to the right features five floors of artworks from other parts of Asia; the Hyokeikan, the 1909 European-style building to the left, is currently closed to visitors. Behind the Hyokeikan is the Gallery of Horyu-ji Treasures, which houses some of Japanese Buddhism’s most important and ancient artefacts, from the seventh-century Horyu-ji temple in Nara. The Heiseikan, behind the Honkan, holds three to four temporary exhibitions of Japanese and Asian art each year. There are also a couple of restaurants in the complex, and a good gift shop.
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
This is an alternative-history MoMA, one consisting mostly of Japanese art from the turn of the 20th century onwards. Noteworthy features of the permanent collection are portraits by early Japanese modernist Ryusei Kishida and wartime paintings. The 1969 building, designed by Yoshiro Taniguchi (father of architect Yoshio Taniguchi) was renovated in 2001. Its location next to the moat and walls of the Imperial Palace makes it a prime stop for viewing springtime cherry blossoms and autumn foliage. Nearby is the Crafts Gallery, an impressive 1910 European-style brick building, once the base for the legions of guards who patrolled the Imperial Palace.
Mori Art Museum
The exhibitions are world-class, focused mainly on contemporary culture, but the secrets of the Mori Art Museum’s success are location (part of the phenomenally popular Roppongi Hills), location (on the 52nd and 53rd floors of the Mori Tower, offering spectacular views) and location (within a two-floor ‘experience’ that includes a bar, cafe, shop and panoramic observation deck). One ticket allows access to all areas, and the late opening hours maximise accessibility. Exhibitions are deliberately varied, with past offerings including Bill Viola’s video art, a survey of the Middle Eastern art world and the periodic Roppongi Crossing group shows for Japanese artists. The vista from Tokyo City View isn’t quite 360°, and it’s expensive compared to the free Tokyo Metropolitan Government building observatory, but the views are arguably better, especially at night with a drink in your hand from Mado Lounge. If you don't mind paying an extra ¥500, you take a short elevator ride to the rooftop Sky Deck, and take in an even better – not to mention rather breezier – vista.
The National Art Center
The National Art Center was opened on January 21, 2007, boasting the largest exhibition space of any museum in Japan. Unlike most conventional domestic art galleries, the National Art Center does not have its own permanent collection, instead choosing to hold special exhibitions only. Entry to the Center’s atrium is free, and the space boasts a café, two restaurants and an excellent shop, Souvenir From Tokyo.
