Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art

Emerging in the wake of the Margaret Thatcher era, the Young British Artists (YBAs) and their contemporaries embraced shock, irreverence and entrepreneurial flair. While the YBA label (applied after the landmark 1988 ‘Freeze’ exhibition organised by Damien Hirst) was often contested, it came to define a generation that reimagined what art could be. Painting, sculpture, photography, video and installation all became tools for probing themes of identity, consumer culture and shifting social structures.  ‘YBA & Beyond: British Art in the 90s from the Tate Collection’ is the first exhibition in Japan devoted exclusively to British art of the 1990s. It debuted in Tokyo earlier this year before arriving at the Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art. Featuring around 90 works by some 50 artists, the show captures a turbulent and transformative period in British culture, when politics, society and art collided to spark a wave of radical experimentation. Highlights include works by Hirst, Tracey Emin, Lubaina Himid, Wolfgang Tillmans and Julian Opie, alongside others who reshaped contemporary art on a global stage. More than a retrospective, ‘YBA & Beyond’ offers a vivid portrait of 1990s Britain, an era when art intersected with music, fashion and subculture, leaving a legacy that continues to resonate today.

Active during the late Edo period (1603–1868), Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) was a talented ukiyo-e (woodblock print) artist whose work crosses multiple genres. While he is best known for his musha-e, or warrior prints, he also painted uniquely styled landscapes incorporating Western painting techniques, as well as portraits of stylish women (bijin-ga) and popular actors. His work was so extensive and prolific that he established a reputation as a super creator in the ukiyo-e world back in the day. This exhibition brings together about 200 pieces of Kuniyoshi’s work. His extraordinary and versatile talent is showcased across six distinct genres. You can expect to see some of his most iconic artworks including ‘The Takiyasha Witch and the Skeleton Spectre’ (one of the world’s most recognisable ukiyo-e images) and ‘Fifty Three Stations of the Tokaido Road Explained by Cats’. Aside from the traditional display, the organisers of the immensely popular Ukiyo-e Immersive Art Exhibition have transformed roughly 50 pieces of Kuniyoshi’s woodblock prints into a captivating digital art experience. Titled ‘Kuniyoshi Immersive Art’, the installation features artworks projected into a three-dimensional space using cutting-edge 3DCG animation and projection mapping technologies. This allows visitors to feel like they are stepping into Kuniyoshi’s vivid imagination. The exhibition is closed on Mondays, except July 20 and September 21

Beneath the fantastical surfaces of Studio Ghibli’s beloved anime films, one finds emotional nuance, moral ambiguity and contemplative pacing – features that resonate strikingly with the philosophical principles of Zen. In autumn 2026, the Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art hosts ‘Zen and Ghibli’, an immersive show that explores this unexpected yet deeply rooted connection. Drawing inspiration from a dialogue between producer Toshio Suzuki and a Zen monk, the exhibition invites visitors to experience Ghibli’s universe through a ‘Zen gaze’. Centred on Hayao Miyazaki’s most recent film, 'The Boy and the Heron', the exhibition unfolds through carefully constructed spaces featuring iconic scenes, memorable lines and Suzuki’s calligraphic works. Rather than offering definitive readings, it encourages visitors to dwell in uncertainty, reflecting Zen’s emphasis on presence and perception. Set in Kyoto, where Zen culture remains woven into daily life, the exhibition is set to offer a contemplative encounter that bridges pop culture and philosophy. Tickets go on sale July 18 at 10am.