Time passes rather quick in this city, and before you know it, that exhibition you'd been planning to go to for months has already ended. To make sure you don't miss out this time, we've rounded up the best exhibitions finishing this long weekend – hey, at least you get an extra Monday this time! Here are the top exhibitions finishing between October 6 to 8.
Foujita: A Retrospective – Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of his Death
The second Tokyo-based exhibition on world-famous illustrator Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita (1886-1968) this year, the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum pulled out all the stops for this grand retrospective encompassing his entire career. You’ll find a large variety of artworks, cutting across genres including landscapes, portraits and nudes. There’s also a substantial amount of pieces on loan from fellow art museums around the globe that will be on display for the first time in Japan. As a leading artist of the Ecole de Paris, Foujita spent half of his life in France and gained worldwide recognition with his ‘milky-white’ nudes – which, of course, are on display as well during this event. Sounds like a good way to spend a few hours perusing over during the long weekend. Until Oct 8, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 8-36 Ueno Koen, Taito. 9.30am-5.30pm (Fri until 8pm; last entry 30mins before close).
Damage after the Great Kanto Earthquake, looking towards Ginza from Kyobashi, 1923
Tokyo: 150 years
It's been 150 years since the city of Edo was officially renamed as Tokyo on July 17, 1868. In celebration, the Edo-Tokyo Museum has put on this exhibition full of photographs of the city in all its glory over the past century and a half. Think images of Shinjuku devoid of cars or of glitzy Ginza without the skyscrapers: it's the city like you've never seen it before. It also makes plenty food for thought on what the city may look like in the next century, with all that construction currently going on. Until Oct 8. Edo-Tokyo Museum, 1-4-1 Yokoami, Sumida. 9.30am-5.30pm (Sat until 7.30pm; last entry 30mins before close).
Bento – Design for Eating, Gathering and Communicating
Another exhibition at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, this one examines how humans interact with one other through the lens of that most Japanese of lunches: the bento. The interactive exhibition centres on the charms of carrying a bento around, and has some participatory workshops by leading artists in the bento and food world. Expect photographs detailing the social fabric of bento, a documentary on bento made by middle schoolers, unique bento boxes and more. Until Oct 8, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 8-36 Ueno Koen, Taito. 9.30am-5.30pm (Fri until 8pm; last entry 30mins before close).
Photo: Konchuten/Facebook
Insect Exhibition
Summer has officially ended and those noisy cicadas have shut up – so no better time to get a closer look at them and their brethren. Ueno's National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo insect exhibition will run until Monday October 8, so you still have a few days to work up the courage if you're not a fan of creepy-crawlies (don't worry, they have pretty butterflies too). The best bit is probably the gift shop, where you can get a cicada plushie if you please. Until Oct 8. 7-20 Ueno Koen, Taito. 9am-5pm Mon-Thu, Sun; 9am-8pm Fri, Sat, irregular holidays. Adults ¥1,600, elementary, junior high, high school students ¥600.