This Week in Tokyo – 15 November 2022

An Art-tastic week on Kanpai Planet!

Featured image – Mariko Mori: What an honour to meet the absolute force of nature that is Mariko Mori! To list her oeuvre and impact on contemporary art would take too long… and she continues to inspire through her work and her non-profit foundation FAOU. A true legend!

Shunji and Asako Oketa: Part of the collection of husband-and-wife art collecting powerhouse could be viewed under the title “YES YOU CAN: The Strength of Life through Art”, a devastatingly good show that ran in the early autumn at WHAT. We were lucky to catch one of the final days of the exhibition, and indeed to be hosted by Shunji and Asako Oketa themselves!

Etsuko and Koichi Watari: The WATARI-UM, the Watari Museum of Contemporary Art has long been one of my favourite places in the World’s Greatest Metropolis, and I was finally able to let Director Etsuko Watari and CEO Koichi Watari know!

Currently, the museum houses an exhibition of works by ‘This Week in Tokyo’ alumni Izumi Kato – a must-see!

Takeo Obayashi: The chairman of the Obayashi Corporation, a construction conglomerate founded in 1892, Takeo Obayashi is the face of contemporary art collecting and nurturing in Japan. We visited Yu-un, his Tadao Ando–designed building in Hiroo, and enjoy a sensational cornucopia of works by Yayoi Kusama, Antony Gormley, Olafur Eliasson, Lee Bul, Gabriel Orozco, Tokujin Yoshioka and many more established and upcoming greats!

Enoura Observatory: The soul of renaissance man Hiroshi Sugimoto is embodied at Enoura Observatory in Odawara, his living art, nature, and architecture project which he describes as the culmination of his life’s work and he keeps expanding!

This is the view from above during the winter solstice tunnel. On 21 December, the sun rises over Sagami Bay, passing through the tunnel to spectacular effect!

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