20 Best Exhibitions to See in Tokyo in Winter 2024-2025
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Tokyo Art Beat presents a selection of exhibitions in Tokyo and the Kanto region to see during the winter vacation in Japan. Don’t forget to bookmark the exhibitions on the Tokyo Art Beat app to never miss them.
*Opening hours and days may differ during the holidays. Please check the official websites before your visit.
- Terence Conran: Making Modern Britain (Tokyo Station Gallery)
- Ueno Artist Project 2024: Nostalgiaー Scenery in Memory (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum)
- Louise Bourgeois: I Have Been to Hell and Back. And Let Me Tell You, It Was Wonderful. (Mori Art Museum)
- Alec Soth "A Room of Rooms" (Tokyo Photographic Art Museum)
- Commemorative Reopening Exhibition: Absences - Toulouse-Lautrec & Sophie Calle (Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo)
- Saul Leiter (Art Cruise Gallery by Baycrew's)
- Pokémon × Kogei – Playful Encounters of Pokémon and Japanese Craft (Azabudai Hills Gallery)
- Suda Yoshihiro Exhibition (The Shoto Museum of Art)
- Jam Session: The Ishibashi Foundation Collection × Mohri Yuko – On Physis (Artizon Museum)
- Shared Beauty: Detached Segments of Ancient Japanese Calligraphy (The Nezu Museum)
- Monet: The Late Waterscape (National Museum Of Western Art, Tokyo)
- Wonderment Noe Aoki / Ritsue Mishima (Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum)
- Hello Kitty Exhibition (Tokyo National Museum)
- Tori/Bird Special Exhibition (National Museum of Nature and Science)
- The Japanese Art of Happinessー From Ito Jakuchu to Yokoyama Taikan and Kawabata Ryushi (Yamatane Museum of Art)
- Mana Konishi "Wherever" (Fuchu Art Museum)
- T2 Collection "Collecting? Connecting?" (WHAT Museum)
- Ryuichi Sakamoto: Seeing Sound, Hearing Time (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo)
- Yosuke Amemiya "Watari-um, The Watari Museum of Art, Which Has Not Melted Yet" (Watari-um, The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art)
- Wade Guyton "Thirteen Paintings" (Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo)
Terence Conran: Making Modern Britain (Tokyo Station Gallery)
Sir Terence Conran believed that "plain, simple, useful" design enhances the quality of life. Through his work, he pursued design-driven transformation with a broad perspective that spanned individual living spaces and urban and societal scales. This exhibition features over 300 items and materials, including early products like patterned tableware and textiles, maquettes for furniture designs, items created for shops and restaurants, personal belongings that inspired his ideas, his writings, photographs, and videos.
Venue: Tokyo Station Gallery
Schedule: October 12 - January 5
*Discount with MuPon
Ueno Artist Project 2024: Nostalgiaー Scenery in Memory (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum)
This exhibition explores the emotion of nostalgia found in various landscapes. Nostalgia derives from a compound of the Greek nostos ("homecoming") and álgos ("pain"), meaning the emotional ache of being unable to return to one's homeland. Originally denoting homesickness, the word today refers broadly to the complex emotions we feel when encountering scenes or situations that stimulate our recollections of days gone by. This exhibition features artists of diverse generations whose works range from nostalgic paintings of everyday hometown life and memories of people to expressions of fantastic art.
Venue: Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
Schedule: October 12 - January 5
*Discount with MuPon
Louise Bourgeois: I Have Been to Hell and Back. And Let Me Tell You, It Was Wonderful. (Mori Art Museum)
Louise Bourgeois is considered one of the most influential artists of the last century. In a seven-decade career, she has translated various emotional and psychological states through various materials, developing a heterogeneous body of work that combines psychological intensity with a high degree of formal invention. For the first time in East Asia, the Mori Art Museum showcases a selection of Bourgeois paintings from all stages of the artist’s career.
Venue: Mori Art Museum
Schedule: September 25 - January 19
*Discount with MuPon
Alec Soth "A Room of Rooms" (Tokyo Photographic Art Museum)
Alec Soth has earned global acclaim for his narrative-driven photographs, often depicting scenes from his native Midwest region of the United States. The exhibition showcases a wide range of Soth's photographs, from the artist's first published series, "Sleeping by the Mississippi," to his most recent endeavor, "Advice for Young Artists," issued this fall.
Venue: Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
Schedule: October 10 - January 19
Commemorative Reopening Exhibition: Absences - Toulouse-Lautrec & Sophie Calle (Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo)
The Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo (MIMT), reopened in November after an extended closure for equipment replacement and building maintenance. The reopening exhibition, which brings together posters of Toulouse-Lautrec and works by leading contemporary French artist Sophie Calle, marks the first time that Calle's new works have been shown anywhere in the world.
Venue: Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo
Schedule: November 23 - January 26
Saul Leiter (Art Cruise Gallery by Baycrew's)
Saul Leiter is often referred to as a pioneer of color photography. While working as a fashion photographer in New York from the 1950s, he completely disappeared from the public eye in his 50s but re-emerged in his 80s with his first photo book, Early Color. This exhibition features 44 works that were newly printed under the supervision of the Saul Leiter Foundation using negatives discovered after his passing.
Venue: Art Cruise Gallery by Baycrew's
Schedule: October 25 - January 13
Pokémon × Kogei – Playful Encounters of Pokémon and Japanese Craft (Azabudai Hills Gallery)
What kind of "chemical reaction" would occur if Pokémon were to meet traditional crafts? This question has been earnestly addressed by 20 contemporary artists, ranging from Living National Treasures to emerging talents. The works on display evoke the forms, gestures, and presence of Pokémon, while other artworks transform Pokémon into beautifully adorned objects that color daily life. Enjoy the discovery of beauty and moves amplified by the power of multiplication.
Venue: Azabudai Hills Gallery
Schedule: November 1 - February 2
Suda Yoshihiro Exhibition (The Shoto Museum of Art)
The self-taught wood sculptor Suda Yoshihiro honed his wood-carving skills to create sculptures of various flora that are so elaborate they could easily be mistaken for the real thing. In addition to his excellent carving, Suda's works escort the audience to a unique world where the pieces, installed in some unexpected place, are integrated with the space. While highlighting various aspects of Suda's works, this exhibition enables viewers to enjoy the artist's singular approach as part of an installation in tandem with the architecture of Shirai Seiichi, the designer of the Shoto Museum of Art.
Venue: The Shoto Museum of Art
Schedule: November 30 - February 2
Jam Session: The Ishibashi Foundation Collection × Mohri Yuko – On Physis (Artizon Museum)
The Artizon Museum has been holding the annual Jam Session, an exhibition featuring a collaboration of works from the Ishibashi Foundation Collection and works by a contemporary artist since the museum's opening in 2020. For the fifth edition, the museum welcomes internationally acclaimed artist Yuko Mohri. Primarily working in installations and sculpture, Mohri opens up new paths to perception for the present. She does not try to control the environment but to build creative relationships aloft in that space. Mohri's first large-scale exhibition in Tokyo features new and older works along with masterpieces from the collection, presenting "an organic, tranquil space filled with subtle sounds and motions" to be experienced only here.
Venue: Artizon Museum
Schedule: November 2 - February 9
Shared Beauty: Detached Segments of Ancient Japanese Calligraphy (The Nezu Museum)
In Japan, examples of old calligraphy are generally called kohitsu, "ancient handwriting." In a narrow sense, that term refers to Japanese calligraphy in poetry collections from the Heian through the Kamakura periods. During the Heian period, aristocrats commissioned talented calligraphers to copy poetry anthologies or their private collections as gifts or furnishings. During the Muromachi period, single sheets or pages or even a few lines were extracted from those works for the increasingly popular tea gatherings and personal appreciation. Those segments detached from ancient calligraphic works are known as kohitsugire, "detached segments of ancient Japanese calligraphy." This exhibition showcases examples of these detached segments of ancient calligraphy from the Heian through the Kamakura periods, primarily from the museum collection.
Venue: The Nezu Museum
Schedule: December 21 - February 9
Monet: The Late Waterscape (National Museum Of Western Art, Tokyo)
Claude Monet captured the fleeting moments of light and the changing moods of nature on canvas with his keen eye. However, his art became more abstract and introspective as he grew older. At the heart of this exhibition are the numerous large-scale "Water Lilies" paintings created during the period of trial and error in Giverny. This is a rare opportunity to see the most extensive "Water Lilies" collection assembled in Japan.
Venue: National Museum Of Western Art, Tokyo
Schedule: October 5 - February 11
Wonderment Noe Aoki / Ritsue Mishima (Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum)
This exhibition introduces two female leading contemporary artists: Noe Aoki, known for her work in iron, and Ritsue Mishima, who uses glass. Through iron and glass, two materials also used in the interior of the former Residence of Prince Asaka, this exhibition introduces a contemporary artistic worldview that evokes the spark of life. Each artist has analyzed distinctive points in the decorative style in the Residence to present new installations that have breathed in the uniqueness and fascination of its spaces.
Venue: Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum
Schedule: November 30 - February 16
Hello Kitty Exhibition (Tokyo National Museum)
A special exhibition to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the popular Sanrio character Hello Kitty is currently on show at the Tokyo National Museum. The exhibition explores the unique qualities of Hello Kitty over the past 50 years. In addition to the most extensive collection of Hello Kitty goods ever to be displayed, the exhibition also features collaborative works with artists, original video content, photo spots, and much more.
Venue: Tokyo National Museum
Schedule: November 1 - February 24
Tori/Bird Special Exhibition (National Museum of Nature and Science)
Birds serve as indicators of biodiversityーunderstanding birds is also crucial for the future of biodiversity and the global environment. Based on the latest evolutionary research revealed by rapidly advancing genome analysis, this exhibition introduces birds' unique body structures and ecology. Don't miss this opportunity to explore avian species' fascinating and diverse evolution.
Venue: National Museum of Nature and Science
Schedule: November 2 - February 24
The Japanese Art of Happinessー From Ito Jakuchu to Yokoyama Taikan and Kawabata Ryushi (Yamatane Museum of Art)
Since ancient times, people have wished for a happy life and entrusted their hopes to patterns and shapes. Japanese art is full of symbols of good fortune that are displayed at celebrations such as births and weddings, seasonal festivals, and everyday life. This exhibition focuses on art that expresses wishes for long life, the blessing of children, wealth, and prosperity, and includes many familiar motifs such as pine, bamboo, and plum, and the Seven Gods of Good Fortune, as well as other works that can be said to be lucky motifs for people today.
Venue: Yamatane Museum of Art
Schedule: December 14 - February 24
Mana Konishi "Wherever" (Fuchu Art Museum)
Artist Mana Konishi is widening the possibilities of landscape painting. Her intelligent works, which capture magnificent landscapes on large canvases and are meticulously painted down to the smallest detail, are widely admired by the audience. When she was forced to live in isolation due to the pandemic, Konishi visited the municipal park within walking distance of her home, the adjacent greenhouse, and the stream that flows nearby and continued to paint these landscapes. This exhibition will be Konishi's first large-scale solo exhibition at an art museum, and in addition to her previous representative works, it will also feature many new works.
Venue: Fuchu Art Museum
Schedule: December 14 - February 24
T2 Collection "Collecting? Connecting?" (WHAT Museum)
The T2 Collection is a contemporary art collection that Takahashi, co-founder of BrainPad Inc. and an active figure in the big data and AI fields, has gathered for about six years. This exhibition showcases around 35 works, including the first piece Takahashi purchased as a collector—a work by Bernard Frize—as well as conceptual works by artists like Tatsuo Miyajima, Kohei Nawa, and Reijiro Wada, which have drawn his attention in recent years.
Venue: WHAT Museum
Schedule: October 4 - March 16
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Seeing Sound, Hearing Time (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo)
A composer and an artist, Ryuichi Sakamoto continuously paved the way for his era through diverse and cutting-edge artistic activities. Since the 2000s, he devoted himself to creating three-dimensional sound installations in exhibition spaces, which he developed and realized in collaboration with various artists. Focusing entirely on large-scale installation works, this first comprehensive exhibition in Japan looks back on Sakamoto's pioneering, experimental creative artworks, including some of his most well-known previous pieces and new works that he envisioned for this particular occasion before his passing, which will be dynamically constructed in and around the museum building.
Venue: Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
Schedule: December 21 - March 30
Yosuke Amemiya "Watari-um, The Watari Museum of Art, Which Has Not Melted Yet" (Watari-um, The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art)
This exhibition provides an overview of artist Yosuke Amemiya's practice from the beginning of his career. From the works of the early 2000sーthe melted apple sculptures, the document video of Ishinomaki Thirteen Minutes, a paper of Perfectly Ordinary Stones, Carried For 1,300 Years, to the latest VR work, which will be filmed at the museum during the installation for this exhibitionーhis works provide new art experiences, including talking and speaking, painting images, and elements of songs, musical instruments, and dance. In addition, Amemiya will hold an open practice for his final work every Saturday evening, and visitors can witness his creation.
Venue: Watari-um, The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art
Schedule: December 21 - March 30
Wade Guyton "Thirteen Paintings" (Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo)
Wade Guyton is widely known for his unique printing technique that combines traditional painting methods with modern digital technology. His first exhibition in Japan features 13 large-scale paintings from the Fondation Louis Vuitton collection, created in 2022.
Venue: Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo
Schedule: October 31 - March 16
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