Edo (sometimes called City of Fires), was perhaps the most fire prone city in the world; there is a saying, “Fires and quarrels are the flowers of Edo, yet the greater essence is the fireman”. There were over five hundred major fires alone in the ...full story
Captivated by Japan's bewildering calligraphy, its art history and the Mars-like surface of Mount Aso, he left London's galleries for Tokyo in 2010. He currently teaches fine art and English in Shibuya, but spends his weekends stumbling across public ...full story
Yokoyama Taikan (1868-1958) was born in the prefecture of Ibaraki but he moved to Tokyo in 1878. This period of history in Japan would witness many events because time didn't stand still during the Meiji, Taisho, and Showa periods of history.full story
Jung developed the idea of the collective unconscious: a universal map that finds a manifestation in tales and images of characters, objects and situations – what we now call art and myth. His work has been hugely persuasive and influential both at a ...full story
Tokyo has a small collection of places that are somewhere in between museum and bar, gallery and cafe. This is not a food blog by far, but if you choose your eateries and watering holes by their quality or quantity of art then this is the round-up for you.full story
It's easy to use a phrase over and over without ever really thinking about it or explaining it in any great detail. The word Otokodate is one such instance and I am aware that we use it at the gallery without clearly defining it. Otokodate doesn't have ...full story
I had an opportunity to be involved in an inauguration of Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, which opened in 1999, and I was contracted to work there as an assistant curator and then eventually became a curator of the Gallery. 'Eventually' means that I ...full story
Claude Monet was very important within French Impressionism and despite new artistic movements like Cubism and Fauvism altering the artistic landscape, he remained firmly committed to Impressionist art. Another major art theme which would shape ...full story
The Japanese artist Rokudenashiko happens to specialize in vaginas. Before you write the cartoonist and sculptor off as a third-rate Georgia O'Keeffe, it's worth noting that she has her reasons. The artist, whose pseudonym translates to "good-for ...full story
