Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on June 2011

One of the most interesting exhibitions of Japanese art this year promises to be “Zipangu” at Nihonbashi Takashimaya. The show brings together over thirty contemporary and very Japanese artists at one venue with only two obvious objectives: (1) to blow everyone away with some astounding art, and (2) to celebrate the Japanese-ness of this aesthetic assertion. Some of the leading lights of what is sometimes called the Neo-Nihonga movement—Hisashi Tenmyouya, Kumi Machida, and Ai Yamaguchi—will be on show alongside other impressive artists whose works are just as unmistakably the products of Zipangu, including the always controversial Makoto Aida, the surreal but stylish Tomoko Konoike, and Mikiko Kumazawa, whose sprawling, detailed, and highly realistic mash-ups of urban Japanese life perfectly capture the density and intensity of life in these overcrowded islands. Not surprisingly, the show is being touted as a vibrant symbol of Japan’s recovery from the Great Kanto Tohoku Earthquake.

Zipangu. Nihonbashi Takashimaya, Until June 20. See exhibition listings (Ginza/ Kyobashi/ Tokyo) for details.