Tokyo

If you are planning a trip to Japan this fall, Art Week Tokyo (November 4–8) is one of the best times to experience the city’s extraordinary art scene. Now in its fifth edition, the event brings together fifty-five museums, galleries, and alternative spaces across Tokyo, connected by free shuttle buses that make navigating the city remarkably easy.

What makes Art Week Tokyo so compelling is that it isn’t centered in a convention hall or fairgrounds. Instead, it encourages you to experience the city itself, moving between neighborhoods, institutions, commercial galleries, artist-run spaces, architecture, restaurants, and cafés. The journey becomes part of the experience.

This year’s edition expands AWT Focus from a single exhibition into ten curator-organized projects spread throughout the city, reinforcing the event’s commitment to collaboration, experimentation, and community.

Institutional highlights include a major retrospective of recent About Art podcast guest (Episode 230) Mariko Mori at the Mori Art Museum, a retrospective of Minami Tada at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, and Shojo Manga Infinity at the National Art Center, Tokyo.

I’ve long admired the Japanese approach to looking. Art Week Tokyo reflects that sensibility beautifully. It rewards curiosity, sustained attention, and the pleasure of discovering a city one exhibition at a time.