The creators have gathered their treasured items for this flea market. Clothes, shoes, books, CDs, plates, interior goods and sundries...a variety of "goodies" will be on sale.

Seiko Omori presents her two dimensional works combining illustrations that she used to use for women's magazine works and images of flowers and plants. Small craft items are also on display. Opening Party: May 9th (Fri) 18:00-20:00

- Iga, Rouzan Sakamoto & his son Toshihito Ceramic Exhibition Rouzan was born in 1926, and graduated from Waseda University in 1950. He then succeeded to the ceramic studio of Nishiyama. He pursues mastering the Iga tea ceremony ceramic ware, one of the traditional styles of Japanese ceramic. His sun Toshihito was born in 1960 and studied under Kanji Atarashi. A total of 80 vessels and various types of ceramic bowls used at the Japanese tea ceremony are on display. -Yuzo Yagisawa Bamboo Craft Exhibition

Various kinds of glasses and lamp shades made of mosaic glass are on display.

Kanagawa Tama Art Group Exhibition 2008 -Gallery 1F -Oil painting, watercolor, nihonga, sumi-ink drawing, printmaking, sculpture, craft. -70 works -Opens at 13:00 on the first exhibition day. 15th 2020 Association Exhibition -Gallery 2F -Oil painting, nihonga -20 works -Opens at 12:00 on the first exhibition day. 44th Representational Art Exhibition -Gallery 3F A -Representational art -170 works -Opens at 14:00 on the first exhibition day. 33th Hama Groupe Exhibition -Gallery 3F B -Photography -90 works -Opens at 12:00 on the first exhibition day. 2008 Spring JAG Exhibition -Organized by Nihon Geijutsu-ka Kyokai -Gallery 3F C -Painting, nihonga, sumi-ink drawing, 2D craft -130 works -Opens at 13:00 on the first exhibition day.

[Image: "Listen to the Dog. The Dog Knows (Ceiling)" (2008), fabric, cotton and rope, etc.]

A selection of 47 items that reflect the new landscape of Claska will be on display at Gallery & Shop "DO" - inheriting the past with sights set on the future, people and the objects that surround them, craftsmanship and artisanal skill. Taking the theme of "contemporary Japanese" style, fresh-feeling products that represent the best of Japanese sensibilities will be displayed - from precisely-wrought crafts by master artisans to industrial products assembled on factory lines and cutting edge software. You might even say that the talented people behind these products are themselves the best "product" Japan has to offer. Or, taking another spin on the issue, that "Japan" is a composite of all these different products. Also on display: "Oumi hemp cloth, from the Edo era to the present" The Oumi hemp industry boasts a proud 500 years of tradition. Hemp researcher and expert Shinichiro Yoshida will illustrate the history of hemp woven into cloth using traditional artisanal techniques, selecting and displaying "white"-themed products in both Edo and contemporary styles.

There are currently eight research laboratories devoted to engraving, hammering, casting, lacquerware, ceramics, dyeing and weaving, woodwork and glassware, allowing instructors in each department to make free use of various materials and techniques to pursue their artistic practices as a regular working artist. The distinguishing trait of craft is that it makes practical, instrumental uses of materials and techniques, while also requiring that those processes lead to something feasible and applicable. Craft is fundamentally the result of the handmade, of firsthand contact with the material, which must then be cultivated and molded, in order to tap the latent energy inherent in the craft being made. The theme of "contemplating crafts" in this exhibition is a chance to reconsider the singular appeal of artisanal techniques that give shape and form to something through manual flourishes, enabling various possibilities of expression to come about through a creative process that is by turns joyful and worrisome, the artisan's mood shifting just as the colors and shapes of his material do. There is also an accompanying exhibition "Craft Art Exhibition" where some of the participating artists in the main exhibition show their works which can be purchased. Dates: Apr 22 (Tue) - May 25 (Sun), 2008 Closed on Mondays (Except: Open on May 5 (Mon); Closed on May 7 (Wed)) Hours: 10:00-18:00 Place: Geidai Art Plaza (located in the University precinct) Admission: Free

Two designers, Thibaut Rocher (product & craft designer, based in Paris and Tokyo) and Hiroshi Endo (fashion designer, based in Tokyo and New York) will exhibit their collaborative installation of handmade candles, natural soaps and other casted products as well as organic cotton jeans and t-shirts. *This exhibition is at "Happa" located inside the Aoyama｜Meguro gallery.

Tokusen Gallery -Tatsuya Ishiodori nihonga exhibition -Senshinkai tea ceremony implements exhibition Bijutsu Salon -Sotokai four-person exhibition Art Square -4th "Sekijunkai" stone sculpture exhibition Craft Salon -Kiminori Ota dyeing exhibition Main Block/Annex 7th floor Gallery -Nihonga Masters print exhibition (until May 18th)

The title "Toukon" roughly translates into "small but motivated soul." This exhibition features a variety of works that are tiny but surely light up your heart. All the works are smaller than the size of a matchbox.

Landscape painting flourished at the end of 19th century. More than a century later, modern landscape and methods of depicting it have changed considerably. Started in April 1999, this is the 10th edition of the exhibition, in which new-generation artists working in various media tackles issues in contemporary representation and portrayal. -Part 1 Group Exhibition Date: April 28th (Mon)-May 3rd (Sat) Artists: Azusa Hayashi, Ayako Kuno, Naoko Noro, Madoka Kaneko -Part 2 8kb "Anxiety" Date: May 5th (Mon)-May 10th (Sat) -Part 3 Kaori Kojima "Roundabout" Date: May 12th (Mon)-May 17th (Sat) -Part 4 Installation Live Date, Time & Artists: May 19th (Mon)-May 21st (Wed) 12:00-20:30 Mai Mochida "Night Voyage" May 22nd (Thur)-May 24th (Sat) 12:00-20:30 Akinori Sakai "Difference & Repetition" [Image: Ayako Kuno]

"Science for Children" was first published in 1925 (Taisho 14), and continues to be one of Japan's best and longest running magazines. It has contributed to nurturing future scientists, serving as an early entry route into natural science. Ranging from space engineering to animal and plant ecologies to familiar inventions from everyday life, the magazine pushed an editorial vision that helped its readers explore topical scientific issues in greater detail, publishing serial and special editions that gave readers simulated experiences in science and technology. In addition, the magazine did not only deal with the latest novel topics. It featured all manner of content, from the avant-garde to the everyday, without dumbing down or omitting details even with difficult content, in an attempt to foster independent thinking. The minutely detailed articles and supplements included with the publication were extremely popular, and many readers continued to be avid fans even way into adulthood. There were also detailed diagrams of everything from paper planes to home appliances, allowing its readers to make the real thing, or a miniature, for themselves. It gave children the chance to make things they really wanted to have and play with, all while having fun and being challenged through DIY experiences. Telling its readers the importance of this hands-on approach was another reason for its continued popularity. This exhibition of crafts brings to light the charm of a magazine that fostered its readers' curiosity for the unknown, and the joy of figuring things out on one's own. Talk and workshop events are also planned. Check website for details (Japanese only): http://www.inax.co.jp/culture/event/040_gallery/001178.html

Icaru is a bag brand by Hikaru Yajima. His designs betray his special interest in and attention to their colors and textures. They are not only functional, but also make you feel happier as you use them.

Location: Exhibition Room 1

Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art changes their permanent collection display four times a year. The current exhibition in the South Building presents paintings, prints and glass works by Hideo Hagiwara, who passed away last fall. This is a retrospective exhibition of this artist presenting around 40 masterpieces. Prints, antiques, and craft works that Hagiwara collected over the years are also on display.

-Let's Try! Let's Make! Various types of craft projects are available for children at Zokei Studio (3rd floor). Please check their calendar to find out what kind of projects they have. Programs change every two or three weeks. "Karakuri" (trick) is the overall theme until the end of August 2008. Tuesday - Friday: 12:30-17:30, Weekend/ Holiday: 10:00-17:30 -Origami Playground Origami workshop for children presented by a volunteer staff of Kodomo no Shiro. Thursday: 14:30-15:30 3F Play Hall -Tracing Art Movements of body while doing sports, cooking, cleaning, etc. Using a tablet to trace a picture, this computer workshop presents how to capture different poses. May 13th - June 8th: open anytime on weekends and holidays/ weekdays 14:00-, reception closes at 17:00 10F Computer Room They have many other programs for children at Kodomo no Shiro. Please visit their website for more information.

This exhibition presents two of sculptor Claire Xuan's most recent works, "Provence" and "Japan". These book-objects, also called portfolios or travel diaries, were published in a limited edition of 999 copies by the French publisher "Eléments d'Edition" as part of the "Collection of the 5 elements." They will be shown together with about 20 photographic works produced in France and Japan, in order to dissociate the process of photographic work and that of art publishing. These photographs evoke the natural elements - water, wood and earth, presented here as the principal subject. They are presented in glass cases under their original form, destructured as it were, in order to make them more legible, as well as to facilitate an appreciation of the artistic process by which they were made. Sheets of parchment paper that also revolve around the theme of natural elements evoked by the portfolios will also be on display. This exhibition is held in collaboration with the gallery of the United Nations University in Tokyo. Technique and paper These travel diaries are distinguished from each other in part by the printing technique, as well as by the artisanal process of the book-object. Situated somewhere between the book lover's book and a coffer of ancient engravings, these travel diaries, unedited and unaltered, are something of a fusion of contemporary techniques used by professional art publishers and a long heritage of printing traditions. Each original photograph is printed in four colors using a monocolor press, on 250-300g weight paper, composed exclusively of natural fibers that are more often used for engravings and lithographs (virgin cotton fibers). This handmade paper produced according to a traditional artisanal technique is most often produced for engraving purposes. Special attention is given to the drying process between different color passages. The paper is then joined with coffers made entirely by hand with rare types of paper, composed mostly of tea fibers and algae, parchment paper, or even paper that has been made in the country of origin where the coffer came from. The "Japan" portfolio is of particular interest, having been achieved on traditional Japanese washi paper. Each work has been realized on a different sheet of washi, conferring on each of the works a unique character. Xuan has personally overseen the creation of each work and the putting together of each portfolio. Meet-the-artist session, over a glass of wine (with French-Japanese translation) May 31st (Sat) 15:30-17:30 in the gallery on the second floor Held concurrently: Claire Xuan "In the Open Air" May 12th - June 1st 2008 (9:30-17:30) Gallery 1, United Nations University in Tokyo (5-53-70 Jingumae,Shibuya-ku,Tokyo Tel : 03-5467-1212)

In 1938, 2 years after founding this Museum, Muneyoshi Yanagi visited Okinawa for the first time and was struck by the beauty of Okinawan textiles. Yanagi visited the site three more times before 1940. This exhibition features Okinawan textile work that Yanagi and his fellows collected upon their visits. A variety of materials, such as cotton, silk and ramie were dyed in vibrant indigo, pink and yellow, and then woven by versatile techniques.

Since the prewar periods, many people from Okinawa have lived in Kawasaki City and played an important role in its industrial development. The Society of Okinawan People was founded in Kawasaki City 84 years ago and has greatly contributed in preserving Okinawan performing arts. It is also a well-known fact that Kawasaki-born figures, such as a ceramicist Shoji Hamada and a poet Sonosuke Sato, became deeply involved with Okinawan culture upon their artistic activities. Moreover, Okinawan culture made an enormous impact on the artist Taro Okamoto as he visited their place. With the theme "the connection of two places -Okinawa and Kawasaki", this exhibition introduces documents, arts, and crafts, which represent traditional art and culture of Okinawa. Location: Event Exhibition Room 1 Related Event (Please see website for details.) -Okinawa Performing Arts Date & Time: April 27th (Sun) & May 11th (Sun), 14:00-15:00 on both days. Location: Shoyo Exhibition Space Fee: Free -Film Screening 1. "A Child of the Sun Thedanopha" (1980) Director: Kirio Urayama 2. "The Sea is Alive" (1958) Director: Susumu Hani 3. "Untamagiru" (1989) Director: Go Takamine 4. "Hotel Hibiscus" (2002) Director: Yuji Nakae Date & Time: 1 & 2 May 24th (Sat) 3 & 4 May 25th (Sun) 1. 13:30- 2. 16:30- 3. 13:30- 4. 16:00- Location: Screening Hall Fee: Adults ¥600, University & High School Students, 65 and above ¥500, Junior High School Students & Below ¥400 [Image: "Bowl with Red Apricot Tree" (Naha City Tsuboya Pottery Museum Collection)]

Location: Exhibition Room 3

Light cloth made out of natural materials that wrap around you like a soft breeze, or a shaft of light. Vessels and earthenware with the warmth of earth. The rugged strength of iron tools. This exhibition is a celebration of natural materials and refined colors in these everyday products. It displays interior accessories in a gallery setting, showing them off to their best advantage just as they might have been deployed in a home. Advice and commentary on the most felicitous arrangements according to the size, shape and color of the room are also on display.

This exhibition introduces the daily lives of the Ainu people by focusing on their tools for weaving, hunting and fishing in addition to their daily clothes and wooden vessels. The Ainu people inhabited the harsh and forbidding northern territory of Hokkaido Island and surrounding islands. They revered nature as gods and by making their livelihoods through hunting, gathering, fishing, and farming were able to co-exist with nature. They wove their own fabrics; producing uniquely styled garments that were decorated with a rich variety of embroidery. Using arrows and spears with poison-tipped points (poison was made by each household according to its own formula), they hunted brown bears, Hokkaido Sika deer, hares, foxes, raccoon dogs, White-tailed eagles and Steller's sea eagles. Eagle feathers were considered precious goods for trade.

The Japanese lacquerwork technique of maki-e had advanced tremendously by the Muromachi period. It had reached a stage of such refinement where almost all techniques known to us today were already invented and employed, furthermore employed in combinations, achieving complicated expressions through artful use of lacquer and other material. Influenced by the literary trend of the era, motifs of poetic nature were preferred. Many extant examples of maki-e lacquerwork dating to the Muromachi period are based on famous waka poems. In addition, the organized trade with Ming China was energetically pursued, also with the support of the government, allowing an immense amount of import wares from China as well as other countries to enter Japan. In the Muromachi period, import articles from China and Korea were treasured as karamono, an expression similar to the term 'chinoiserie' of 18th century Europe. Amongst the military elite with the shogunal house leading the trend, it was also popular to furnish the interior with vast amounts of karamono artifacts. This karamono trend had a multi-faceted effect. In the field of lacquerworks, Chinese choshitsu (lacquer carving) techniques encouraged the advancement of its Japanese counterpart, such as tsuikoku (carved black lacquer) and tsuishu (carved red lacquer) inspiring the kamakura-bori carving, and the technique of chinkin (application of gold to achieve a contrast effect with the lacquer) developing from the Chinese sokin technique. Initially just copied from continental artifacts, the Japanese lacquerwork technique as well as design advanced and grew indigenous to Japan, producing many individual and characteristic wares.

Works from the museum's collection will be on display, with 5 different themes. 1. "Yearning for Blue": introduces painters, such as Rene Magritte, Marc Chagall, Raoul Dufy and Shunsuke Matsumoto who rendered the world in shades of blue. 2. "To Make Invisible Visible": from the museum's collection of contemporary Japanese art, this section showcases artists who devoted themselves to abstract expression, focusing particularly on Takeo Yamaguchi and Jiro Yoshihara. 3. "Where is Utopia?": introduces the notion of utopia and images of paradise that artists associated with Utsunomiya envisioned. 4. "Producing Images": art and design work will be presented alongside each other in the same exhibition space, arranged with the techniques of knitting, weaving and producing in mind. 5. "Revolutionary Russia -Adventures in Design": Russian avant-garde posters from the 1920s and the design work of Japanese artists who took hints from the former will be on display. Location: Exhibition Room 1

Works by emerging artists are on display. vol.145 April 28th (Mon) - May 11th (Sun) Chisato Fujita (Ceramic) vol.146 March 13th (Tue) - March 25th (Sun) Iracu (Bag, small works) vol.147 March 26th (Mon) - June 8th (Sun) Tomomi Kawakami (Glass) vol.148 June 9th (Mon) - June 22nd (Sun) Salon de Pink (Bag) vol.149 June 23rd (Mon) - July 6th (Sun) Miki Inoue (Glass) vol.150 July 7th (Mon) - July 21st (Sun) Kazumi Yoshimura (Ceramic)

Over 300 treasures derived from Horyuji Temple are stored and displayed here.

The First floor of the Heiseikan is dedicated to the display of archaeological finds from Japan.

Our permanent exhibition, held on the first floor, features the work of metal-cast artists Hotsuma Katori and Shinobu Tsuda. Both being born in the same period, in the Hokuso area of Chiba Prefecture, the two were opposites in artistic viewpoints; Katori emphasized tradition while Tsuda called for revolution. Works on display will be rotated every three months.

The Hakone Open-Air Museum’s Picasso Collection consists of a substantial number of Picasso’s ceramic creations, purchased from his eldest daughter Maya Picasso, as well as his paintings, prints, sculptures, gold objets d’art. They are permanently exhibited to the public. The photographs of David Douglas Duncan, who documented the artist’s last 17years, also play a vital role in this collection.

This is a small but permanent program of the Crafts Gallery to present works of Bearers of Important Intangible Cultural Assets (living national treasures) and other leading artists and designers at home and abroad. Masterpieces to be shown include ceramics, glassworks, lacquerware, wood and bamboo works, textiles, dolls, metal works and designs.

"Cache-cache": French for hide-and-seek. Exhibition of 17 creators working in graphics, illustration, painting, comics, product, craft and interiors.

Room021 by Ozi Design Works Inc. is presenting the Teachers' 2nd solo exhibition. Colorful and original sundry articles such as bags, tapestries, scrunchies, pouches, wallets and velts will be on sale. Anybody can attend a workshop as well! -Workshop "Let's Make Teruteru-Bozu" A workshop to make teruteru-bozu (a doll to which children pray for fine weather) with cute fabrics before the beginning of the rainy season. Dates & Time: Everyday during exhibition period. 12:00-18:00 (until 16:00 on the last day) Fee: ¥2000 (including material cost)

Asia's biggest international art event "Design Festa" with over 60,000 people attending! Design Festa is a freestyle International Art Event open to all artists, both professional and non-professional from all over the world to exhibit their creative talent. Design Festa started in 1994 and as of December 2006 it has successfully completed 25 events as well as 3 sub-events. This art event is held twice a year at Tokyo Big Sight, the biggest event hall in Japan. Design Festa is the ideal place for passionate artists who are looking for a great opportunity to show their artwork to a very large audience from all over the world.