Tomoyasu Murata (1974-) received the grand prize at the Japan Media Art Festival, with a stop-motion animation work he made while still a student at the Tokyo National University of Fine Art & Music. Since then, he has won a number of awards at various animation festivals. In recent years, his animation has been used for the band Mr. Children's promotional videos. His style also extends past stop-motion to more original, elaborate realms. This exhibition is filled with scenes reminiscent of Murata's nostalgic world, presenting his animations in the context of the good old days of bygone Japan. A sculptural work made out of an antique jukebox shows an animation of 100 beautiful views of Minohako Peninsula, and a space where visitors can play with games that used to be popular in the old days will be set up as part of this exhibition. At the Screening Hall on the first floor, Murata's new animation entitled "Lemon Road," from his "Road" series, as well as his other animations will be screened. -Talk Events April 27th (Sun) Katsuhito Nakazato (photographer) x Tomoyasu Murata May 11th (Sun) Nobuhiro Yamashita (film director) x Tomoyasu Murata May 17th (Sat) Tetsushi Suwa (writer) x Tomoyasu Murata -Momoiro Ryokan Opening Reception Gift will be given to the first 100 visitors. April 12th (Sat) 9:30- Location: Entrance hall -Cinema's Star 2008 (outdoor screening) April 12th (Sat), 13th (Sun), May 3rd (Sat) to 5th (Mon/ Holiday) Start 18:00. Location: Museum court yard -Minohako Theater Tomoyasu Murata "Road" series and other animations are on view. 9:30-16:30 (during the exhibition period, except when talk events are scheduled.) Location: Museum Hall

Internationally acclaimed artist Taro Gomi (1945-) has produced more than 350 illustrated books. His inspired touch with simple shapes, colors, and words has attracted a wide following among children and adults alike. "As a creator, there's nothing more exciting than making books. Planning, producing, printing, and seeing the completed book, or sometimes seeing something emerge from my work -- the entire process is really fun for me. I want to share this enjoyment with others and create something that my readers can savor in the same way, too," says Gomi. This exhibition introduces the processes involved in Gomi's book production, from his preparatory sketches through to their animation, and various related documents. Related Events (Please see the website for details.) -"Telling Folktales" by a volunteer group Reading of a Taro Gomi book, by volunteer staff Date: May 4th (Sun) 14:00-15:00 -Lecture by Taro Gomi "Picture Book Time" Date: May 5th (Mon/ Holiday) 14:00-15:30 This exhibition consists of two parts: Part 1, April 1st (Tue) - May 7th (Wed)/ Part 2, May 9th (Fri) - June 11th (Wed).

Most existing planetariums can only project approximately 2 million stars. However, MEGASTAR-II can reproduce, with up to 12.5x magnification, 5 million fixed stars that cannot be seen with our naked eye. Until MEGASTAR-II, the necessity of reproducing stars to that extent was not really thought possible among planetarium specialists. However, only MEGASTAR-II can reproduce the solidity, light and shades of the colors of the Milky Way and the fine details of the dark nebula. This capability cannot be found elsewhere. The "Geo-Cosmos" is the symbol exhibit of Miraikan and has 1 million LEDs closely set on its spherical, 6.5 m in diameter body. Based on the data sent from satellites, the appearance of the earth changes hourly on the displays and you can have a virtual experience of the "Earth as seen from outer space".