12 best art exhibitions to see in Tokyo in 2025

The career of composer, musician and visionary Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952–2023) spanned five decades and is a testament to his eclectic genius, from his 1978 debut album Thousand Knives to his work with the Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). His unique ability to blend Eastern and Western influences revolutionized electronic music, creating a sonic language that seamlessly integrated traditional Japanese music with experimental sounds.

Held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo until March 30, ‘Ryuichi Sakamoto: seeing sound, hearing time’ is an immersive exhibition that offers an opportunity to discover Sakamoto’s innovative approach to sound and space. The first comprehensive retrospective of Sakamoto’s large-scale sound installations in Japan, it features both famous past works and new pieces conceptualised before his death.

The creations on display transform sound into three-dimensional experiences, interacting dynamically with the museum’s architecture and surrounding spaces. ‘Seeing sound, hearing time’ invites visitors to reflect on Sakamoto’s lasting impact as a multidisciplinary artist and offers a profound tribute to a creative genius whose work continues to inspire and resonate around the world.

Yamaguchi native Kei Imazu was quickly recognised for her talent after graduating from Tama Art University in 2007. Now living and working in Bandung, Indonesia, she is noted for her meticulous technique: using images gleaned from the internet and digital archives –ranging from historical masterpieces to personal photographs – she creates digital sketches in Photoshop that she then transposes to oil on canvas.

Until March 23, the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery is presenting the artist’s first major solo exhibition. ‘Tanah Air’, which means ‘land and water’ in Indonesian, and by extension ‘homeland’, explores the deep connection between the artist and her two worlds. The works presented reflect her personal experiences, Indonesian history and mythology, as well as issues related to urban development and environmental pollution.

Beyond painting, Imazu also explores more spatial forms of expression with installations and large three-dimensional pieces, inviting the visitor to immerse themselves completely in the artist’s vision and to reflect on the notion of belonging.

From January 25 to April 6, the Mori Arts Center Gallery takes you on a journey into the heart of one of the most enigmatic civilisations in history through a selection of masterpieces from the prestigious Egyptian collection of the Brooklyn Museum. Around 150 artefacts will be on display, ranging from monumental sculptures to delicate jewellery, ornate sarcophagi, pottery, human and animal mummies, and precious papyri.

Guided by renowned Egyptologist Yukinori Kawae, visitors are invited to explore three millennia of history through three thematic sections. The first focuses on the daily lives of the people of ancient Egypt, while the second section is devoted to the figure of the pharaoh, holder of absolute power. Works related to twelve iconic kings are presented, tracing the evolution of the dynasty and the representation of the rulers.

The final section explores ancient Egyptians’ beliefs about life after death. Grave goods, ritual instruments and reliefs depicting deities are on display, providing insight into the reasons for and techniques of mummification.

With the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and the increasing integration of the virtual and real worlds, these technologies are nearing the heart of our daily lives. The Mori Art Museum’s ‘Machine Love’ explores the constant dialogue between art and technology, particularly as it relates to the fields of computer art and video art, from February 13 to June 8.

The exhibition introduces contemporary artworks using game engines, AI and virtual reality. These works explore new aesthetics and new forms of image-making by drawing on various datasets present in the digital space or by exploiting generative AI, a technology at the centre of both opportunities and concerns. 

‘Machine Love’ brings together eleven individual artists and one collective. Their works offer a constant back and forth between the digital and real worlds, as well as an immersive experience through large-scale installations. Visitors are invited to contemplate the complex relationship between humanity and technology, a bond made of love, empathy, elation, fear and anxiety. You’ll also be able to participate in a debate with AI characters or pick up a controller to try out indie games. Living at the intersection of art, technology and the human experience, the exhibition is presented as a platform for reflection on our uncertain future.

Surrealist Joan Miró (1893–1983) was one of the most prominent – and prolific – artists of the twentieth century. Creator of a deeply personal, dreamlike universe, his work oscillates between figuration and lyrical abstraction. He left behind an impressive legacy: nearly 2,000 paintings, 5,000 drawings and collages, some 500 sculptures and 400 works of ceramics.

Born in Barcelona, Miró showed a talent for and interest in art at an early age. In 1920, he moved to Paris where he became close to Picasso and discovered Cubism. He developed a free pictorial language, close to surrealist automatic writing, and from the 1930s exhibited his works in the United States, where they met with great success. The following decades were marked by experimentation with new techniques, particularly in sculpture and engraving, and by a great recognition of his paintings. Miró asserted his artistic freedom while emphasising the violence of his desire to ‘kill’ classical codes – a testimony to an intense personal struggle.

Held from March 1 to July 6, the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum’s Joan Miró is a major retrospective retracing the artist’s entire career. The exhibition brings together paintings, ceramics and sculptures, exploring Miró’s life from his beginnings in Catalonia to his move to Paris and his international influence. It highlights his constant exploration of new forms of expression and his dialogue with the artistic movements of his time.

Japanese-American contemporary artist Tomokazu Matsuyama’s practice encompasses painting, sculpture and installation. Born in 1976 in Gifu, he currently lives and works in Brooklyn. His work organically merges and reimagines diverse elements, such as Asian and European cultures, ancient and modern eras, and figurative and abstract styles. His art both reflects his intercultural experiences and tirelessly questions the complex and polarised issues of our time: political cleavages, economic inequality, social conflict, the paradox of gender equality, media manipulation and the proliferation of disinformation.

Drawing on a wide range of cultural and historical influences, from Japanese art of the Edo and Meiji periods to classical Greek and Roman statuary, French Renaissance painting and contemporary post-war art, Matsuyama has over the past twenty-five years established himself as a key artist in the New York scene.

This show at the Azabudai Hills Gallery is the artist’s first major exhibition in Tokyo. Running from March 8 to May 11, ‘First Last’ presents some 40 works (15 of which have never been seen before in Japan). It showcases Matsuyama's reflections on the paradoxes of contemporary society, which seems to maintain a fragile balance through perpetual struggles, illustrating the biblical adage ‘the last will be first, and the first last’.

Over the centuries, Zen Buddhism and its institutions have served as a catalyst for the creation and transmission of Japanese art. Many Zen monasteries have built up extraordinary collections of art, passed down from generation to generation. This is particularly the case for Shokoku-ji in Kyoto, whose collection is at the centre of this exhibition.

Held from March 29 to May 25 at the University Art Museum, ‘Legacy of Zen Temples: Shokoku-ji, Kinkaku-ji and Ginkaku-ji, Kyoto’ highlights the exceptional artistic heritage of Shokoku-ji and its affiliated temples, the famous Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion) and Ginkaku-ji (Silver Pavilion). Organised for the 40th anniversary of the Shokoku-ji Jotenkaku Museum, the exhibition brings together more than 45 National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties.

‘Legacy of Zen Temples’ focuses on the role of important historical figures while detailing how the works on display became part of the monastic collection. It traces the temples’ history, marked by losses, transfers, and destruction due to fires and wars, and highlights how despite these hazards, Shokoku-ji has kept the core of its collection for more than six centuries.

Finnish designer and sculptor Tapio Wirkkala (1915–1985) was a major figure in post-war design. Influenced by his stays in Lapland, the northern part of Finland, his work encompasses a wide range of fields, including product design, sculpture, graphic design and architecture. The breadth of his talent is reflected in the diversity of materials he used, especially glass, which made him known internationally.

Wirkkala’s most famous creations include the design for Finlandia vodka and the Ultima Thule kitchen glass collection for Iittala. Both glass creations required thousands of hours of work to develop a glassblowing technique capable of producing the appearance of dripping ice cubes.

The artistry involved in these masterpieces can be studied at the artist’s first major solo exhibition in Japan, being held at the Tokyo Station Gallery from April 5 to June 15. The retrospective celebrates the 110th anniversary of Wirkkala’s birth and focuses on his creative process and the environments that inspired him. The exhibition brings together approximately 300 works, including rarely exhibited plywood sculptures, design objects, and prototypes.

In the news for his role as the designer of the Expo 2025 site, Sou Fujimoto is an architect whose work explores the relationship between nature and architecture. Born in Hokkaido, he is inspired by the natural landscapes of his childhood and seeks to integrate organic forms into the built environment through an approach he calls ‘primitive future’.

This philosophy translates into an exploration of the limits between indoors and outdoors and the natural and the artificial, creating spaces that invite a new experience of inhabiting it. Fujimoto’s residential projects in Japan, such as House N, House O and House T, as well as international projects such as the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London, illustrate this desire to blur spatial boundaries. His work is characterised by the use of simple materials, often only one per project, implemented in innovative ways to create complex and intriguing shapes. The balance between a defined program and the freedom of appropriation by the occupants is at the heart of his approach.

Fujimoto’s first major Tokyo retrospective takes over the Mori Art Museum from July 2 to November 9. The exhibition offers a comprehensive overview of the architect’s journey over the past quarter century, showcasing his achievements. Models, plans and documentary photographs sit alongside life-size models and installations, providing an immersive visual and spatial experience of the essence of his work. The exhibition highlights projects such as the Musashino Art University Museum & Library, the Arbre Blanc in Montpellier, France, the House of Music in Budapest, and – yes – the Expo site on Osaka’s Yumeshima.

Kanagawa-born, NYC-based Aki Sasamoto’s decompartmentalised artistic practice explores performance, sculpture, dance, and any other medium conducive to the expression of her ideas. At the intersection of visual and performing arts, her work involves collaborating with musicians, choreographers, scientists and academics, and she often takes on multiple roles: performer and sculptor, but also professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Sculpture at Yale University.

In her work, Sasamoto constantly reflects on the design and configuration of sculptures and devices that she uses as scores during improvised performances within immersive installations. As she describes it, her creative process is akin to fishing: she ‘casts a net and waits for a perfect alignment of events’, letting several elements float before grasping the connections by relating them to seemingly foreign references.

On from August 23 to November 24, ‘Aki Sasamoto’s Life Laboratory’ at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo explores the interplay between sculptural creation and performance that has characterised the artist’s work for two decades. From landmark early works to more recent creations that emphasise kinetic elements, the exhibition offers a comprehensive overview of Sasamoto’s journey and unique approach, where the boundaries between artistic disciplines blur in favour of captivating hybrid expression.

Female emancipation was in full swing at the beginning of the twentieth century and had a considerable influence on fashion. The interwar period saw the emergence of the liberated woman, in search of a modern and daring style reflecting her new spirit. At the same time, the Art Deco movement was born, blooming during the 1920s first in relation to interior architecture and furniture. It was in this context that the first icon of Art Deco fashion was born: the garçonne, an emblematic figure of the Roaring Twenties.

Art Deco fashion came to be characterised by geometric and clean shapes, bold colours and high-quality materials. Beaded dresses, furs, feathers and sequins make up the Art Deco wardrobe, where graphic patterns and bold prints bring a touch of sophistication and theatricality to outfits.

Looking back at this era of luxurious and opulent wear – and celebrating the centenary of the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris – the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum is organising the ‘Art Deco and Fashion’ exhibition from October 11 2025 to January 25 2026. The museum will display about sixty iconic Art Deco outfits – including evening dresses from the great Parisian houses such as Poiret, Chanel and Lanvin – as well as paintings, prints, handicrafts, and other artwork from Japanese and foreign museums.