Travel Around Tokyo & Surroundings
Unique Modern Art Museum in Tokyo | The Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum
TRAVEL TOPIC: B-Movie Style of Attractions in Tokyo
There are several major traditional art museums in Tokyo and they are certainly worth visiting once. However, traditional art is only a part of the history of Japanese art and you should also be aware of the modern arts in Japan as well.
There are several Japanese artists who are the pioneers in modern art and one of my favorite artists is Taro Okamoto. Okamoto-san is well known as the artist who built the Tower of the Sun in the Symbol Zone at the Expo '70 held in Osaka in 1970. He is so famous not only for his great works but also for his unique character. Maybe Taro Okamoto himself is a work of art!
It is hard to explain his uniqueness in writing and I wonder what adjectives I can use - powerful, passionate, explosive, lovely, heart-warming, pure...hmmm I don't know. Maybe, only his works can speak for themselves.
The Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum is in Aoyama and was his former studio. If you are palnning to visit the Nezu Institute of Fine Arts to see Japanese traditional arts, or shop in the Omote-sandou and Harajuku area, consider dropping in at the lovely museum to see his unique works.
Taro Okamoto Memorial Musem website
Taro Okamoto Museum Of Art, Kawasaki Japan website
Here's another museum that has works of Taro Okamoto, but it is not in Tokyo but in Kawasaki, in the Kanagawa prefecture. The web site of this museum introduces the life and work of Taro Okamoto
Nezu Institute of Fine Art - website
The Insitiute is closed for renovation work, it wil be scheduled to reopen in the autumn of 2009. Here is some gneral inormation from the Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau (TCVB) - Nezu Institute of Fine Art
