On March 13, the Japan Academy (SHIONO Hiroshi) announced ten recipients of the Japan Academy Prize for the fiscal year 2017, the annual prize given to outstanding achievements in academic fields. In relation to art, NARASAWA Yumi, Professor at Jōsai University, received the prize for her detailed research and systematization of Christian alters from the fifth to twelfth centuries in southern Gaul, South France. (Japanese)
On June 16, ‘Revisions to the Basic Act on the Promotion of Culture and the Arts’ (the Basic Act on Culture and the Arts) was unanimously passed and enacted at an Upper House Plenary Session. It was promulgated and enforced on June 23. The revisions, not limited to the promotion of culture and the arts, but also further extended to incorporate measures in a wide range of related fields, such as tourism, town development, international exchange, social welfare, education and industry into the scope of the act. They also sought to utilize the various new values created through culture and the arts to further their succession, development and creation. (Japanese)
On November 30, the Japan Art Academy (Director: KUROI Senji) announced that it had elected eight new members to the Japan Art Academy for their outstanding achievements in artistic activities. In relation to art, nihonga painter NISHIDA Shunei, yōga painter NEGISHI Yūji and architect ISOZAKI Arata were elected. The election was officially announced by HAYASHI Yoshimasa, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology on December 15. (Japanese)
On March 16, the Agency for Cultural Affairs announced the winning works for the 20th Japan Media Arts Festival Awards that are given to excellent media artworks from inside and outside of Japan. The Grand Prizes were given to a media installation titled ‘Interface I’ by Ralf BAECKER (Germany) in the Art Division; a video work titled ‘Shin Godzilla’ directed by ANNO Hideaki and HIGUCHI Shinji in the Entertainment Division; an animation titled ‘Your Name’ by SHINKAI Makoto in the Animation Division; and a manga titled ‘BLUE GIANT’ by ISHIZUKA Shinichi in the Manga Division. (Japanese)
The winners of the 12th Western Art Foundation Prize, which publicly honor individuals and organizations involved in curating exhibitions that have contributed to the understanding of Western art and academic research in the field of Western art, were announced. The Academic Prizes for individuals were given to TSUKADA Miki, Curator of the Setagaya Art Museum (for the exhibition ‘Manuel Álvarez Bravo Photographs: Mexico, Light and Time in Silence’) and MOTOHASHI Yayoi, Curator of The National Art Center, Tokyo, (for the exhibition ‘Alfons Mucha’). The Cultural Promotion Prize for institutions was given to INAX Museums for its 10th anniversary special exhibition ‘Making GAUDI’. (Japanese)
On December 2, the winners of the ICOMOS Japan Prize 2017 as well as the ICOMOS Japan Honorable Mention Award were announced. The ICOMOS Japan Prize and the ICOMOS Japan Honorable Mention Award aim to encourage the preservation and conservation of structures, groups of historic buildings, cultural landscapes, monuments and historic ruins as well as historic sites. The ICOMOS Japan Prize was given to ŌTAKE Sachie (Curator at the Kokuyōseki Taiken Museum), who conducted systematic development activities on research, conservation, dissemination and experience learning at the Jōmon period obsidian mines. The ICOMOS Japan Honorable Mention Award was given to TOMINAGA Yoshiaki (CEO, Heritage Structure Engineering Design, Inc.), who contributed to the conservation and utilization of historical buildings as a structural designer. (Japanese)
On March 17, the winner of the 42nd Kimura Ihei Award (Sponsored by the Asahi Shimbun Company and the Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc.), the award given to exceptional new photographers in honor of photographer KIMURA Ihei’s achievements, was announced. The award was given to HARA Mikiko for her photo book ‘Change’. (Japanese)
In May, the international Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), an advisory body to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) that conducts preliminary inspections to determine whether a site should be inscribed on the World Heritage List, recommended the inclusion of the ‘Sacred Island of Okinoshima and Associated Sites in the Munakata Region’, which had been nominated by the Japanese government, excluding Okinoshima Island and its surrounding reefs, on the World Heritage List. On July 9, the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, held in Krakow, Poland, overturned the advisory body’s recommendation and decided to inscribe all constituent assets on the World Heritage List as Cultural Heritage Sites. (Japanese)
On December 11, the winners of the VOCA Prize, which encourages young artists who create two-dimensional artworks, were announced. The Grand Prize of the VOCA was given to USUI Yui (‘our crazy red dots’). FUJII Toshiharu (‘Kairaku no hakumaku’) and YAMADA Nanako (‘Iso’) jointly received the VOCA Encouragement Prize. UMEZAWA Kazuki (‘Subete o shirunomo’) and MORIMOTO Aiko (‘Karakusa moyō’) jointly received the VOCA Honorable Mention Prize. The Ohara Museum of Art Prize was given to URAKAWA Taishi (‘Fūkei to yūrei’). The VOCA exhibition 2018, where the winners’ works were exhibited, was held at the Ueno Royal Museum in Tokyo from March 15 to March 30 in 2018. (Japanese)
On March 22, the Japan Art Academy (Director: KUROI Senji) announced the recipients of the 73rd Japan Art Academy Prize. In the Fine Arts category, the Imperial Prize and the Japan Art Academy Prize were given to TAKAKI Seiu (for his calligraphy ‘Kyōriku’, exhibited at the third Kaiso Shin-Nitten). In the same category, NISHIDA Shunei (for his nihonga painting ‘Mori no sumibito’, exhibited at the Centennial exhibition of Japan Art Institute’s Revival (Saikō Inten)) and NEGISHI Yūji (for his yōga painting ‘Kotan fūsei’, exhibited at the third Kaiso Shin-Nitten) received the Japan Art Academy Prize. (Japanese)
On July 22, the exhibition ‘Fear in Painting’ opened at the Hyōgo Prefectural Museum of Art (until September 18). The exhibition commemorated the 10th anniversary of the publication of the bestselling book, titled ‘Kowai e’ (published in 2007) by German literature scholar NAKANO Kyōko. Focusing on ‘fear’, the exhibition stimulated the curiosity of the audience and was well received for its deciphering of the subjects and contexts of Western painting, which cannot be solely accessed through contemporary sensitivities, and the various meanings encompassed in each work of art. The exhibition toured to the Ueno Royal Museum (Taitō Ward, Tokyo) (Oct 7 – December 17) (Japanese)
The Domon Ken Award (sponsored by the Mainichi Newspapers Co.), the award for a photographer who has made excellent achievements in the previous year, announced that the 36th winner was YANG Seungwoo. The award was given for her photobook titled ‘Shinjuku maigo’. (Japanese)
On July 21, the Council for Cultural Affairs submitted a report on 244 structures to be designated as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties to MATSUNO Hirokazu, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list includes Sagae City Hall (Sagae City, Yamagata Prefecture), an early representative work by architect KUROKAWA Kishō, and Iiyama Resurrection Church, Diocese of Chubu, Anglican Church in Japan (Iiyama City, Nagano Prefecture), a wooden church building with a bell tower built in the early Shōwa Period. (Japanese)
On March 27, the government budget for the fiscal year 2017 (Heisei 29) was passed. The budget for the Agency for Cultural Affairs became ¥104.272 billion, increasing by 0.3%, which is ¥307 million increase compared to the previous year. The budget is divided into five principal projects as follows: 1. Creation and utilization of rich culture and arts, and cultivation of human resources; 2. Preservation, utilization and succession of Japan’s precious cultural properties; 3. Promotion of cultural programs and improving the function of ACA for realizing the Nation Based on Culture and the Arts; 4. Dissemination of Japan’s outstanding culture and arts / Promotion of international cultural exchange; and 5. Improvement/enhancement of the foundation for the promotion of culture. A major category whose budget increased is as follows: in Project 3, ¥1.151 billion for ‘Promotion of cultural programs and improving the function of ACA for realizing the Nation Based on Culture and the Arts’. (Japanese)
On August 26, the Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design fully opened in Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture, following the relocation and new construction of the Museum of Modern Art, Toyama, which opened in 1981 (closed in December 2016), due to its age, the partial opening on March 25, 2017, and the opening of the rooftop garden on April 29, 2017. Located in a corner of the Fugan Canal Kansui Park, the three-story building, designed by NAITŌ Hiroshi, has a site area of 12,500 m2. The museum aims to be a hands-on museum with the basic policy of ‘a museum that connects art and design’. The museum held the exhibitions titled ‘LIFE: In Search of a Paradise’ (August 26 – November 5) and ‘Art and Design, dialogue with materials’ (November 16 – January 8, 2018) to commemorate its opening. (Japanese)
On March 28, the Denchū Hirakushi Award (sponsored by Ibara City, Okayama Prefecture), established to commemorate HIRAKUDHI Denchū’s achievements along with the promotion of wood carvings in Japan, announced that the 28th winner was ANDŌ Eisaku. The artist was recognized for his pursuit of contemporary expression in large-scale wooden sculpture and his deepening of humanist figurative expression. (Japanese)
On September 10, the Japanese Council of Art Museums (Chairman: TATEHATA Akira), which has approximately 380 national, public and private museums as members, published ‘the Principles of Art Museums and Guidelines for the Conduct of Art Museum Staff’ on its website. Consisting of eleven principles and guidelines, it sets out the basic principles of art museums and the standards to which art museum staff should adhere in the face of difficult social situations surrounding art museums, and various problems and issues they face. It was adopted at the General Meeting of the Japanese Council of Art Museums in May 2017, after five years of review by its Art Museum Management System Study Group. (Japanese)
On March 28, the Denchū Hirakushi Award (sponsored by Ibara City, Okayama Prefecture), established to commemorate HIRAKUDHI Denchū’s achievements along with the promotion of wood carvings in Japan, announced that the 28th winner was ANDŌ Eisaku. The artist was recognized for his pursuit of contemporary expression in large-scale wooden sculpture and his deepening of humanist figurative expression. (Japanese)
On September 12, the laureates of the 29th Praemium Imperiale in Honor of Prince Takamatsu (organized by the Japan Art Association), which publicly honors individual world artists, were announced. In relation to art, the laureates are Shirin NESHAT, a female filmmaker based in New York, who has poetically and provocatively depicted the state of women in contemporary Islamic society in photography, video installations and film, in the Painting category; El ANATSUI, a Ghanaian sculptor based in Nigeria, known for his majestic metal wall-hanging created from discarded metal bottle tops, woven together with copper wire in the Sculpture category; and Spanish architect Rafael MONEO, who designs buildings that blend into the urban space in harmony with the environment while emphasizing the historical background of the land in the Architecture category. (Japanese)
On April 16, at a seminar on regional development held at a hotel in Ōtsu City, Shiga Prefecture, YAMAMOTO Kōzō, Minister of State for Regional Revitalization, indicated that curators working at museums lack understanding of tourism promotion and voiced his opinions that the biggest cancer is cultural curators and that that needs to be eradicated. The statement was based on a misconception that the British Museum had dismissed all curators who opposed the museum’s major renovation. Criticisms poured in from people working in the field of cultural properties. On the following day, April 17, the minister apologized and announced that he would retract its statement. (Japanese)