Fukuoka Asian Art Museum

georges B in the last week

Again like any other museum in Japan very little content, we arrived during an exhibition of modern artist so the rooms with more traditional japanese art we wanted to see for already 2 weeks were just closed. Very deceiving when you come from far away to see a country heritage and end up with nothing but modern art exhibitions that are all over the earth right now. It's a great shame to see an authentic art museum closing national art exhibitions just to get more money (permanent exhibition 500 yen and the limited exhibition 2200, pretty simple to do the math and see why they closed it). Total desapointment, be careful and read the Web pages before, even tho there was no information about the permanent exhibition been closed until we were presented a sticker at the ticket office that showed the permanent exhibition closed.

David Ing 2 weeks ago

Well curated experience with various artist from multiple countries that provide a historical forms of expressions throughout the past half century. In addition, at the time that I have visited the gallery there was a Silk Road exhibition between Japan and China; which was quite informative with many artifacts from the past century. Overall great experience. Didactics were in English and Japanese for the museum and exhibition with the exception of artifact didactics being just Japanese but made sense and google translate worked well to translate to English.

darius savolskis a month ago

If you are used to large art museums art in Europe or the US it could be a disappointment as it is quite small and pricey for what it provides. However, it focuses on Asian contemporary art which is in a way unique. Unfortunately they only take cash payments and descriptions in English are sorely lacking.

無名 5 months ago

I went through the main part of the museum first - great works there - but the Minamata Exhibition, whoah! It's ending in about a month, so I recommend you go now. If you're Japanese, you're going to learn a lot about Minamata Disease and all its associated tragedy. There's too much to read here. Forget about finding any English on the displays; it doesn't happen. It doesn't matter either: the strikingly shocking, assuredly transformative, intensely moving images will touch (maybe pound) your heart. I remember this same feeling the first time I went to the Hiroshima Atomic Museum. But here, those lovely people and their beautiful fingers... I couldn't keep my eyes off of them. The fingers... You know, I'd heard about Minamata before. Recently, I watched part of that Johnny Depp movie on some airplane going I can't remember where. But seeing these photos today. Wow, I'm a bit out of breath right now. I'm a tourist here in Japan (well, yes and no), and I've been wrestling with whether or not to circle Kyushu but not anymore. I'm going to Minamata and see the museum they have there. You know something else (well, you don't)? I heard the people of Minamata. I really think I can hear the voices (sometimes screams) of the victims when I go to places like this. Places that commemorate or educate or remember victims of horror and tragedy, and especially at the actual locations of such. Do think there is something wrong with me? Well, I do. Anyway, I am actually glad they gave me a little booklet to read about all this which I'll do sooner or later. I'm also glad there wasn't any English on the walls. It's best not to read about this kind of stuff during a visit. It's best only to look at pictures. I think Minamata can only be understood through the heart (image) and not the mind (words). Final thing: on the way back to where I am now, I was fortunate to run into a Buddha. I was able to light some incense for Minamata and for my departed family as well. This was a really good day.

Josh Cainglet a year ago

The pieces on display were cool and contained a lot of history in them. There was also an artist's gallery that you can access for free! The artist himself was there and gave us a background on the theme of the collection on display. He even asked us for feedback and our interpretation of his art. I did expect more from the museum's permanent display since they boasted a collection of 5,000 pieces, but I don't think all were accessible to guests. The museum also has a library where you can relax and read books. Perfect way to get to know more about different kinds of art and their history.