Best Exhibitions Starting in November 2025
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Tokyo Art Beat presents a selection of the best exhibitions opening in November 2025. Bookmark the exhibitions on the TAB website or TAB app and never miss the openings and closings.
- 【Tokyo】Mass Extinctions―Big Five (National Museum of Nature and Science)
- 【Tokyo】80 Years After the War: War and Children (Itabashi Art Museum)
- 【Tokyo】All of Evangelion (Roppongi Hills Tokyo City View)
- 【Tokyo】Donald Keene "Seeds in the Heart" (Setagaya Literary Museum)
- 【Tokyo】When Embroidery is Born―Modern & Contemporary Thread, Needle and Fabric Creations Seen in the Tokyo Metropolitan Collection (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum)
- 【Tokyo】Learning from Design Maestros (21_21 Design Sight)
- 【Tokyo】Negoro― The Art of Fascinating Lacquerware in Red and Black (Suntory Museum of Art)
- 【Tokyo】Kobayashi Tokusaburo: A Retrospective (Tokyo Station Gallery)
- 【Tokyo】The Beauty of Hospitality: Gatherings of Noh and Tea (Sen-Oku Hakukokan Museum Tokyo)
- 【Tokyo】Tsugu minä perhonen (Setagaya Art Museum)
- 【Tokyo】Reviving Postmodern Design: Shiro Kuramata, Makoto Komatsu and Masaharu Takasaki, Humanism in Design for the Future (Musashino Art University Museum & Library)
- 【Hokkaido】Reflections － A Distant Light (Sapporo Art Park)
- 【Aomori】Riusuke Fukahori Exhibition: Wavering Boundaries (Aomori Museum of Art)
- 【Chiba】The Netherlands × Chiba Taking Photographs, Telling Stories (Chiba Prefectural Museum of Art)
- 【Ibaraki】Arata Isozaki: Archipelagos of Architecture (Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito)
- 【Kanagawa】Wakae Kanji and Joseph Beuys with Photographed Documents of Beuys in Japan and Europe (Museum of Modern Art, Hayama)
- 【Nagano】Keizo Kitajima Exhibition (Nagano Prefectural Art Museum)
- 【Osaka】For a Placard (The National Museum of Art, Osaka)
【Tokyo】Mass Extinctions―Big Five (National Museum of Nature and Science)
Earth has experienced five major "mass extinction" events (known as the "Big Five"), during which over 75% of species disappeared in short periods. However, mass extinctions also promote new life flourishing and increase biodiversity, serving as catalysts for transforming the world of life. This special exhibition, the museum's first to focus on the "Big Five," unravels these mysteries through evidence preserved in fossils and rocks, tracing the evolutionary history of life on Earth.
Venue: National Museum of Nature and Science
Schedule: November 1 – February 23, 2026
【Tokyo】80 Years After the War: War and Children (Itabashi Art Museum)
Approximately 80 years ago, even under the harsh conditions of wartime and post-war Japan, artists depicted children as symbols of hope. This exhibition presents works featuring children as subjects, picture books, textbooks, and artwork created by children themselves from wartime through the post-war period.
Venue: Itabashi Art Museum
Schedule: November 8 – January 12, 2026
【Tokyo】All of Evangelion (Roppongi Hills Tokyo City View)
Marking the 30th anniversary of the TV series "Neon Genesis Evangelion," this long-awaited exhibition features production materials that have never been displayed together before, including TV anime cels and original artwork.
Venue: Roppongi Hills Tokyo City View
Schedule: November 14 – January 12, 2026
【Tokyo】Donald Keene "Seeds in the Heart" (Setagaya Literary Museum)
Donald Keene developed a deep interest in Japanese culture through his teenage encounter with the translation of The Tale of Genji and Ryusaku Tsunoda, beginning a lifelong research career. Keene's life, which culminated in his naturalization after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, was truly intertwined with Japanese culture and literature. This exhibition conveys the appeal of Japanese literature alongside Keene's achievements.
Venue: Setagaya Literary Museum
Schedule: November 15 – March 8, 2026
【Tokyo】When Embroidery is Born―Modern & Contemporary Thread, Needle and Fabric Creations Seen in the Tokyo Metropolitan Collection (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum)
This exhibition introduces textile creations using thread, needle, and fabric, along with related materials, organized chronologically into four chapters. "Embroidery paintings" created by students from the late Meiji to the early Showa periods are among the highlights.
Venue: Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
Schedule: November 18 – January 8, 2026
【Tokyo】Learning from Design Maestros (21_21 Design Sight)
In today's society, where information flies rapidly and values fluctuate dramatically, now is the perfect time to look back at the masters who showed diverse perspectives through design. This exhibition features six figures as "design maestros": Bruno Munari, Max Bill, Achille Castiglioni, Otl Aicher, Enzo Mari, and Dieter Rams. It also introduces the perspective of Shutaro Mukai, who laid the foundation for design studies in Japan.
Venue: 21_21 Design Sight
Schedule: November 21 – March 8, 2026
【Tokyo】Negoro― The Art of Fascinating Lacquerware in Red and Black (Suntory Museum of Art)
This exhibition brings together medieval lacquerware from Negoroji Temple's peak period, along with dated pieces and masterworks with clear provenance, offering a precious opportunity to trace the history of Negoro lacquer.
Venue: Suntory Museum of Art
Schedule: November 22 – January 12, 2026
【Tokyo】Kobayashi Tokusaburo: A Retrospective (Tokyo Station Gallery)
Painter Tokusaburo Kobayashi was active during the reform period of modern Japanese Western-style painting. Known for painting numerous fish like sardines and horse mackerel, he eventually began using his own children as models, creating approachable and sophisticated works featuring landscapes and seascapes. This exhibition introduces everyday scenes painted by Kobayashi while focusing on the artistic movements surrounding him.
Venue: Tokyo Station Gallery
Schedule: November 22 – January 18, 2026
【Tokyo】The Beauty of Hospitality: Gatherings of Noh and Tea (Sen-Oku Hakukokan Museum Tokyo)
Noh flourished during the Edo period as the shogunate's ceremonial music and became part of samurai education. This exhibition introduces the Sumitomo family's precious Noh collection, offering a glimpse into Noh culture deeply connected to the tea ceremony.
Venue: Sen-Oku Hakukokan Museum Tokyo
Schedule: November 22 – December 21, 2025
【Tokyo】Tsugu minä perhonen (Setagaya Art Museum)
Fashion and textile brand minä perhonen celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2025. The exhibition title "tsugu" evokes the image of ripples on the surface. Like a drop creating expanding ripples, minä perhonen activities have connected, resonating with people, and spread waves toward new creations. This exhibition introduces various forms of "tsugu" that run through minä perhonen's creative process.
Venue: Setagaya Art Museum
Schedule: November 22 – February 1, 2026
【Tokyo】Reviving Postmodern Design: Shiro Kuramata, Makoto Komatsu and Masaharu Takasaki, Humanism in Design for the Future (Musashino Art University Museum & Library)
From the 1960s onward, Shiro Kuramata criticized his era through ironic interior design amid commercialism. In 1975, Makoto Komatsu parodied paper shopping bags in his masterwork porcelain series, reflecting the high economic growth period. Masaharu Takasaki continues to show the coexistence of humans, nature, and society through space-city-like architecture. Centering on these three figures' work, this exhibition questions how effective postmodern design and architecture remain in the 21st century.
Venue: Musashino Art University Museum & Library
Schedule: November 24 – December 21, 2025
【Hokkaido】Reflections － A Distant Light (Sapporo Art Park)
A contemporary art exhibition by five groups of artists who were born in, lived in, or spent time in Hokkaido. Through works expressing their keen perception of landscapes and natural phenomena through painting, sculpture, photography, video, and sound, they present new perspectives on the world surrounding us.
Venue: Sapporo Art Park
Schedule: November 15 – December 21, 2025
【Aomori】Riusuke Fukahori Exhibition: Wavering Boundaries (Aomori Museum of Art)
Through his innovative technique "2.5D Painting"—layering acrylic paint multiple times in transparent resin—Riusuke Fukahori creates three-dimensional goldfish that appear to be swimming in real water. Is what lies in the water's ripples illusion or reality? His work presents fundamental questions about realism through the coexistence of illusion and matter.
Venue: Aomori Museum of Art
Schedule: November 15 – January 18, 2026
【Chiba】The Netherlands × Chiba Taking Photographs, Telling Stories (Chiba Prefectural Museum of Art)
Following the 2023 "Theo Jansen Exhibition," this cultural exchange with the Netherlands introduces works by emerging Dutch photographers Sarah van Rij and David van der Leeuw for the first time in Japan, known for their street photography featuring abstract compositions, reflections, shadow usage, and distinctive framing. Additionally, through the approach of Chiba-based photographer and novelist Yuki Shimizu, the exhibition displays historical photography collections related to Chiba and the museum's painting collection.
Venue: Chiba Prefectural Museum of Art
Schedule: November 15 – January 18, 2026
【Ibaraki】Arata Isozaki: Archipelagos of Architecture (Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito)
The first major posthumous retrospective of architect Isozaki Arata, who passed away at the end of 2022. Beyond architectural projects and urban planning, Isozaki developed diverse activities over 60 years, including writing, collaborations with artists, and curatorial work. Titled Archipelagos of Architecture, this exhibition configures Isozaki's trajectory that never stayed within a single domain like an "archipelago," presenting his activities beyond architecture at the venue he designed himself.
Venue: Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito
Schedule: November 1 – January 25, 2026
【Kanagawa】Wakae Kanji and Joseph Beuys with Photographed Documents of Beuys in Japan and Europe (Museum of Modern Art, Hayama)
Wakae Kanji resonated with Joseph Beuys's art during his 1970s stay in Germany and continued connecting art and society through collecting and exhibiting Beuys's works alongside his own creative activities. This exhibition displays both artists' sculptural works alongside many first-time-public documentary photographs, examining their commonalities and unique characteristics.
Venue: Museum of Modern Art, Hayama
Schedule: November 15 – February 23, 2026
【Nagano】Keizo Kitajima Exhibition (Nagano Prefectural Art Museum)
Keizo Kitajima began photography in earnest after participating in the "WORKSHOP Photography School" in 1975, taught by Higashimatsu Teruaki, Araki Nobuyoshi, Fukase Masahisa, and others. Using the phrase "borrowed places, borrowed time" that appears symbolically twice in Kitajima's career, this exhibition attempts to reconsider his 50-year body of work through new prints and materials from magazines and photobooks that served as important venues for his work.
Venue: Nagano Prefectural Art Museum
Schedule: November 29 – January 18, 2026
【Osaka】For a Placard (The National Museum of Art, Osaka)
In some situations, people write things on pieces of paper and wood and raise them in the air. Through this simple action, these placards send a message, raise questions, and even have the power to motivate people. In 1961, the artist Mitsuko Tabe wrote a text called “For a Placard,” in which she stated that a single placard has the potential to change society. She also expressed the idea, act, and hope of resisting the harsh realities of a society in her artworks. This exhibition, titled after Tabe’s text, comprises works by seven artists who consider what it means to live with dignity as it relates to their own lives.
Venue: The National Museum of Art, Osaka
Schedule: November 1 – February 15, 2026
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