Japan Client Interviews

Taro Amano from Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery

• Younger audiences nowadays learn about events through influencers and SNS. Some of them may visit a museum just to take a picture with a popular piece and leave. Additionally, this may be the reason why some exhibits tend to perform better throughout the weeks - some exhibits start out with ~200 visitors, then increase linearly throughout the month.
• Japanese art markets differ from American art markets in that private collectors do not tend to donate their collections to museums.
• Currently, public Japanese museums are losing funding and thus are struggling to maintain operations and collect pieces. Those backed by private corporations do not struggle with this issue.
• Should address economic disparities, as museums are barred by high entry fees that those in poverty cannot afford. Art should be available to everyone.

Junya Utsumi from Artizon Museum

• Goal as a curator is to have people completely immersed in the exhibit and disconnect from their own lives. After visiting a museum, they should take some time to reflect on the experience and incorporate learnings into their own lives.
• In-person discussion of pieces is preferred to online discussion.
• One of the main pain points is that physical museum brochures and guides can be a hassle, but digitized versions are also insufficient. Having a digital guide with interactive features would be ideal.