Japan Zen

All Nippon Airways operates the direct flight from Brussels Zaventem to Tokyo. We will depart in the evening and land at Narita International Airport in the late afternoon the next day.

Upon arrival, we take the express train from the airport to the hotel. But for those who don’t want to rush to bed yet, you can take a trip to Ginza, where the city’s lights never seem to dim.

We immediately leave the metropolis behind and travel south to Odawara to experience Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Enoura Observatory on a beautiful morning. Besides being a photographer, he is also an architect and created a place of reflection dedicated to art, nature and architecture at this unique location.

After noon, we take the shinkansen to Nagoya to visit a main venue of the Aichi Triennale. The Aichi Arts Center is a 1992 cultural complex consisting of several facilities, besides the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, there is also a theatre hall, concert hall, art space, library and art plaza.

Aichi prefecture is known as one of the two production centres of Japanese ceramics since the 13th century. Seto City, where the Aichi Triennale takes place, is the ceramics capital of Japan.

The Aichi Triennale has been organised every three years since 2010 and this edition’s theme revolves around a future based on geological time perspectives, as opposed to national and territorial perspectives to highlight the contemporary gap between humans and the environment. The curator of this edition is Hoor Al Qasimi (UAE). She is the founder of Sharjah Art Foundation and a leading voice in the art world in Asia and Africa. Artists already participating in the Aichi Triennale are Dala Nasser (LIB), Ogawa Machiko (JP), Oki Junko (JP) and Adrian Villar Rojas (AR).

The second major venue of the Triennale is the Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum. This 1978 museum underwent extensive renovations in both 2013 and 2025. It features two large exhibition halls and the Ceramic Craft Studio.

On the same day, we also visit the Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, a masterpiece by architect Yoshio Taniguchi. Designed by Peter Walker (USA), the garden houses the Dojien Teahouse and the Takahasi Setsuro Gallery with a permanent exhibition of Takahasi Setsuro’s Japanese lacquer art collection.

Towards evening, we head towards the art islands where we have an appointment with the Setouchi Art Triennale the next day.

On the fifth day, we spend a full day on Naoshima and enjoy the various Art House Projects at our own pace with works by Tatsuo Miyajima, Rei Naito, James Turrell (US), Yoshihiro Suda, Shinro Ohtake, Hiroshi Sugimoto and Hiroshi Senju. Tadao Ando’s Chichu Art Museum houses three outstanding works by Claude Monet (FR), James Turrell (US) and Walter De Maria (US). Recent work by Yayoi Kusama in the Valley Gallery, but photographs and installations by Hiroshi Sugimoto can then be found in the Time Corridors. The island has so much to offer that we provide you with an electric bike and a handy map.

The next day, we take the ferry to another art island, Teshima. With the electric bikes, we ride to the most important project we see on Teshima is Ryue Nishizawa’s Teshima Art Museum. The entire structure is dedicated to the work of one artist, Rei Naito. It is a spiritual experience to start the day.

In the afternoon, we move by private ferry to Inujima, where Hiroshi Sambuichi’s Inujima Seirensho Museum with three artworks by Yukinori Yanagi recounts the scars left by industrialisation and modernisation. Architect Kazuyo Sejima’s airy interventions within the Inujima Art House Projects are a necessary counterpart.

Takamatsu is our base for visiting the art islands but there are also some wonderful places to explore in this city. One of the three most important and largest gardens in Japan, the Ritsurin Garden was designed as a private garden for the local Daimyo over 400 years ago. The careful protection of the garden has made it an enduring inspiration for garden architecture.

Japanese-American artist Isamu Noguchi established a studio in 1969 in a village right next to Takamatsu, on the back of Yashima and Mt Gokenzan. In the studio and his home, there are about 150 sculptures preserved that are in various states of completion.

Japan’s historic capital continues to capture the imagination. The ancient temples, surrounded by their beautiful gardens and built in refined materials, are remarkably well preserved thanks to meticulous maintenance by the Japanese.

We start the visit with the classics on the western side of the city, namely Ryoan-ji with famous stone garden and Kinkaku-ji with the golden pavilion. The banks of the wide river in Arashiyama, are a perfect lunch spot before exploring the Bamboo Grove, Tenryu-ji and the Okochi Sanso Villa.

The second day in Kyoto is dedicated to the eastern side, with Ginkaku-ji the silver pavilion, the philosophers’ path and the imposing Kiyomizu-dera. The afternoon is free to fill in, Kyoto has so much more to offer than art and architecture that we didn’t want to let this pass you by!

After saying goodbye to Kyoto, we cross over to northern art, by the Sea of Japan. For here lies Kanazawa, sister city of Ghent and since 2004 the location of SANAA’s 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art. The architectural design breaks through the traditional layout of a museum by designing the various exhibition spaces as separate volumes and allowing the connections between them to flow freely. Visitors are challenged to explore through the fordable circular building.

The writer and scholar D.T. Suzuki was an authority on Buddhism, especially Zen Buddhism, and was instrumental in spreading interest in it to the West. We visit his museum, where architect Yoshio Taniguchi has sublimely materialised the principles of Zen in space, time and movement.

On the way back to Tokyo, we get off at Karuizawa, known as a holiday resort for Tokyo residents. A bus takes us to Ryue Nishizawa’s Hiroshi Senju Museum, where a magnificent synergy has been created between art, architecture and nature.

During the last three days of the trip, which we spend in Tokyo, we visit several districts in the city.

Ueno Park originated as a temple garden and was turned into a public park by the Western-oriented Meiji government in the 19th century. It is where all the major cultural institutions are located, such as Tokyo National Museum. There, we visit Yoshio Taniguchi’s Hall of Horyuji Treasures and Le Corbusier’s Western Art Museum, with art collection by 20th-century collector Kojiro Matsukata. But as befits any park, there are also quiet spots, Hiroshi Nakamura’s Toshogu Shrine offering a moment of reflection in the bustle.

Two museums dedicated to one artist is architect Kazuyo Sejima’s Sumida Hokusai Museum on the life and work of the important letterpress artist Hokusai, known for the ‘great Wave off Kanagawa’. The museum of Yayoi Kusama gives a deeper insight into the creative evolution of the famous artist.

At the Mori Art Museum, the ‘Sou Fujimoto’ expo has already been announced, for the other museums with temporary exhibitions, the final programme is still pending. Among others, 21_21 Design Sight founded by Issey Miyake is on our radar, known for its design-related exhibitions.

The cityscape and city life in Tokyo is unique and stimulating, so we will also take a stroll along Omotesando Road, a major commercial axis where the creations of several Japanese and international architects are showcased. Here we start at Kengo Kuma’s Nezu Museum and end in Harajuku’s Cat Street, where hip youngsters mingle among tourists and casual passers-by.