Exhibition

(Japanese translation follows English, 日本語訳は英文の後に続きます。)

April 2025 Exhibition
GAZA: Signal Of Life
Photographer: Amer Nasser
March 31 - April 25, 2025

For the month of April, the FCCJ is proud to present a telling exhibition to support Palestinian filmmaker and photographer Amer Nasser who is currently living a difficult and perilous life in the midst of a serious humanitarian crisis in northern Gaza. As a producer selected to exhibit his work at the Cannes Film Festival and Dubai International Film Festival, Nasser would suffer the loss of his camera and computer in one of the many bombings, the artist’s foremost means of expression. Without backup equipment, he was forced to turn to his only remaining means of recording history - a smartphone - to continue sending out daily videos and photos on social media.

March 2025 Exhibition
Once Upon A Time In Tokyo (1980-2025)
Photographer: Bruce Osborn
March 1 - 28, 2025

In conjunction with his work as a photographer, Bruce has been chair of the FCCJ Exhibition Committee for more than 13 years, up until spring 2024. During that time, however, he has rarely exhibited his own work, apart from the highly-rated Oyako Matsuri (Parent and Child Festival) series which he has championed for over 20 years. In appreciation of his decade’s long, dedicated contribution to the FCCJ, we are proud to present a selection of his works, chosen from a vast array of photographs dating back to his arrival in Japan in 1980.

"In this exhibition, I present a partial record of the people and events that have passed before my lens since arriving in Japan in 1980. What future will these memories lead to, memories that still resonate like an echo? Only time will tell."
Bruce Osborn

Exhibition Reception
Date: Monday, 3 March, 6.30 - 8.30pm (doors open at 6.00pm)
Entry Fee: Members 1,000 yen,  Non-members 2,000 yen (one drink incl)

January 2025 Exhibition
New Year’s Exhibition: Year of the Snake
Images by 24 Artists
January 6 - January 31, 2025

Happy New Year to all at the FCCJ. Welcome to 2025, the Year of the Snake, which is the sixth year in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese Zodiac. Those born in the Year of the Snake are said to be intelligent, enigmatic, wise and sympathetic. Historical figures born in this particular year include Pablo Picasso, Stephen Hawking, Mahatma Gandhi, JFK, Mao Zedong, J.K. Rowling, Anne Frank and even Taylor Swift. As we continue the struggle with climate change, Japan’s decreasing population, the war in Ukraine, a new president in the White House, a weak yen, and other issues, let's hope that the snake’s intelligence can guide us towards smart solutions.

In celebration of the new year, this January will feature a group exhibition at the FCCJ by artists from around the globe.

                                              Misa Nishimura                                                  Lou Beach

December 2024 Exhibition
Kimono Collages: Images by Michiko Kataoka
November 30 - December 26

The FCCJ has something a little different for our December exhibition. For our December exhibition, the FCCJ will pay homage to Japan’s traditional kimono and art world by exhibiting the works by Michiko Kataoka who is presenting her tapestry of collages made from antique kimono fabric. Creating images inspired by fabrics from the Edo period, Kataoka is one of the very few artists who conceive collages based on Ukiyo-e and Bijin-ga paintings of beautiful women.

Reception, Talk Show & Traditional Dance
6:30pm - 8:30pm, Tuesday, December 10 (doors open 6:00pm)
Members: 1,000 yen, Guests/Non-members: 2,000 yen (includes one drink)
Demonstration by Michiko Kataoka
Japanese dance by Hanayagi Sanagino (Nagisa Umeno)

October Photo Exhibition: The Universe of an Imagination 2024
Photos by Benjamin Lee
September 28 - October 26

For the month of October, the FCCJ will feature the works of well-known Chinese-Canadian photographer and artist Benjamin Lee. Through his portraits of mostly Japanese celebrities, architects and designers, and avant-garde artwork, he is expressing the vitality and creativity of the Japanese people and how quickly they are able to adapt to new things and new ideas, which, as he says, is one main reason why Japan has been so successful in the arts, music, design and fashion.

Exhibition Reception
Date: Monday, October 7, 2024
Doors open 6:30pm, starts 7:00pm
Members: 1,000 yen, guests/non-members: 2,000 yen (includes one drink)

FCCJ Photo Exhibition
Dear Maui: 12 Stories from Maui
August 1 - Friday, August 30

Join our talk show and hula dance on August 3 from 19:00

For the month of August, the FCCJ exhibition committee remembers last year’s destructive fires that affected large areas near Maui in Hawaii and welcomes several photographers who have shot telling images of Maui over the years. On August 8, 2023, a wildfire in western Maui devastated the port city of Lahaina, once the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Maui, an island of resorts, is losing its old landscape at an alarming rate with the abnormal weather exacerbating the situation.

Reception / Talk Show with photographers, plus hula and messages from Maui
Date and time: August 3, 2024 (Sat) 19:00-21:00 (doors open at 18:30)
Talk Show guests: Junji Takasago, Hideaki Sato, Sumio Kondo, Eiichi Imai, Sachiko Nagata, Yuichi Noguchi, and others including Matty Schweitzer will display photos.
Please book at the front desk or front@fccj.or.jp
Fee: 1,000 yen (with 1 drink).

The book ‘Dear Maui’ will be available for purchase at the venue. All profits from the sale of this book will go to support Maui's recovery.

July Photo Exhibition : June 26 - July 31
A Selection of Original Animated Drawings
‘Gauche the Cellist’
Featuring work from the late Isao Takahata's animated masterpiece

This month's exhibition gives us a rare insight into how Japanese anime movies are made. July's
exhibition features special enlarged prints of original drawings from the classic 1981 animated
masterpiece "Gauche the Cellist,” based on the work of the same title first published in 1934 by well-
known Japanese grass roots poet and author of children's stories, Kenji Miyazawa. (Supported by
EPSON & Oh! Production)

Born in 1896, Kenji was a writer much in the same vein as Walt Whitman or Beatrice Potter, but with a
heart like John Ruskin. In his short life of 37 years, he wrote numerous poems and anthropomorphic fairy
tales, but the setting of many of his works is the fictional idealistic homeland of Ihatov, modeled on the
countryside around his hometown-present-day Hanamaki City in Iwate Prefecture. Indeed, this area
could be called the Japanese people's spiritual homeland. Kenji himself learned to play the cello and
loved Beethoven's Symphony No.6.