November Exhibition
It Takes A Village:
A Visual Journey Through ARK’s 30 Years In Support of Animals

November 7th - December 4th 2020

When Elizabeth Oliver first opened the doors of her home to set up a refuge for abandoned and abused animals in 1990, she had already been a 10-year veteran in the Kansai area volunteering for a national welfare organization.  Long troubled by the negligible rate of adoption and alternative care options for animals against an extremely high number being routinely euthanized by the Public Health facilities and animal welfare groups, Oliver’s new organization, Animal Refuge Kansai, quickly became a leading advocate for education and change to improve the plight of pets and to tighten laws governing the unregulated state of the pet industry.

Cotton Fields
Photography by Osamu Nagahama
Sept. 5 - Oct. 2, 2020

The exhibition of "Cotton Fields," a collection of photographs of Bluesmen, taken by photographer Osamu Nagahama in the Southern United States. Nagahama started listening to American music at FEN (Far East Network, now AFN) when he was in elementary school, especially devoted himself to the goodness of the Blues. Since then, while shooting as a commercial photographer, his longing for Bluesman has been hard to break, and for four years since he was about 50 years old, he has traveled to the Southern United States for 10 times and photographed 70 Bluesmen, whom he met in the landscape of ghetto in the deep south, where almost no foreign people can enter. His passion resonates with the souls of the tough-looking Bluesman. We may hear the sounds from the portraits.
This exhibition settled commemorate with the publication launch of "Cotton Fields" on February 2020.

"A bond with Tomodachi"
Exhibition by Japan Disaster Recovery Support (JDRS)

March 7 - April 17, 2020 (Update as of April 3, 2020: extended period)

March 9 (Mon.) opening reception
19:00 - 21:00

To commemorate 9th anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, we are exhibiting photographs selected from over 2,000 images taken in the devastated areas. These pictures are from the relief activities records of Japan Self-Defense Forces and U.S. Forces in Japan.

Through this exhibition, we would like to express our gratitude to those who joined the relief efforts and also as a reminder of the importance of disaster preparation in hopes of saving future lives.

We like to thank the US Embassy Tokyo, Reconstruction Agency, Cabinet Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Defense for supporting this exhibition.

"Mic Check"
Exhibition: Robert Gerhardt

February 8- March 6, 2020

Feb. 10 (Mon.) opening reception
19:00 - 21:00 VIP Room

I began making the photographs in this series in November of 2014 when a Grand Jury absolved a white police officer in the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Two weeks later, a second Grand Jury on Staten Island cleared white police officers in the killing of Eric Garner. The local protests that erupted in response to these decisions in Ferguson and on Staten Island spread to cities and towns across the country. People took to the streets to protest against both Grand Jury decisions, along with overreach, brutality and racism among police forces in general. And as more incidents occurred throughout the country, more protests happened, and people over and over again took to the streets.

"Mount Fuji Through the Seasons"
Exhibition: Katsura Endō (JP/ ENG event poster link)
January 11- February 7, 2020

I first remember becoming aware of Mt. Fuji during the summer festival when I was three years old and my family had gone out in a pleasure boat. I still have a vague memory of a firework display and a spectacular Mt. Fuji floating in the night sky. Every morning Mt. Fuji calls out to me, I awake, then go to see it.
I hope you will enjoy these images of a 'tranquil Fuji' under the sun of first year of Reiwa.

December Exhibition: CHARLIE COLE, "TANK MAN"

CHARLIE COLE Memorial Photo Exhibition: "TANK MAN"

Exhibition Dec. 7, 2019- Jan. 10, 2020

American photographer Charlie Cole won the World Press Photo of the Year in 1989 for his instantly recognizable "Tank Man" photo that depicted a lone protester staring down four tanks in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. He passed away at his home in Bali in early September after apparently suffering complications from a motorcycle injury he sustained in Japan in the late 1990s. The Texas native was 64 and is survived by his wife Rosa.

Kengo Kuma

Nov. 2 - Dec. 6, 2019

FCCJ is hosting an exhibition of my work that will be something of a departure from normal. My architecture is described as "world architecture," and I think this term is very appropriate. The early 20th century saw the emergence of what was called "international architecture," and in the 1980s we started to hear the term "global architecture." But I prefer the term "world architecture," with its connotations of world music. There are current projects involving more than 20 countries that really give me a feeling of being part of a world movement. And this is the spirit that I have tried to convey in my exhibition.

bio
Kengo Kuma & Associates has received prestigious awards, including the Architectural Institute of Japan Award, the Spirit of Nature Wood Architecture Award (Finland), and the International Stone Architecture Award (Italy), among others. Kengo Kuma & Associates aims to design architecture which naturally merges with its cultural and environmental surroundings, proposing gentle, human scaled buildings. The office is constantly in search of new materials to replace concrete and steel, and seeks a new approach for architecture in a post-industrial society.