Five Art Exhibitions Worth Travelling Japan For this Fall 2025

芸術の秋 (geijutsu no aki) — “autumn, the season for art.” In Japan, fall symbolizes freshness and new endeavors. And with the country’s record-breaking summer heat finally losing steam, we’ve found ourselves with a renewed enthusiasm to pick up our bags and encounter artistic inspiration. If you’re like us and want to travel Japan but not sure where to go, let art guide you. Here are 5 art exhibitions (and destinations) worth travelling for.

1. Aichi Triennale 2025 — A Time Between Ashes and Roses

Where: Aichi Arts Center, Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, Seto City, and other venues across Aichi Prefecture
When: September 13 – November 30, 2025
Cost: Passports from ¥3,000 (advance) / ¥3,500 (regular); one-day passes from ¥1,800

Japan’s largest international arts festival returns with a theme exploring renewal and resilience in turbulent times. Expect large-scale installations, experimental performances, and community projects scattered across multiple cities in Aichi Prefecture.

2. BIWAKO Biennale 2025 — Flux

Where: Omihachiman Old Town, Okishima Island, Hikone City, and other sites around Lake Biwa, Shiga Prefecture
When: September 20 – November 16, 2025
Cost: Adults ¥3,000; Students ¥2,000; Free for junior high and younger

Set against the backdrop of Japan’s largest lake, this biennale transforms traditional merchant houses, temples, and even an island village into immersive art spaces. The 2025 edition focuses on “flux,” reflecting the flow of water, people, and ideas.

3. Ghost: When the Invisible Visible

Where: Arts Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture
When: September 20 – December 21, 2025
Cost: Adults ¥1,000; University students & Seniors ¥800; Free for high school and younger

This haunting exhibition explores the idea of presence and absence—what it means to be seen, remembered, or erased. Expect works that play with light, sound, and silence to make the intangible strangely tangible.

4. Living Modernity: Experiments in the Exceptional and Everyday, 1920s-1970s

Where: Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art
When: September 20, 2025 – January 4, 2026
Cost: Adults ¥1,800; College students ¥1,000; High school and younger free

From avant-garde furniture to design objects that shaped everyday life, this exhibition takes a sweeping look at how modernity entered Japanese homes and cities. It’s part design history, part cultural memory, and a must for lovers of architecture and mid-century aesthetics.

5. Moon Art Night Shimokitazawa

Where: Shimokitazawa, Tokyo
When: September 19 – October 5, 2025
Cost: Free (special venues ¥1,000)

Tokyo’s bohemian neighborhood of Shimokitazawa will glow under the moonlight as streets, cafés, and theaters host projections, installations, and performances. With much of the programming outdoors and free, it’s a perfect way to experience art in a casual, community-driven setting.