Kyoko Hattori, vice president of Pace Japan, expressed her desire for Tokyo to become the center of art in Asia in a recent interview with the Japan Times. This comes one month after the third edition of Tokyo Gendai art fair closed with solid but unspectacular sales. Pace, the only mega-gallery with a location in Tokyo, opened a space in the Azabudai Hills development, which has been seen as a signal of the city's arrival on the global art stage. The article notes cautiously optimistic data, with Japan seeing 2 percent growth in the art market last year while the wider market contracted by 12 percent, and competitors China and Korea saw significant drops.
This development matters because it signals a potential shift in the Asian art market landscape. Japan, which has long been viewed as an inward-looking market with only 1 percent of global art sales by value, appears to be opening up to international galleries and collectors. The article highlights that Japanese collectors are less focused on investment value and more interested in quality, which aligns with the current market trend toward slowness and restraint. However, structural challenges remain, including tax issues, though recent government reports have called for reforms to increase art investment and demand, suggesting a supportive policy environment for Tokyo's ambitions.