Artistic offerings for Tokyo’s kids
by Leigh Wellsview
Just because schools are mostly out for the summer doesn’t mean there is any need for your children to stop learning. Expand their education in arts and culture this summer with some of the great kid-appropriate exhibitions going on in and around Tokyo. Not only will you and the kids beat the heat in the air conditioned inside, but they’ll also be learning in the best possible way—by having so much fun they don’t even know they are expanding their minds!
Kids Photographers—Children are Geniuses!
While this isn’t a hands-on exhibition it should be a very interesting one for children as the photographers are children from elementary and high schools documenting the world around them. Uniquely, the children are all visually impaired and many of them had never used a camera before.
Newspark—The Japan Newspaper Museum. Yokohama Joho Bunka Center, 11 Nihon Odori, Yokohama. Tel. 045-661-2040.
ICC Kids Program “Sound x Image—Watch the Sound, Listen to the Images”
The NTT Inter Communication Center is using modern technology to introduce kids to the idea of the synchronicity of sound and music in media art. It sounds complicated, but children and adults alike will enjoy watching as images are created from sounds and vice versa.
Tokyo Opera City Tower 4F, 3-20-2 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku. Tel. 0120-144-199. http://tinyurl.com/2h69vp
Come & Play!
Head to the National Children’s Castle in Shibuya for loads of hands-on workshops and exhibitions for you and your little one. Reasonably priced from ¥400, events include plastic jellyfish making, the 15th annual Kinder Film Festival, voice over workshops, and a chance to make and play with wooden toys. For dates and information: http://tinyurl.com/2tbvju. 5-53-1 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tel. 03-3797-5666.
Craft Gallery for Kids
The Crafts Gallery for Kids at the National Museum of Modern Art has brought together a collection of works with common motifs including flowers, trees, the sky, the ocean, and the wind; all are meant to invite you to explore the museum space. There are also free talks and performances by artist Kenichi Kanazawa on August 5 and September 9 from 2pm. Free. No reservation needed. Other kid-friendly events are also planned throughout the summer. Visit the website, www.momat.go.jp/english/, for details. 1-1 Kitanomaru Koen, Tel. 03-3211-7781.
