Following up on last week, this week I traced the Tokaido westward and visited the MOA museum of art at Atami, the Shizuoka City Museum of Art, and the Kyoto National Museum. And I will continue on my observations on Japanese curatorial practices. Most museums have the exhibition divided into literal “chapters”, which I think is unusual here. What really strikes me the most is the MOA museum. Located on top of a mountain that has overlooks the sea, the MOA museum has a super modern architecture, including white marbles and huge glass windows. They have some chairs designed by Sugimoto Hiroshi, with optical lens as the legs. The lighting in the galleries are carefully curated, and they make an effort to fuse tradition and modernity by juxtaposing the original woodblock prints with the contemporary view at the same location. Next to some works, they even have panels that mimic Instagram posts. For the Kyoto National Museum, which features the Muromachi Period painter Sesshu, they have on the poster catch phrases like “教えて雪舟先生！” and calls the artist 推し, which is a fan phrase for their favorite idols typically. In the museum store, there are a unbelievable variety of goods, including press-on nails and socks, incense holders, stickers, utensils… It is interesting to witness such a difference.