ARTS & CULTURE
✤ THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ART, OSAKA
The underground art gallery was created to introduce visitors to a variety of vibrant, vital works of art. Originally used as the Expo Art Museum during Expo 1970, it collected, preserved, and exhibited domestic and international works of art for three decades. However, increasing wear on the facilities prompted the construction of its current structure. The new style of an "underground" art museum with three stories underground (a portion of the top floor extends above ground) now not only houses works by artists like Cezanne, Picasso, Ernst, Tsuguharu Foujita, and Yasuo Kuniyoshi, but a great number of post-war pieces of contemporary art, as well. In addition to a variety of monthly exhibitions, the museum also hosts lectures, symposiums, and gallery talks regularly. The structure visible above ground was inspired by the vitality of bamboo and the development and growth of contemporary art.
✤ NAGAI BOTANICAL GARDEN
Nagai Botanical Garden is an outdoor botanical garden in Osaka that opened in 1974. The garden is situated inside Nagai Park and was opened in 1944 as an urban park that includes facilities such as a baseball stadium. Nagai Botanical Garden stretches over an area of 240,000 sqm with a large lake in the centre, and its flora changes with the seasons throughout the year. The garden is now home to many wild birds, such as Northern goshawks and owls, which are placed at the top of the food chain and thus dependent on a healthy ecosystem to exist. Also, located inside the garden is the vibrant teamLab Botanical Garden Osaka.
✤ SUMIYOSHI TAISHA
Sumiyoshi Taisha, one of Japan's oldest shrines, was founded in the third century before the introduction of Buddhism. The shrine displays a unique style of shrine architecture, called Sumiyoshi-zukuri, that is free of influence from the Asian mainland. Among the annual events, the "Otaueshinji" is usually held in June, which is the Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in Japan. "Taue" means rice planting in Japanese. Although this kind of event is held in many parts of Japan, the Sumiyoshi Shrine is large in scale and does not omit any of the rituals, but maintains the prestige of the ceremony, making it spectacular and grand. Sumiyoshi Taisha is the main and most famous of over two thousand Sumiyoshi shrines found across Japan. Sumiyoshi shrines enshrine the kami (Shinto gods) who protect travellers, fishermen and sailors at sea. The shrines are therefore usually found close to harbours.
✤ NATIONAL BUNRAKU THEATRE
A theatre where Bunraku, a traditional art form of Japan can be enjoyed is a mustvisit cultural attraction to experience a unique form of the arts. The National Bunraku Theatre opened in April 1984 as a base to preserve, develop and pass on the traditional art forms of the Kamigata (Osaka-Kyoto) area, especially the art of ningyo joruri Bunraku, or puppet drama. The theatre houses many facilities, including the main theatre, a training institution and archives for historical materials. The building was constructed with a mix of tradition and modernity, with key elements from traditional Edo Era architecture incorporated abstractly throughout the design. Each of the plays performed here usually has about a twoweek run, and only a few plays are staged each year.