There were also a number of exhibitions in the Ginza area. One of them is Hibiya OKUROJI, which was opened last year in the 300-meter elevated space underneath from Yurakucho to Shinbashi station. Hibiya OKUROJI is a renovation of a 100-year-old underpass space that utilizes the brick arches of Meiji-era buildings including restaurants and general merchandise stores.

Hibiya OKUROJI © Nacása & Partners

Here, we were able to see several interesting projects, such as Kinjo Japan‘s functional glasses made of silicone rubber, which is as transparent as glass, designed and planned by Shinya Kobayashi, the “New TRASHditional Crafts” by Satoru Shimizu (Okunote), a designer, and Kiyoshi Isshiki (Yushima Art), a traditional craftsman, who uses the power of traditional crafts to recycle unused items, and the bud brand, sending Japanese designs to the world and being able to experience world designs in person. Bud brand is the project which will allow this to happen for the next generation of budding Japanese creators.

Yuri Matsumoto × Satoru Okubo × Shunsuke Takase “Flowers of Performance” (Hibiya OKUROJI) © Nacása & Partners

Designer / Media Artist Yuri Matsumoto, in collaboration with sound creator Satoru Okubo and video creator Shunsuke Takase, developed “Flowers of Performance,” an interactive artwork that generates a field of flowers in the space around the performer and the audience as the piano is played. The performers visually perceive the real-time influence of sound on the space as they play the piano, and discover that there is a relationship between the sound and the color of the flowers.

Pivoto “Chair design by Architect” (Hibiya OKUROJI) © Nacása & Partners

Pivoto, a furniture label based in Kyoto and Tokyo, held an exhibition titled “Chair design by Architect 2021”, featuring chairs designed by eight groups of architects. Architects have been designing chairs for a long time, but the number of architects designing chairs has been decreasing in recent years. The exhibition was co-sponsored by the city of Maniwa in Okayama Prefecture, and each artist presented a chair made of solid cedar and cypress lumber from Maniwa.