On the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Japanese Cultural Institute in Rome, the Japan Foundation, the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, and the Museum of Modern Art of Kyoto have organised a major exhibition devoted to Japanese art from the restoration of the Meiji Emperor in 1868 to the end of world war two. The exhibition, which is the first of its kind in Italy, includes 111 paintings and 59 works of decorative art from major museums and private collections in Japan. It is curated by Masaaki Ozaki, director, and Ryuichi Matsubara, chief researcher, of the Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto, in collaboration with Stefania Frezzotti, curator for the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna. While Ozaki has focused on the birth and development of the so-called ‘nihonga’ style of painting (which brought together all styles native of Japan), Matsubara has illustrated the evolution of modern Japanese decorative arts. Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Viale delle Belle Arti 131, tel. 0632298221 (info and tickets), www.gnam.beniculturali.it.