Today the ‘Cool Japan‘ exhibition opened at the Museum Aan de Stroom (MAS) in Antwerp. Let’s have a look.

Thanh and I visited the exhibition at the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam in anticipation of the Antwerp version. You can read the full review here.

As the Museum of Tropics has more exhibition space as the MAS, I was intrigued by what the MAS would offer.

Obviously it’s the same exhibition as in Amsterdam but some items were left out. Notably a section about Japanese monster / disaster films seems to be absent in Antwerp.

Link with Belgium

But the curators did make an effort to give local context to the Japan craze. There’s a panel linking Belgium and Antwerp to Japan, some cosplayers from Ghent explain cosplay. Their suits are displayed.

The little bugs of Yoshimoto Nara are also displayed. There’s a large version statue at the Fruithoflaan in Berchem.

Last but not least there’s a ‘Nello and Patrache‘ / ‘A Dog of Flanders‘ display.

‘Cool Japan’ will stay in Antwerp until 19 April 2020. If you’re interested in Japan you should go and see it. There’s a contest to win a trip to Land of the Rising Sun.