Japan hosts various summer photography exhibitions and festivals

Various photography exhibitions and art festivals are being held across Japan during the summer season.

In Tokyo, the exhibition ‘Miracle of the Gaze: Adventure of Japanese Female Photographers’ is taking place at Shibuya Hikarie, highlighting the roles of Japanese women in photography from the 1950s to the present. Additionally, the artist Linder Sterling is holding her first solo exhibition in Japan, ‘Linder: Goddess of the Mind’, at the Chanel Nexus Hall in Ginza.

In Kanagawa, the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Modern Art in Hayama is hosting an exhibition focused on 15 female photographers from former East Germany, featuring vintage prints from collector Sven Herrmann.

Regional festivals include the 7th Asama International Photo Festival 2026 in Miyota, Nagano, which has expanded its exhibition areas throughout the town, and the 42nd Higashikawa International Photo Festival in Hokkaido, which recently held its main award ceremony.

Furthermore, Leica Galleries in Omotesando and Kyoto are hosting ‘what matters’, a collection of new works by photographer Kishimaru Shimamura captured during his travels in the United States.