Thoughts on the Morioka Bookstore exhibition commemorating the publication of Atsushi Suwa’s “You Are Beautiful” (Seigensha), visited in March 2026.
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Table of contents
Exhibition Overview
- Commemorative Exhibition for the Publication of Atsushi Suwa’s “You Are Beautiful” (Seigensha)
- Dates: Tuesday, February 24th – Sunday, March 1st
- Time: 1:00 PM – 7:00 PM
- Venue: Morioka Bookstore, Suzuki Building 1F, 1-28-15 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Morioka bookstore is a bookstore and gallery located just outside of Ginza that sells only one book. Owner Morioka Noriyuki, along with Suwa Atsushi (painter) and Saruyama Osamu (designer), formed the “Art Exploration Team” (Art Exploration Team) and is currently working on a series of articles on still life painting in the June-August 2020 issue of Geijutsu Shincho magazine.
On February 24th, the “Art Exploration Team Regular Meeting | Suwa Atsushi (painter) x Saruyama Osamu (designer) x Morioka Noriyuki (Morioka bookstore) x Ikuma Yasuko (Geijutsu Shincho editor and Book Exploration Team advisor)” was held in the Tokyo Small and Medium Enterprise Association’s 9th floor auditorium.
If you search for “Morioka bookstore” on Google Maps, you will find a phone number starting with 03. However, please note that this number will not connect you to the store as the number will be discontinued in December 2025.
Impression: “A space to confront the artwork”
When I visited, March 1st, the Tokyo Marathon was held, and many streets in Tokyo were impassable. I arrived just before 11am, just in time for the owner to open his shop.
According to the owner, he had been blocked off by an impassable road from the station, so he arrived just before opening time. He quickly opened the shop and I was able to come face to face with my desired item: a skull on tofu.
The work is a classic vanitas painting, with the contrast between the hard texture of the skeleton and the crumbling tofu, and the scintillating scotoma that appears in Suwa’s paintings, condensed into a small canvas the essence of Atsushi Suwa’s still lifes.
The work was being sold by lottery, and because it wasn’t particularly large, it was priced at about six months’ worth of the median salaryman’s income, so it was affordable if you stretched your budget. I wonder what kind of person would be able to beat the odds and place this in their favorite spot.
The store was decorated with several 3D printed skeleton and tofu objects from “Skull on Tofu,” which was sold by lottery at WHAT MUSEUM. I tried several times but didn’t win the lottery.
I heard that if you purchased the catalogue here you would receive a “Skull on Tofu” postcard, so as I hadn’t bought the catalogue yet, I bought one.
As I was browsing the paintings after purchasing the catalog, a man arrived. Standing before the painting, the three of us, including the store owner, exchanged various opinions, all agreeing that “opportunities to acquire a work of art are rare, so this is a truly valuable opportunity.”
The man had come here after seeing the final day’s exhibition at WHAT MUSEUM, and as an avid fan who has visited both the museum and the museum multiple times, he seemed to convince himself as he looked at the painting.
“This is a truly wonderful piece… I’d love to participate in the bidding, but for some reason I can’t.”
He looked at the painting with a slightly disappointed expression.
While admiring the artwork, and with endless topics to discuss, we headed to Yurakucho Station, the nearest station, to attend the “Suwa Atsushi x Miyamoto Takenori” closing talk show, which was being held at the WHAT MUSEUM in Tennoz on the final day of the “Suwa Atsushi Exhibition | You Are Beautiful.”
To get from Morioka Bookstore to Yurakucho Station, you have to cross Chuo Dori in Ginza, but due to the Tokyo Marathon, Chuo Dori was still closed to the public, so I searched for an underground passage to get to Yurakucho Station, and after jostling through the crowds in the narrow underground passage, I crossed Chuo Dori and made my way from Yurakucho Station to the WHAT MUSEUM in Tennozu.
Impression of “Atsushi Suwa Exhibition | You are Beautiful” here
Summary
The exhibition began on February 24th, but due to various circumstances, I was only able to view it on the final day, March 1st.
I am grateful for the luxurious time I had to spend one-on-one with A Skull on Tofu.
While looking through the catalog, I noticed that the postcard that was supposed to be a free gift was not in the bag, so after the WHAT MUSEUM closing talk show for “Atsushi Suwa x Takenori Miyamoto,” I rushed over to Morioka Bookstore just before closing time, got the postcard, and viewed A Skull on Tofu again. Viewed in a space with the sun setting, the work had an even darker atmosphere.
Reference links
- Morioka Bookstore・Instagram
- Morioka Shoten General Research Institute
- Art Exploration Team Regular Meeting | Atsushi Suwa (Painter) x Osamu Saruyama (Designer) x Masayuki Morioka (Morioka Shoten) x Yasuko Ikuma (Art Shincho Editor and Book Exploration Team Advisor)
- Atsushi Suwa | You are beautiful・WHAT MUSEUM Official page
- “Eternal Moments” Still Life Exhibition・ホキ美術館作品リスト
- Three personalities – exploring the possibilities of expression –・Hoki Museum Artwork List
- Atsushi Suwa “Fire Behind the Eye Socket”・Fuchu Art Museum
- ATSUSHI SUWA・Atsushi Suwa official page
- “Atsushi Suwa Exhibition | You are Beautiful”・Shige’s hobby
寄付のお願い・Request for donations
Affiliate links
- Atsushi Suwa Art Collection・Ads by Rakuten
- Atsushi Suwa Art Collection・Ads by Amazon
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- HASSELBLAD XCD 28mmP
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Photo Equipment
- LEICA T typ701 +MS-OPTICS x MapCamera REIROL 35mm
- SONY DSC-RX1
Update history
- 2026.3.3
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