Spooked by China art prices? Asians turn to Japan

By Sophie Hardach

TOKYO (Reuters) - Last November, a set of abstract gunpowder drawings by a Chinese artist fetched $9.5 million at an auction in Hong Kong. The top result for a painting by a Japanese artist at a Tokyo auction that same month: $140,000.

Art prices around the world are going through the roof, driven by Chinese, Indian and Russian buyers.

But Japan's art market, like its economy, has been subdued, despite its rich aesthetic heritage and influential artists such as Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara.

This is changing as Japan's neighbors -- Chinese, Koreans and Taiwanese in particular -- go bargain-hunting for undervalued contemporary art.

And a range of new projects in Tokyo, from art fairs to investment funds, are welcoming the debutants.

"There's a very aggressive move from Taipei," says Yoichiro Kurata, president of Shinwa Art Auction in Tokyo, which hammered off the aforementioned acrylic painting by Yayoi Kusama, globally known for her polka dot paintings and sculptures.

"Taiwanese think that the quality of Japanese art is high, and prices are very low compared to Korean and particularly Chinese and Indian art," Kurata told Reuters by phone from Korea, where he was meeting clients.

After an influx of Koreans at Shinwa's art auction last April, where a quarter of the bidders were non-Japanese Asians, Kurata decided to ramp up marketing from Singapore to Taipei.