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.

At the auction in November, half of the bidders were other Asians -- Chinese, Taiwanese, Koreans and Singaporeans, but also Thais. Only 10 percent were Westerners.

TROPHY-HUNTERS

Japanese art is comparatively cheap due to the weak yen and tepid economy, but also a historical dearth of domestic buyers.

Not that there is a lack of interest in art. Museum attendance is among the highest in the world. The Mori Art Museum, one of Tokyo's most influential contemporary art spaces, attracts about 1.2 million visitors a year with its 53rd-floor location that offers stunning views of Tokyo.

"Japanese don't think they can buy art. They think it's something they can see at a museum," Fumio Nanjo, the affable director of the Mori Art Museum, told Reuters.

Unlike Chinese or Indian trophy-hunters, rich Japanese who want to bring their heritage into their homes tend to focus on antiques and tea ceremony accessories, such as bamboo spoons.

In the booming 1980s, the Japanese did buy art -- mostly European Impressionists. Art was shown by department stores, who displayed crowd-pulling masterpieces to boost sales.