Image: Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum
The Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum has opened 'POKÉMON × KOGEI Playful Encounters of Pokémon and Japanese Craft', bringing to Hiroshima an exhibition that the museum says is being shown in the Chugoku and Shikoku region for the first time. The special exhibition runs from 10 July to 23 September 2026, with no closure days during the run. The museum notes that ticket sales are not available at the reception desk and directs visitors to online and convenience-store sales channels.
According to the museum’s exhibition page, the show presents about 100 works by leading Japanese craft artists who interpret Pokémon through materials, techniques, poses, game narratives and the franchise’s imagined worlds. The museum describes the project as a meeting point between craft and pop culture, with objects made in media including metal, clay, wood and textile-related practices. The exhibition text also says the Hiroshima presentation includes new works added for this venue.
The museum lists the exhibition in its 3rd-floor special exhibition gallery, with opening hours from 9:00 to 17:00 and extended evening hours on Fridays until 20:00 during the exhibition period. On 10 July, the museum says, the exhibition opens at 10:00. The run is divided into two display periods, 10 July to 5 August and 6 August to 23 September, with about 10 works rotated between the periods.
Among the named artists and works featured on the museum page are works by Fukuda Tohru, Imai Kanhon, Ikemoto Ichizo, Sudo Reiko, Tsuboshima Yuki, Ueha Kasumi, Taguchi Yoshiaki, Kuwata Takuro and Masumoto Yoshiko. The site includes images and credits for works such as Fukuda’s 'After the Rain', Imai’s 'Venusaur', Ikemoto’s 'The Beginning of the Adventure', Sudo’s 'Forest of Pikachu', Tsuboshima’s 'Variable Metal Fittings: Kokogara / Corviknight', Ueha’s 'She-diagram Arabesque Pattern Shaymin', Taguchi’s 'Maki-e Natsume "Calling Spring"', Kuwata’s 'Cup (Pikachu)' and Masumoto’s 'Charizard / Shigaraki Pot'.
The Hiroshima venue’s added component is a new glass work by Ikemoto, described by the museum as responding to the setting of the game 'Pokémon Scarlet and Violet' and the Paldea region. The page says the work uses the light passing through a 50-centimetre vessel to draw viewers into the story world, and identifies three 2026 works: 'Let’s Go on an Adventure Together', 'Defeat the Titan' and 'Find the Stakes'.
Ticketing details on the museum site state that sales began on 10 May 2026. Admission is priced at 1,800 yen for general visitors, 1,100 yen for high school and university students, and 800 yen for elementary and junior high school students. The museum also notes that certain holders of disability certificates and one accompanying caregiver receive half-price admission, and that presentation of an exhibition ticket or QR code allows admission to Shukkeien Garden for 100 yen for general, university and high school visitors.
The museum has also announced related programming, including a talk between Imai Kanhon and Kuwata Takuro, and workshop-style gallery talks led by curators, alongside merchandise and a lottery sale of selected works. These parallel programmes are listed separately from the exhibition itself. 'POKÉMON × KOGEI Playful Encounters of Pokémon and Japanese Craft' continues at Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum through 23 September 2026.
