Yusaku Maezawa is chiefly known within the art world for spending a record-shattering USD 110 million on Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1982 painting of a skull. His track record as an art collector has inspired others to follow his lead; this group of art buyers, mostly entrepreneurs in their 30s and 40s, are called the ‘Maezawa children.’

A year after that monumental acquisition, in 2018, the billionaire entrepreneur followed through with an announcement that he would head to outer space with eight artists on a SpaceX Starship, in what would be the first private flight around the moon. That plan to travel beyond earth’s exosphere was scrapped this year due to delays in the Starship program.

Call it a grounding of stratospheric proportions.

Maezawa and a handful of names aside, Japanese collectors have been largely absent in the constellation of major global art transactions. Anecdotally, Japan is said to represent less than 2% of the contemporary art market, a peculiar phenomenon considering the country ranks fourth by nominal GDP.

To make matters worse – though in line with global art sales – numerous Tokyo- and Kyoto-based gallerists say the majority of art buyers in Japan have been tapping the brakes over the past 12 months or so.

‘Sales have slightly declined compared to last year. I assume the declining economy explains it, but unlike the period following the Lehman shock [the 2008 global financial crisis], works by in-demand artists are still selling,’ says Takayuki Ishii, the founder of Taka Ishii Gallery. ‘The primary market remains strong, while the secondary market has become quite challenging. This is probably because there are fewer buyers who are willing to pay high prices even for desirable works in the secondary market.’

Even so, findings from The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2024 suggest Japan will be a high-growth region for the art market, and that high-net-worth individuals in Japan are increasingly willing to explore new artists in conjunction with purchasing familiar works. It is now up to commercial galleries to help prospective buyers form those connections.

Tim Blum, who runs BLUM in Los Angeles, Tokyo, and New York City, says those in their 40s and 50s are the most active in Japan, although younger buyers also appear to be entering the market. Ishii observes a growing cohort of millennial and Gen Z collectors, many of whom have made their fortunes in the tech sector. As he puts it: ‘Those actively participating in the market are people who set up IT companies with buyouts of billions or tens of billions [in yen], or who can secure money from banks by taking their companies and leveraging their stocks.’

These buyers have been venturing back into buying art from abroad despite the yen falling to its weakest level against the US dollar since the 1980s. Japanese collectors are beginning to see more value in acquiring art from overseas, according to Kayoko Yuki, founder of KAYOKOYUKI, a gallery located in Toshima ward of Tokyo. ‘For many young collectors, the numbers [monetary value] are significantly tied to their evaluation of art,’ she says.

Japan has no shortage of cultural experiences, and the country’s commercial offerings have been bolstered by the Art Collaboration Kyoto fair, which pairs Japanese galleries with overseas dealers in shared booths, and Art Week Tokyo (both established in 2021). Held back-to-back this year, visitors hopped on the Shinkansen from Kyoto to Tokyo.

The latest edition of the Tokyo event, which ran from 7 to 10 November, involved a reported 4,000 foreign and domestic VIPs who signed up for visits to commercial galleries, museums, and artist studios across the metropolis. At the Artizon Museum in the Chūō ward, installations and sculptures by Yuko Mohri – who represented Japan at this year’s Venice Biennale – were on show in dialogue with works from the Ishibashi Foundation Collection. Meanwhile, Louise Bourgeois had a retrospective at the Mori Art Museum and Keiichi Tanaami had one at the National Art Center, Tokyo.

AWT Focus, the curated sales platform of Art Week Tokyo, was mounted at the Okura Museum of Art, Japan’s first private museum. Curated by Mori Art Museum director Mami Kataoka, the show included works by Lynda Benglis, Yutaka Hatta, Nelo Akamatsu, Sopheap Pich, Mit Jai Inn, Taloi Havini, Ken and Julia Yonetani, and other major artists from Japan and abroad. ‘The fact that the city itself offers so much to see and do is a double-edged sword. The audience’s attention can be drawn away with all the other things that are happening in the city,’ says Charles Fong, the director of the Hong Kong- and London-based gallery Rossi & Rossi, which shared a booth with Tokyo’s Satoko Oe Contemporary.

However, dealers are banking on more consistent audiences, with high-net-worth individuals trickling into Japan for more permanent stays. Blum observes that Tokyo is ‘the place where most Asian collectors or people of means are setting up a second home – that’s increasing dramatically.’ He adds that the new generation’s commitment to collecting ‘has grown steadily.’

Four decades ago, when Japan’s economy was the second largest in the world (it’s now the fourth, behind the US, China, and Germany) and the Japanese art market was booming, corporations and conglomerates behind Japan Inc. were major art world buyers, acquiring works at record prices. One example is a Sunflowers painting by Vincent van Gogh that was sold to Yasuda Fire and Marine Insurance (now Sompo Holdings) at a Christie’s auction in 1987 for USD 39.9 million – an astonishing sum at the time.

Much has changed since then.

Shareholders are now holding Japanese corporations more accountable, in turn sparking questions around Japan Inc.’s disclosures about the value of its massive trove of fine art, a matter particularly critical for loss-making firms. This coincides with the Nikkei index surpassing levels unseen since the late 1980s, further reminding shareholders and regulators about these corporations’ once-acquisitive nature.

Now that many corporations are holding back from adding art to their existing collections, some gallerists believe high-net-worth individuals may partially fill that void – but only if there are reforms to Japan’s tax regimen.

Japan is a high tax country. The Survey of Global Collecting indicates that, for a significant portion of wealthy Japanese individuals, tax inheritance is a major factor in selling works. In fact, 72% of Japan-based respondents to the survey say estate taxes are a motivation to sell, suggesting art collections aren’t necessarily viewed as a legacy that can be reshaped and reinterpreted by each successive generation.

‘Most of the buyers we work with are first generation wealth. Within Japan, very rarely have I come across inherited wealth that ends up becoming collecting wealth. Most of the people that I deal with are self-made, successful businesspeople,’ Blum says.

Collecting attitudes may shift if there are adjustments to Japan’s onerous tax structure, however. As Ishii puts it: ‘If there are no changes to this tax system, people will hesitate to build a collection. It is essential to implement incentives, such as allowing at least 50% of an artwork’s market value to be deductible from the donor’s income when it is donated to a museum or similar institution.’

He adds: ‘The tax-deductible amount is currently capped at 1 million yen, which has benefited emerging artists. If this limit is raised to 5 million yen, it would likely further stimulate the market.’

Those changes seem like long shots in the immediate future, but gallerists see other bright spots. Ishii expects there to be a reassessment of outstanding Japanese artists whose presence is currently lighter in the market. ‘As it is still primarily a domestic market, there are high-quality works available at lower prices,’ he says.

With a growing wealth of events and opportunities, Japan may soon produce its next wave of active collectors who match the ambitions of Maezawa and those he inspired to become art buyers.