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1-13-2 Kabukicho, Shinjuku Ward
Art-yoko
[Food & Drink][Merchandise][Pop-up Exhibition][Performance][Talk]
Location: Ojo Building 1F
Date and time: All day
(11/1 (Sat) 15:00-5:00 / 11/2 (Sun) 15:00-5:00 /
11/3 (Monday/Holiday) 15:00-1:00)
*Detailed schedules for each program will be released at a later date.
Price: BENTEN2 ticket
As an alternative to the countless "yokocho" (alleys) that continue to proliferate amid the redevelopment boom, artists, art communities, and diverse cultural practitioners from all over Japan will gather on the first floor of the Ojo Building to host the most chaotic yokocho event, featuring a diverse program including food and drink, merchandise sales, pop-up exhibits, performances, live music, workshops, and talk shows. The event content and exhibitors will change completely depending on the time of day, from daytime to dawn, providing an ever-changing experience, just like the urban ecosystem itself. The aim is to create a place that is chaotic yet somehow comfortable, one that people will want to visit again and again.
Furthermore, while other venues will close at 11pm on the final day, A-Yoko will extend its hours until 1am as a "bonus time", and is also planning to hold a talk show at the end.
Exhibitors: (in no particular order)
KANE-ZANMAI / Existence Restaurant / Takasegawa Monitoring Department / 0914 / Koushinkyoku / Satokai Publishing :‐) / Kaze no Hito, / Yamanaka Suplex / Genjin no Ran / Pylon Shop / Modern Angels / Tomo City Museum of Art / Asama Onsen Darazou / andmore...
Live Music Performances: (in no particular order)
Nutomic / Go Murakami (Punk Rocker Labor Union, Red Riot Band) / Takuma Imao (Ft. Wataru Kikuchi, Aoi Tagami) / Blue Wind (Aokid + Kaze Sakai + Marie Yoda) / Motegimiyu / Transparent Radiation / Nanaka Haga /
and more...
talk show:
Amateur Remnants Radio/and more...
Pop-up exhibits: (in no particular order)
Takumi Hirayama/THE COPY TRAVELERS/0914
DOMMUNE KABUKICHO
[Exhibition] [Performance] [Talk]
Venue: Ojo Building
Date and time: All days
(11/1 (Sat) 15:00-5:00 / 11/2 (Sun) 15:00-5:00 /
11/3 (Monday / holiday) 15:00-23:00)
*Details such as performance time will be announced at a later date .
Naohiro Ukawa, an extreme presence in the contemporary Japanese art scene, opened Japan's first live streaming studio, "DOMMUNE," in 2010 as a new cultural hub for the social media age! Ukawa regards the filming, streaming, and recording of the programs produced daily in the studio as his own "contemporary artwork," and is committed to lifelog art. Since its launch, DOMMUNE has continued to exist as a unique cultural platform, hosting appearances by a variety of guests from around the world whenever they visit Japan. Following on from last year, DOMMUNE has expanded from its base, "SUPERDOMMUNE," on the 9th floor of Shibuya PARCO, to open its 17th satellite studio, "DOMMUNE KABUKICHO," on the first basement floor of the Ojo Building! The studio will be holed up here every day during "BENTEN 2025," showcasing a variety of site-specific, core programs!
DOMMUNE KABUKICHO
Naohiro Ukawa, an extreme presence in the contemporary Japanese art scene, opened Japan's first live streaming studio, DOMMUNE, in 2010 as a base for disseminating new culture in the age of social streams. Ukawa regards the filming, streaming, and recording of the programs produced daily in the studio as his own "contemporary art works," and is fulfilling his lifelog art. Since its launch, DOMMUNE has continued to exist as a unique cultural platform, hosting a variety of guests from around the world whenever they visit Japan. Now, DOMMUNE has branched out from its base "SUPERDOMMUNE" on the 9th floor of Shibuya PARCO, and opened its 17th satellite studio, "DOMMUNE KABUKICHO," on the first basement floor of the Ojo Building, following on from last year. They will be holed up here every day during "BENTEN 2025," offering a variety of site-specific core programs!!!!! Participating artists: Naohiro Ukawa, ∈Y∋, COSMICLAB, VMO, Merzbow, Norimizu Ameya,
JAZZDOMINISTERS = Naruyoshi Kikuchi x Iku Otani, Shinshu no ImmigrationsB x Maki Nomiya and more...!
MAKI NOMIYAÄ
Musician/Essayist Born in 1960. Made her solo debut in 1981 with "Pink Heart." After Portable Rock, which was formed in 1982, she joined Pizzicato Five in 1990. As the original "Queen of Shibuya-kei," she sparked the Shibuya-kei movement around the world, and has since become a worldwide music and fashion icon. Currently active as a solo artist, she is active in many fields, including music, fashion, health and beauty production, and as an essayist. Her 40th anniversary album, "New Beautiful," is now on sale.
Official Site
Instagram
New ImmigrationsB
This is a new type of band that combines Toyama Masamichi's poetry with guitar, drums, and theremin in an improvisational style. They have released 17 singles and one album, including a collaboration with Nomiya Maki. They are expanding their venues for expression one after another, collaborating with Ochiai Yoichi at the Osaka Kansai Expo null², Roppongi Art Night, Lucky Fest, and more.
*Photo: Mamiko Nonaka
Instagram
Lived Shinjuku
［"Situation" Theatre］ [Exhibition] [Performance]
Venue: Ojo Building 2F
Date and time: All day
11/1 (Sat) 15:00-5:00
11/2 (Sun) 15:00-5:00
11/3 (Monday/Holiday) 15:00-23:00
*Details such as performance time will be announced at a later date.
Price: BENTEN2 ticket
Starting with the "Shinjuku" exhibition held at MoMA in 1975, this exhibition, part of the "Lived Shinjuku" series, will be held at three venues. It will be a theatrical exhibition that intertwines the thoughts of critic Koji Taki with an archive of actions that occurred in Shinjuku. It reinterprets the title of Kara Juro's "Situation Theater," and is centered around the set used in Karagumi's "Kamishibai no E no Machi de." While creating a performative space, it will visualize the theatricality of Shinjuku, treating the city as a stage for situations.
Participants: Karagumi, Yamamoto Juzo, and others. Performance appearances: Inari Takuo, Fukumoto Yuki, Harada Tsumugi, Sato Maiko, Mino Arata, Yoon Won, and others. *This exhibition is being held as part of "Alive Shinjuku," which consists of three venues in Shinjuku.
Karagumi Theatre Company
This theater company, also known as the "Red Tent," is run by Juro Kara. Since the early 1960s, Juro Kara has run the Situation Theatre, a theater company based in a temporary tent that has performed in major cities across Japan.
Their work has had a profound impact and inspiration on society by suddenly creating extraordinary spaces within modern urban spaces and by bringing into being a unique theatrical world. In 1988, the company changed its name to "Karagumi," added new members, and further developed the techniques it had cultivated since its days as Situation Theatre. Twice a year, in the spring and fall, the members themselves are responsible for and create everything from tent construction to stage design, sound, lighting, costumes, and every other detail.
Maiko Sato
After graduating from the Cello Department of Tokyo College of Music, he has worked on producing music for TV dramas, stage plays, and films, as well as arranging bands as a cellist, performing in a Japanese-Western fusion unit with koto and shamisen, performing solo live shows, and nurturing the next generation of musicians. He continues to develop his creative style in a wide range of genres, focusing on originality.
Juzo Yamamoto
Born August 3, 1988, in Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, he began working as an actor in 2013. He first joined the Karagumi Theater Company in 2019, where he remains to this day. His appearances with the Karagumi Theater Company include the 63rd performance "The Eyes of the Jaguar" (2019), the 66th performance "Call from the Girl City" (2021), and the 70th performance "Red Shoes" (Young Performers' Performance) (2023).
Takuo Inari
He joined the Kara-gumi theater company in 1991 and has starred in many productions. He is currently active both with Kara-gumi and in film productions. His recent major appearances include the film "Muromachi Burai" (2025, directed by Irie Yu), the stage "Flower and Dragon" (2025, directed by Nagatsuka Keishi), and the stage play "Macbeth" (2025, directed by Yoshida Kotaro).
Yuki Fukumoto
Born July 26, 1993, in Hyogo Prefecture. Recent appearances include "SIZUKO! QUEEN OF BOOGIE - High Heels and False Eyelashes" (2025), directed by Akira Shirai, Office 300 production "Shojo Kamen" (2025), directed by Eri Watanabe, Flying Theatre Jiyugekijo's "Gentle Breeze, Witches, and Macbeth" (2025), directed by Kazumi Kushida, and Karagumi's "The Day the Zoo Disappears" (2024), along Sarugaku Street, Zoshigaya, and Onigami.
Tsumugi Harada
Actor. Born in 1993, originally from and currently living in Fukushima Prefecture. Graduated from Nihon University College of Art, Department of Theater, Acting Course. While still a student, he joined Tokyo Deathlock, led by Junnosuke Tada, in 2015, and has been a member of Nutomic, led by Taishi Nukata, since 2019. In 2023, he was appointed as a local revitalization volunteer for Kunimi Town, Fukushima Prefecture, where he also works to develop towns and places through theater. He is the head of the Kunimi Town Futsufutsu Theater Club. Recent appearances include Nutomic's "An Endless Adventure," Shigeru Kikaku's "The Glass Menagerie," and "Dancing All Movements of 'The Four Seasons' with Hamanaka Aizu," directed by Junnosuke Tada and choreographed by Maki Morishita.
*Credit: © Komuramai
Mino Arata
Photographer and stage director. Born in Fukuoka Prefecture. His research and practice focuses on connecting memories and landscapes remaining in marginalized places and things, and finding and foregrounding the intermediate terms between "here" and "there." He works across disciplines, creating fiction based primarily on his own photographs and videos, and presenting them through a variety of media and the bodies of himself and others.
*Photo by Mayumi Hosokura
YIN Yuan
Born in Shanghai, China in 1993. After graduating from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) with a major in Visual Communication, she moved to Japan and completed her graduate studies in Sculpture at the Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School. She is currently enrolled in a doctoral program at the same university. Through mixed media expression centered on performative installations, she embodies the invisible constraints that others and the environment (external) place on individual consciousness (internal), as well as the conditioned reflexes and internalization processes that flow from the internal to the external. Her practice is based on motifs of unconsciously overlapping habits and routinized everyday actions. https://lookslikeyinyuan.com/ https://www.instagram.com/lookslikeyinyuan/
*Photo by Chimasa Xu
"Mneme" [Exhibition]
Venue: Ojo Building 3F
Date and time: All day
(11/1 (Sat) 15:00-5:00 / 11/2 (Sun) 15:00-5:00 /
11/3 (Monday/Holiday) 15:00-23:00)
Price: BENTEN2 ticket
The wooden "throwing machine" that continuously throws skulls is a tool used in Hamlet's gravedigging scene, and was actually used in the performance of Yanagi's solo exhibition "Myth Machine" in 2019. Mneme is one of the three sisters in Greek mythology, and is the goddess of "memory." The other two sisters are Aoide, the goddess of song, and Melete, the goddess of direction.
Yanagi Miwa
The main artist of "BENTEN 2" will be Miwa Yanagi, an internationally active artist whose work explores themes such as gender, aging, and life and death. She will exhibit on one floor of the Ojo Building and on the Noh Stage in Shinjuku Kabukicho. In addition, on the final day, Monday, November 3rd (national holiday), a special performance created specifically for "BENTEN 2" will be held.
Polyparallax [Exhibition] [ Performance]
"Great Soccer" Miyoshi Karyu (2025) Photo: Unno Rintaro
Venue: Ojo Building 4F
Date and time: All days
(11/1 (Sat) 15:00-5:00 / 11/2 (Sun) 15:00-5:00 /
11/3 (Monday/Holiday) 15:00-23:00)
Price: BENTEN2 Ticket Artists: Saito Hona, Miyoshi Karyu, MES
The exhibition "Polyparallax (subtitle: Parallactic Visions of the City)"
will be held on the 4th floor of Ojo Building.
This exhibition showcases the work of three artists—Saito Hona, Miyoshi Karyu, and MES—whose practice is underpinned by an inhuman scale and emerges precisely in spaces of human gathering and interaction. Cities, which have developed in pursuit of efficiency, continue to expand like a network, their structure likened to neurons in the brain or clusters of galaxies. Perhaps cities are both manmade and natural products. However, compared to the constant change and plasticity of neurons, the reinforced concrete network seems far too sturdy for our scale. If humans are not livestock, then perhaps we need to rediscover and share the spaces and networks that allow wild creatures and natural phenomena to slip through, in ways other than this rigid network. I hypothesize that Kabukicho in particular is a place where such spaces can be enjoyed. This exhibition is based on this concept, where inhuman scales and multiple perspectives intertwine to emerge as the pinnacle of a "parallax urban landscape."
Hana Saito
Contemporary artist. After graduating from the Glass Course of the Department of Crafts at Tama Art University, he joined metaPhorest (biological biomedia art platform) and began working in the field of bioart. From 2025 he became an assistant professor at Toyo University's School of Informatics. He is currently enrolled in a doctoral program at the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies (affiliated with the Kakei Yasuaki Laboratory). He creates and researches glass sculptures using physicochemical glass production techniques, as well as works using living organisms, organic matter, and image analysis. In recent years, he has been collecting and cultivating several species of wild slime molds, which he uses in his creations and experiments. His main themes are a reconsideration of the boundaries between nature/society, human/non-human, and the inseparability of the artist and the subject of his work. *Photography: Irina Petrova Adamatzky.
Miyoshi Karyu
Artist. Born in 2001. Based in Tokyo, he creates works using performance, painting, video, installation, and more. Interested in the effect that clothing has on the body, he performs using clothing with parts enlarged and incorporating other people's bodies into them. His major exhibitions include "Big Soccer" (2025/Green Hills Midoriyama Futsal Park, Tokyo), "Fat of the Place" (2024/Token Art Center, Tokyo), and "It's Connected to the Underground" (2024/same galery, Tokyo). His major stage appearances include "Stillive 2024: Kinetic Net" (2024/ CCO, Osaka Prefecture), Yamauchi Shota's "Sweat and Oil Cheese-like Sour Juice" (2023/ KYOTO EXPERIMENT, Kyoto Prefecture), Kawaguchi Takao's "Rose-Colored Dance: Criticism of Pure Sexuality" (2023/ Ryogoku Theater X, Tokyo / ROHM Theater Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture / Naha Cultural Arts Theater Naha-to, Okinawa Prefecture), and "Big Dance" (2022/ RforD,MATTER, Tokyo).
*Photo: Roun Kim
MES
Arai Ken and Tanigawa Kanae are an artist duo based in Tokyo, collaborating since 2015. Drifting between club culture and contemporary art, they create installations and performances that quietly or violently illuminate the darkness of the world through light and heat. Recent solo exhibitions include "Prayer/Play/Masochistic Action PL/RA/EY" (2024) and "DISTANCE OF RESISTANCE" (2021). Group shows include "MEET YOUR ART FES: Super Spectrum Specification" (2024), "Land (Spillover #1)" (2024), and "Reborn Art Festival 2021 Summer." As a laser VJ, they have directed parties for events such as "CLUB SKIN," "WAIFU," "rural," and "TECHNOINVADERS," as well as stage direction for Dos Monos' solo live shows. He is also constantly exploring collaborative and intersectional endeavors, including organizing the exhibition "Behind the Bars" (2025) about Russian political prisoners and the party "REVOLIC -Revolution Holic" (2022-).
*Photography: Ayaka Endo
Katsubenten Film Festival [ Performance ]
Venue: Ojo Building 5F
Date and Time:
⚫︎11/1(Sat)
15:30-16:10
18:30-19:10
⚫︎11/2(Sun)
15:30-16:10
18:30-18:10
Price: BENTEN2 Ticket reservation: Not required Performer: Asoko Yata
Katsuben films are a unique culture found only in Japan, and are said to have developed from the solo narrative style of Rakugo, the tradition of storytelling arts with a separate audience such as Bunraku, and the demand for commentary on Western films. Thought to be a form from the silent film era, it has been updated as a new form of expression by modern-day Katsubenshi. Its distinctive feature is that it is not bound by a script and transforms a single image into a variety of works.
At this year's BENTEN Film Festival, Aso Koyata will be performing Katsuben. Together with his father, Aso Yata, he runs the Katsuben Classroom and is an artist who is active in a wide range of fields, including English narration overseas, scriptwriting, and directing. He is also a valuable Katsuben researcher who studied cultural studies at the University of Tokyo Graduate School.
Aso Ko Yata
Katsubenshi. He grew up watching his father, Aso Yata, perform Katsuben, and made his debut at the age of 10 at Asakusa Kimatei. In 2003, he won the 48th Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Cup at the National Youth Oratorical Competition. In 2008, he was featured as "A Young Katsubenshi" in the high school English textbook "All Aboard II" (Tokyo Shoseki). In 2016, a commemorative stamp for Aso Yata was released. In March 2020, he completed his doctoral studies at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, completing his credits. He is involved in a variety of stage activities, including hosting, English Katsubenshi, lectures, scriptwriting, directing, and various performing arts. Since 2005, he has been running the Aso Yatagarasu and Ko Yatagarasu "Ben Class" and is also working to train the next generation. He is a director of the Japan Debate Association. He is the deputy editor-in-chief of "Monthly Asakusa." He is the "Konosu Tourism Ambassador" for Konosu City, Saitama Prefecture. He is the "Hometown Ambassador" for Bungo-Ono City, Oita Prefecture. He is a writer for the Taito Ward information website "TAITO Odekake Navi." He is also the "Tokyo Running Festa Matchmaking Ambassador."
https://katsuben.com/whats-katsuben/koyata_profile/
*Photography: Yasutomo Ebisu
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