REVIEW | Japan: Myths to Manga – Young V&A, Bethnal Green

Japan: Myths to Manga at the rebranded Young V&A (formerly V&A Museum of Childhood) is a delightful lesson in storytelling that more adult-focused exhibitions could certainly learn from.

Designed with children in mind, three distinctly coloured sections effortlessly guides us from the sea and sky to the forest and urban city along a single gallery. The middle areas mainly function as children’s interactive spaces while objects displayed at low vantage points occupy the sides.

Using Japanese woodblock prints and netsuke as curatorial backbones, the exhibition illustrates a variety of Japanese folklore and their manifestations in popular culture. Each tale is summarised quickly in large captions to preface their related objects, of which many are surprising revelations.

I never would have expected a link between the Pokémon Whiscash and the earthquake-causing namazu catfish, which led to the catfish becoming a disaster prevention mascot for Japan’s Earthquake Early Warning System. A whole display dedicated to cats groups a netsuke with Doraemon, Meowth, and Tamagotchis. This is also a nice opportunity to see some animation cels and sketches from Sailor Moon, as well as a model stage set for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s theatre adaptation of My Neighbour Totoro. Snippets from Studio Ghibli films bring a lot of this material to life.

However, not everything is peaches and cherry blossoms. COVID-19 saw the revival of amabie – Japanese merfolk said to protect against disease – while a large silk piece depicts a great wave of suited people fleeing Brexit Britain for Tokyo. Fine art and photography is dispersed intermittently for additional interest, including a beautiful tree cut from a paper Cartier bag, paving the way for mentions about sustainability in the form of crayons made from sawdust.

This exhibition beautifully encapsulates how traditional Japanese imagery and folklore continues to be embedded in modern society. Nothing sums this up better than collaged woodblock characters reacting dramatically in a railway poster (available to buy in the gift shop) proclaiming ‘Please do not use smartphones while walking’ on the platform. The material is fed to us in a simple and engaging manner, often with strong visual comparisons that just work, and difficult topics are introduced naturally without effort. Because of this, I learnt more about Japan in this little children’s exhibition than anything else Japan-related I’ve ever attended.