Latest Events in Osaka Prefecture(February Updated)

IVE is a six-member South Korean girl group consisting of Yujin, Gaeul, Rei, Wonyoung, Liz, and Leeseo, who debuted on December 1, 2021. They achieved the fastest first-place win on Korean music shows in the history of girl groups. In 2022, they consecutively received Rookie of the Year and Grand Prize awards, solidifying their position as the strongest fourth-generation K-pop female idol group. Furthermore, IVE has continuously broken "fastest" and "highest" records, such as winning the Grand Prize for two consecutive years at the "MAMA Awards," one of Korea's largest K-pop award ceremonies, establishing themselves as the "aspirational icon of the MZ generation." Their popularity has expanded globally in both name and reality. Their album "IVE EMPATHY," released in Korea in February 2025, sold over 1.04 million copies in its first week, achieving their fifth consecutive million-seller. Currently, IVE is embarking on the large-scale world arena tour "IVE WORLD TOUR ‘SHOW WHAT I AM’," starting with a concert in Seoul, South Korea, and touring across Asia, America, Europe, and Oceania. It has now been confirmed that they will hold a Japan concert at Kyocera Dome Osaka in April 2026! To all DIVE (fans)—the long-awaited celebration has finally arrived! Get ready to join IVE, ignite the venue, and witness this shining moment together!

This exhibition will showcase distinctive toys from across Japan from the museum's collection, highlighting the prayers embodied in their materials, patterns, and shapes. We hope these regional toys will evoke a sense of nostalgia, even if it's your first time seeing them.

This exhibition brings together a wide range of works by Akihiko Kinutani, from his early works created during his time at Tokyo University of the Arts, to murals and reproductions from his studies in Venice, to his original work "Goddess of the Silver Peak" created for the official poster of the Nagano Winter Olympics, "No Sparrow and Shichika" created when he was seventy, and his posthumous work "Treasure Ship Crossing a Sea of ​​Colorful Clouds." Spanning from the 1960s to the 2020s, the exhibition showcases the evolution of Akihiko Kinutani's unique artistic world.

Surrealism, a movement defined by André Breton in 1924, emerged under the influence of Freud's psychoanalysis, which focuses on the unconscious and dreams. Initially it emerged as a literary trend, but its influence gradually spread to a wide range of fields, including visual arts such as objects, paintings, photography, and video, as well as advertising, fashion, and interior design. Surrealism brought about an artistic revolution, and while it also contained political elements, it also spread to scenes closely related to everyday life, approaching society from both political and everyday perspectives. This project aims to deconstruct Surrealism, which has had an overwhelming presence and expanded to visual arts and ultimately society as a whole, using the medium of expression as a keyword, and reconstruct the image of Surrealism.

MONSTA X debuted in Korea in May 2015 with "TRESPASS."This six-member boy group is known for their powerful dance performances and music featuring a dual-rapper structure, with members actively contributing to songwriting.They made their Japanese debut on May 17, 2017, with one of their signature tracks, "HERO -Japanese ver.-."Although their activities in Japan were last seen with an album release in May 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and overlapping military enlistments, all four of their previously released CDs in Japan consecutively received Gold Disc certifications. Their albums consistently ranked high on weekly charts such as Oricon and Billboard JAPAN Top Albums Sales. Additionally, they successfully held three world tours and gained significant international recognition, notably becoming the first K-POP group to perform at the "iHeartRadio Music Festival 2019" in the United States.

This exhibition features illustrations by Takeo Tsunamoto, an illustrator renowned for depicting Osaka's iconic buildings and cityscapes. Presented in picture book form, the works depict his entire process of inheriting a nearly 140-year-old vacant house from relatives, restoring and renovating it, and finally moving in. In addition to the illustrations, the exhibition includes photographs of each stage of the restoration process, a detailed notebook documenting the restoration (including family meetings held after the decision to restore the house, fundraising, selecting craftsmen and construction companies, and project details), as well as a frame model and tools used in the construction.

This exhibition showcases a selection of paintings created by Zhang Jian in Osaka between 2024 and 2026. It traces the artist's shift from Impressionist expression to more personal and emerging modes of expression. As with his previous work, the artist's work remains grounded in a sustained focus on nature. However, in his recent works, through experimental methods rooted in directly existing environments, Zhang Jian increasingly captures subtle psychological feelings arising between people, as well as fleeting moments of light created by nature, resulting in works that are more improvisational and sensory.

The exhibition showcases nearly 100 works from the artist's creative journey spanning over thirty years, including paintings, all 17 films, drawings, and a large-scale mural created specifically for this exhibition.

Japan's plum blossoms are also well worth seeing! These beautiful trees bloom all over the country, and a popular place to see them in Osaka is the Expo '70 Memorial Park. The park hosts a plum blossom festival every year, when the trees are at their best. The Natural and Cultural Garden Plum Grove has around 600 plum trees of 120 varieties planted. The various varieties of plum blossoms bloom for about a month, and there are a variety of events during this time.

Shoji Kawamori is a creator who continues to captivate the world with his innovation and imagination. This spectacular exhibition traces the creative path of Kawamori, who is the theme project producer for the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo. The venue will showcase everything from his masterpieces to his latest projects through valuable three-dimensional exhibits and setting materials. In particular, the impact that young Kawamori received at the 1970 Osaka Expo and the chain of creation that continues to 2025 will be recreated through dioramas and video productions.