Free “City Nights” Open House Recreates Tokyo at Night

So you want to see Tokyo at night?   The Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Freer Gallery of Art are making it happen.  Well, sort of.  And it’s FREE.  Get excited.

To celebrate the closing weekend of two exhibitions featuring Japanese art and culture (“Kiyochika: Master of the Night,” which showcases startling Japanese woodblock prints of Tokyo from Japan’s first modern artist, and “Chigusa and the Art of Tea,” where visitors can tour a display of the legendary 700-year-old tea jar revered in Japan’s chanoyu, or “art of tea.”), the Freer and Sackler Galleries will remain open into the evening on Friday, July 25, for a free open house.

After 5:30PM, the garden, gallery and classical courtyard spaces transform into an urban jungle of the 1870s: Stroll through scenes of Tokyo.  Don a dandy hat and mustache and listen to popular music of the time played on the koto.  Enjoy refreshments by food truck Tokyo and the City.  Then see a free screening of Tokyo Twilight, a Japanese film from 1957 that showcases Tokyo as a city of shadows and silhouettes –reminiscent of Kiyochika’s work — at 8 PM.