beautiful regional landscape. So, for the art audience, both experiences could be spectacle. In the meantime Tokyo has so many other artistic and creative activities in the city, while art in Echigo-Tsumari or Setouchi becomes something extraordinary and could be outstanding from everyday life. The other thing is that the Museum is opening its door as a part of daily life, while Echigo- Tsumari and Setouchi are happening on more concentrated time. KW: So it is akin to say a festive experience, one as much about place as the Art itself and its timing, like the traditional Japanese summer festival? MW: Yes, and Mori Art Museum or any museum in an urban place has to function in a very ordinary way, a daily place and within daily time. To find a place for artistic experience in urban life style was one of the goal that Mr. and Mrs. Mori was hoping the museum to contribute. KW: During your presentation last year at Daiwa Anglo- Japanese Foundation you talked about those people who have been instrumental in supporting the arts through the financing of projects. And you also talked at that presentation about private collectors who had made their collections available. In Japan, where the market, collectors, audience – everything, in fact – is small in scale, even Tokyo, which is widely held to be the epicentre of the Japanese art world, cannot hold a candle to the art scenes of New York or London. The majority of Japanese collectors have often bought Western rather than Japanese art and Tokyo, which was at the forefront of the