13.0% Viewed Art in the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ Opinion Survey: How to Read “Art” That Includes Media Art, and Museum Statistics

In March 2026, the Agency for Cultural Affairs published its report on the “Public Opinion Survey on Culture.” In 2025, 46.9% of respondents went out to view culture and the arts, and 13.0% viewed art. In this survey, “art” includes media art that uses computers and video. Together with the number of museums in the Social Education Statistics, whose final figures the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) released that same March, this article uses primary sources to sort out how digital art is counted in national statistics.

There are policy reasons, too, for checking how things are counted. The government’s “Basic Plan for the Promotion of Culture and the Arts (Second Phase)” (approved by the Cabinet on March 24, 2023) refers in its preamble to art that uses digital technology: “Many attempts that could be called digital art, using AI and other digital technologies in artistic activities, are also emerging.” In law, Article 8 of the Basic Act on Culture and the Arts provides for the promotion of art forms such as fine art. Article 9 calls “art using computers and other electronic devices” “media arts,” together with film, manga and animation, and provides for their promotion separately.

Some venues that envelop spaces in video appear in the same attendance surveys as art museums. The art publication The Art Newspaper compiled its survey of 2025 attendance from figures supplied by each museum, and teamLab’s two Tokyo venues appeared in the same table as the Tokyo National Museum and The National Museum of Western Art. We look in turn at how such forms of expression and venues are treated in official statistics and private surveys.

What is the Public Opinion Survey on Culture? A survey asking 25,000 people about their viewing in 2025

The Public Opinion Survey on Culture is conducted by the Agency for Cultural Affairs to understand public attitudes toward culture and inform future policy. The latest report (fiscal 2025 survey) was published in March 2026. The survey was conducted as an online questionnaire using a web panel from January 30 to February 4, 2026, and 25,000 residents of Japan aged 18 and over nationwide responded.

The number of respondents was allocated by sex, age and region based on the Basic Resident Register (Japanese residents) as of January 1, 2025. Questions asked about behavior “in the past year (January–December 2025),” and the survey was commissioned to Bunka Kagaku Kenkyusho Co., Ltd. The agency’s page lists reports for each fiscal year from 2019 to 2025.

46.9% viewed something in a way that involved going out, up from 43.1% in the previous survey (covering behavior in 2024). By field, film (excluding animated films) led at 20.8%, followed by historic buildings and sites at 15.7% and art at 13.0%. Art rose 0.8 points from 12.2% the year before. Viewing through media such as online streaming, television and books stood at 58.7%.

When the 13,268 people who answered that they had “not viewed anything” were asked why, “not interested” was the most common reason at 24.0%, excluding “no particular reason / don’t know.” It was followed by “costs such as admission and transport are too high” at 12.4% and “performances and exhibitions are not held where I live” at 9.6%.

13.0% viewed art: a definition that includes media art in “art”

The questionnaire attaches a note to the “art” option to show its scope: “Art includes painting, printmaking, sculpture, crafts, ceramics, calligraphy, photography, design, architecture, fashion, media art (art using computers and video) and the like.” The 13.0% is the share of people who went out to view art within this scope. There is also a separate option, “Within art, contemporary art in particular.”

Media art was added to this note starting with the report published in March 2022 (survey conducted in January–February of that year). In the report published the year before, in March 2021, media art was a separate option from art, named “animated films, media art (art using computers and video) and the like.” The parentheses for “art” read “painting, printmaking, sculpture, crafts, ceramics, calligraphy, photography, design, architecture, fashion and the like.” Because the two surveys differ in the number of respondents and options, this article does not compare their figures.

There are 22 options for viewing that involves going out, including “other” and “did not view anything.” None of them names “immersive,” “projection mapping” or digital art. Nor do the report’s questions (Q1–Q15) include any that count only experiences of immersive exhibitions or light events, and no options name individual venues.

Questions on activities other than viewing also include an option covering media art. 14.1% engaged in cultural and artistic activities other than viewing, such as creating, performing, taking lessons, taking part in festivals and providing support. Among the options, “creating works such as manga, films and other video works, CG, games and media art” stood at 3.2%, and “creating works of literature, music, art, theater, dance and the like” at 3.3%.

The law and the survey draw the lines differently. The Basic Act on Culture and the Arts places art using computers and the like in a separate article from fine art, as “media arts.” The opinion survey counts media art within the note on “art.” The history of media art and its centers in Japan are summarized in our explainer on what media art is.

Museum numbers and users in the Social Education Statistics: 1,346 museums and 4,426 museum-like facilities

The statistics that count from the facility side are MEXT’s Social Education Survey. A fundamental statistical survey to clarify basic matters needed for social education administration, it began in 1955 and is conducted roughly every three years. On March 27, 2026, the ministry published the results of the fiscal 2024 survey as the “Fiscal 2024 Social Education Statistics” (final figures). Facility numbers are as of October 1, 2024, and user numbers and the like cover fiscal 2023 (April 2023 – March 2024).

There were 1,346 museums, 41 more than the 1,305 in the previous fiscal 2021 survey and a record high. There were 4,426 museum-like facilities, 40 fewer than last time. Users per facility were 102,384 for museums and 30,074 for museum-like facilities, compared with 52,611 and 17,918, respectively, in the previous survey (fiscal 2020).

The number of users is “participants in classes and courses + participants in gatherings + admissions,” i.e., admissions plus participants in courses, lectures and the like. Users per facility is calculated by dividing the number of users by the number of facilities.

The survey covers both museums under the Museum Act and other facilities. “Museums” means museums prescribed in Article 2 of the Museum Act and designated facilities prescribed in Article 31, Paragraph 1 (called “facilities equivalent to museums” up to fiscal 2021). “Museum-like facilities” are facilities that carry out the same kind of work as museums and are above a certain size.

As a guide to size, the building’s total floor area should be roughly 132 m² or more. For zoos and botanical gardens, the guide is land of roughly 1,320 m² or more, and for aquariums, four or more display tanks with a combined tank area of 360 m² or more. The survey is a complete enumeration; questionnaires are distributed by the Minister of Education directly or through prefectural and municipal boards of education, and collected by mail or online. The revision of the Museum Act and the trend toward digitizing collections are covered in our article on the digitization of cultural properties.

Where do digital art venues fit in the statistics? Museum categories and how admissions are counted

The Social Education Survey manual (for the museum survey) divides facilities into nine categories: general, science, history, art, open-air, zoo, botanical garden, zoo and botanical garden, and aquarium. Facilities that fall into more than one are asked to “select one main category based on the content of their activities and so on.” None of the nine categories separately identifies facilities whose main focus is digital art or video exhibitions.

For admissions, the manual requires facilities to enter total admissions as “the number of people who entered during the fiscal year, counted per person,” and also to enter admissions to special exhibitions separately. The published results are aggregates. The fiscal 2024 tables on e-Stat comprise 29 for museums and 28 for museum-like facilities, all of whose titles indicate aggregates by category, type of founder, prefecture and so on. There is no table listing facility names, so the published materials do not show which facilities responded as museum-like facilities.

Facility numbers by category are posted in Excel format as Table 95 (museums) and Table 123 (museum-like facilities), and admissions as Tables 112 and 113 and Tables 140 and 141. MEXT’s published materials (key points of the survey results) do not include a breakdown by category.

Abroad, there are private surveys that list venue names alongside visitor numbers. The Art Newspaper’s annual survey listed 2025 attendance, as supplied by each museum, museum by museum. The top-150 table in the paper’s April 2026 issue includes teamLab Planets TOKYO with 2,516,719 visitors and teamLab Borderless: MORI Building with 1,691,075. The same table also includes the Tokyo National Museum (2,576,118) and The National Museum of Western Art (1,648,112).

The paper does not include museums that did not provide data in line with its criteria or could not be reached, and describes its rankings as being for convenience. Each venue’s announcements and counting methods are sorted out in our article on visitor numbers at digital art venues and immersive exhibitions.

Editor’s perspective

Neither of the two national statistics examined in this article has an item that singles out and counts experiences of immersive venues and exhibitions, or the number of such venues. The opinion survey counts media art within “art,” and the Social Education Survey aggregates facilities into nine categories. For visitor numbers at individual venues, we must rely on each company’s announcements or The Art Newspaper’s survey, to which each museum responds.

How definitions are set also affects the yardstick for measuring the effects of policy. The opinion survey’s purpose is “to inform future policy,” and the Basic Plan for the Promotion of Culture and the Arts mentions attempts at art using digital technology. When notes or options change, as with the 2022 change that brought media art into “art,” the basis for comparing figures before and after changes too. When citing figures, it is essential to check the report’s notes and any changes to the options.

Data sources and methodology

• Agency for Cultural Affairs, Public Opinion Survey on Culture report (fiscal 2025 survey): published March 2026. Survey period January 30 – February 4, 2026, covering January–December 2025. 25,000 residents of Japan aged 18 and over nationwide were surveyed through an online questionnaire using a web panel. The number of respondents was allocated by sex, age and region based on the Basic Resident Register (January 1, 2025, Japanese residents). Percentages use the number of respondents as the base and are rounded to one decimal place.

• Agency for Cultural Affairs, Public Opinion Survey on Culture report (fiscal 2024 survey): published March 2025. Survey period January 31 – February 5, 2025, covering January–December 2024. 25,000 people surveyed by the same method. The options for viewing that involves going out are the same as in the fiscal 2025 survey, and this article’s year-on-year comparisons use this report’s figures.

• Agency for Cultural Affairs, Public Opinion Survey on Culture reports (fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020 surveys): used only to confirm how “art” and media art were treated. The fiscal 2021 survey was conducted January 28 – February 3, 2022 and published in March 2022 (20,006 respondents); the fiscal 2020 survey was conducted January 29 – February 1, 2021 and published in March 2021 (3,000 respondents). Both used web panels. Because the number of respondents and options differ, figures are not compared.

• MEXT, “Fiscal 2024 Social Education Statistics (Results of the Social Education Survey)” final figures: published March 27, 2026. Facility numbers as of October 1, 2024; user numbers for fiscal 2023. Complete enumeration. Users of museums and museum-like facilities are the total of participants in classes and courses, participants in gatherings and admissions. Users per facility is the number of users divided by the number of facilities. The previous survey was the fiscal 2021 survey (user numbers for fiscal 2020). Corrections were issued on May 29, 2026, but the tables of facility numbers and users per facility used in this article were not among those corrected.

• MEXT, “Fiscal 2024 Social Education Survey Manual [Museum Survey],” and the Social Education Survey’s “Survey Overview” and “Explanation of Terms”: used to confirm the survey’s scope, facility categories and how admissions are entered.

• e-Stat, list of fiscal 2024 Social Education Survey tables (29 for museums, 28 for museum-like facilities; published or updated March 27 and May 29, 2026): used to confirm the structure of the tables. The figures in each table are in Excel format and are not used in this article.

• The Art Newspaper, “The world’s 100 most visited art museums in 2025” (March 31, 2026), and the top-150 table in the paper’s April 2026 issue (No. 388): figures are 2025 (calendar year) attendance supplied by each museum. Museums that did not provide data in line with the criteria or could not be reached are not included. Rankings are for convenience. Museums with multiple buildings are listed by building.

• The Basic Act on Culture and the Arts (the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ page with the text) and the “Basic Plan for the Promotion of Culture and the Arts (Second Phase)” (approved by the Cabinet on March 24, 2023): used to confirm the legal term “media arts” and the wording of the plan’s preamble.

Frequently asked questions

If I visit a digital art venue such as teamLab, is that counted as “art” in the opinion survey?

The survey is a questionnaire in which respondents choose options themselves. The note on “art” in the questionnaire says it includes media art (art using computers and video). However, there are no options naming venues or mentioning “immersive” or “projection mapping.”

What is the difference between museums and museum-like facilities?

In the Social Education Survey, “museums” are museums under Article 2 of the Museum Act and designated facilities under Article 31, Paragraph 1. “Museum-like facilities” carry out the same kind of work as museums and are above a certain size. As of October 1, 2024, there were 1,346 museums and 4,426 museum-like facilities.

Can I find the number of art museums alone, or their admissions?

MEXT’s published materials (key points of the survey results) do not include a breakdown by category. Facility numbers by category are in e-Stat’s Excel tables: Table 95, “Number of museums by category,” and Table 123, “Number of museum-like facilities by category.” The admissions tables are Tables 112 and 113 for museums and Tables 140 and 141 for museum-like facilities, covering the whole country and individual prefectures. This article has not checked the contents of these tables.

How often are the surveys conducted?

For the Public Opinion Survey on Culture, the agency’s page lists a report for every fiscal year from 2019 to 2025. The Social Education Survey is conducted roughly every three years; the survey before fiscal 2024 was the fiscal 2021 survey.

*Top image: “Body of Waves” at teamLab Planets (teamLab, Body of Waves, 2026, from the series Soft Black Hole - Your Body Becomes a Space that Influences Another Body, 2016- © teamLab) (from PLANETS Inc.’s press release)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on official announcements and public materials from each agency and organizer (as of October 22, 2026).

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team