The Japanese Art Scene Monitor has reported that Japan has now reached a stage where it is both possible and necessary to evaluate the effects of the bubble economy, in terms of its arts scene. The article has been transcribed as follows: Firstly, let’s look at acquisitions. During the four years from 1978, an unprecedented 3 trillion yen was spent on Japanese art. By 1991 Japanese collectors were responsible for six of the top 12 prices ever paid for single works. But the effects of this momentous art splurge were short-lived. Five of those works have already found their way back to the international market, many without ever being exhibited publicly. Only Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, bought for 5.3 billion yen by the Yasuda Fire and Marine insurance Company, remains in Japan. Most of the others, such as Van Gogh’s Portrait of Dr Gachet and Renoir’s Moulin de la Galette, are believed to have been sold for about half their purchase price. In total 5.4 million works of art were bought from overseas during the bubble period. However, most have been either sold or are languishing in storage after sudden price drops. Only a fraction found their way into public and private museums, and now even they are in danger of being sold. The bubble period saw such reckless investment that prices could only fall. Investors disappeared from the market and sellers were forced to auction, driving prices down even further. Prices are now similar to those paid in the 1970s; in other words, the bubble period set the Japanese art market back about 30 years. A second bubble period legacy was an increase in art museums. Between 1990 and 2000 registered museums (both art and otherwise) grew from 534 to 827. While these figures seem promising, close examination reveals that during the same period the operating and acquisition budgets of most of Japan’s public museums were halved and often scrapped completely. The cause of the budget cuts was generally ballooning maintenance fees. The museums costs during the bubble period were so big that what little annual funding they could obtain from governments was almost entirely consumed by monstrous heating and lighting bills. It is essential that we understand the problems left behind by the bubble economy if we ever hope to correct them.