-  A total of 830,000 visitors, exceeding last year's number, admired the spectacle! -

The fifth (*1) annual event "Roppongi Art Night 2013" took place in Tokyo all night from 10:00, March 23 to 18:00, March 24. A record number of participants gathered for this year's Roppongi Art Night, totaling 96 artists/groups of artists (*2). Moreover, the total number of visitors to all programs at the event reached 830,000 (*3), and the night became a special one for many people, who were able to experience a variety of art firsthand in the streets of Roppongi.

The "kick-off ceremony" announcing the start of the Core Time (*4) on the day of Roppongi Art Night was marked by a sunset countdown event, and the participating artists headed by Katsuhiko Hibino, who had been appointed to the newly introduced position of the artistic director of Roppongi Art Night, came onstage and played a part. The "Lighthouse" monument by Hibino himself also made an appearance at Roppongi Hills Arena. Utilizing as fuel charcoal made from salt-polluted Japanese cedar trees in Rikuzentakata City, Iwate Prefecture, which had sustained extensive damage from the ensuing tsunami of the Great East Japan Earthquake, a bright flame burned in a lighthouse all night long. The streets of Roppongi were also filled with other art installations such as 10 "Art Fune (Boat)" produced by up-and-coming artists, each with great individuality, and the "Art Port Roppongi," which makes art appear at nine locations around Roppongi by making use of a local shrine and open spaces.

*1: The third event in 2011 was canceled in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

*2: Excluding those who took part only in exhibitions and other events held at participating museums and galleries.

*3: The total number of visitors to all programs at the previous year's event was 700,000.

*4: Core Time is the period of time during which many of the main installations and events were held.