Kacchu Armor is included in the new “Samurai and Beyond” exhibition. (photo courtesy of the NHK/Tokyo National Museum)

Japan House Los Angeles has announced the opening of “Neo-Japonism: Samurai and Beyond: Exploring Tradition Through Technology,” an exhibition commemorating the 100th anniversary of broadcasting in Japan started by three radio stations which later became the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, or NHK. On display Feb. 14-Sept. 1, visitors can explore the innovative artwork scanning technologies NHK utilizes to present interactive high-resolution 3D scans of Japan’s cultural treasures. Building on the growing global popularity of samurai-era culture – as witnessed in FX’s “Shōgun” and Sony’s “Rise of the Ronin” video game – presentations will also include techniques employed by NHK to bring Japanese culture to life from their renowned, year-long “Taiga” historical drama series – which often depict samurai, warlords and noblewomen from the pre-modern period.

To commemorate this milestone, NHK is producing special programs and developing exhibitions in conjunction with unique and cutting-edge visualization technologies they design and implement to promote a deeper understanding of Japanese culture. The exhibition also showcases NHK’s interactive technological collaborations with Japan’s important museums, allowing greater access to Japanese cultural treasures.

“The exhibition utilizes media arts to present a broad spectrum of historical Japanese works – from clay and ceramic, to woodblock printing and painting, to architecture – inviting visitors to fully explore Japanese cultural aesthetics that collectively contribute to neo-Japonism,” said Yuko Kaifu, president, Japan House Los Angeles. “This intangible but consistent ‘Japanese-ness’ underpins Japan’s historical cultural output and represents Japan’s contribution to global culture and entertainment.”

In recent years, NHK and its subsidiary NHK Enterprises used three-dimensional computer graphic technology to create high resolution 3D scans to build a library of Japanese cultural artifacts. Previously only accessible by visiting a museum where they would be displayed behind glass, the artifacts vividly come to life in this exhibition as 3DCG objects, allowing visitors to explore the objects as interactive video experiences – close up, viewed from typically inaccessible angles and augmented with audio and graphical annotations.

Admission to the exhibition is free. Walk-ins are welcome as space allows. The gallery is open weekdays from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. and weekends from 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Japan House is located at 6801 Hollywood Blvd. For information, visit japanhousela.com.