Toyama as “Glass Art City, Toyama” over the past 30 years has set three policies: nurturing human resources, promotion of industrialization of glass and promotion of art. Having three full-fledged facilities as bases: Toyama Institute of Glass Art, Toyama Glass Studio and Toyama Glass Art Museum. Toyama is one of the unique cities in the world that promote endeavors related to glass. Since its opening in 2015, Toyama Glass Art Museum has held more than 30 exhibitions and the number of visitors exceeded 1.1 million (as of the end of 2021).

For the last two years, the visitors’ impressions that I have heard and seen the most at the museum were: “It’s not like glass!” Glass is considered transparent, fragile and something that is blown to be made; it is an image of glass everyone has, but contemporary glass art is contrary to such preconceptions in a good way. Facing the material of glass with sincerity, facing it from different directions and coming up with various approaches will generate a diversity of expressions, while potential in this material will be brought out more. In recent years, not a few works are created in the context of contemporary art. It is precisely like the situation of contemporary human society where “diversity” has become the keyword.

The Staff of Toyama Glass Art Museum will make every effort to introduce diversified glass art around the world so that they will be enjoyed by many people. As every person is different and attractive, I hope that the viewer will be able to find a work that they like among glass artworks that are all different and rich in expression. Through these activities, I would like to make our city disseminate glass-related subjects to places in and outside Japan. We hope to live up to people’s expectations of “speaking of glass, it is Toyama.” Please look forward to it.

The Toyama Glass Art Museum (富山市ガラス美術館, Toyama Glass Bijutsukan) in Toyama City showcases a large collection of glass art from around the world. The beautifully modern Kirari building that houses the museum was designed by world-renowned architect Kuma Kengo and also contains the city's public library.

The museum offers both permanent and temporary exhibitions. The permanent exhibitions are on the fourth and sixth floors whilst the temporary exhibitions are interspersed across multiple galleries on other floors. The permanent exhibition on the fourth floor showcases contemporary glass art by international artists procured by the museum over past decades, while the sixth floor hosts the "Glass Art Garden" exhibition, which boasts a collection of installations by Dale Chihuly.

The museum houses a collection of over 400 pieces of contemporary glass art from Japan and abroad, mainly from the 1950s onward. Located in the six-story Toyama Kirari complex, the museum serves as a center of communication in the "City of Glass," introducing the appeal and possibilities of glass expression and its various forms of beauty.

Toyama Kirari, which looks like glass art in itself, was designed by architect Kengo Kuma. Glass, aluminum, and granite reflect light at various angles, creating a shimmering exterior. A large diagonal light tube penetrates the interior through the atrium, creating a space that looks as if it were in a forest filled with soft light. This accentuates the beauty of the glass works. The permanent exhibition features a number of valuable collections that have been collected by Toyama City over the past 30 years, changing as needed.
At the Glass Art Garden on the 6th floor, visitors can enjoy the spatial art of contemporary glass artist Dale Chihuly. The "Glass Art Passage," which utilizes the public space on the second through fourth floors, displays approximately 50 works by 20 artists associated with Toyama Prefecture. Each work is rhythmically interconnected and blended into the architectural space.