book launch event

Meher McArthur: A Japanese Art Journey
thursday, november 6, 2025
7:00-8:30PM
ADMISSION IS FREE, RSVP REQUESTED (CLICK HERE)

It's an official Book Launch party!

We are excited to celebrate the release of A Japanese Art Journey, a deeply personal memoir by renowned Japanese art historian and curator Meher McArthur, published by Tuttle Books.

Through vivid storytelling, McArthur takes readers on a journey from her multicultural upbringing to her life-changing time in Japan and decades-long career curating Japanese art. From delicate paper dolls and woodblock prints to whimsical polka dot pumpkins, this memoir reveals the rich and unexpected world of Japanese art. More than a book about art, it is a story of identity, transformation, and the power of culture to illuminate one’s place in the world.

At this event, author Meher McArthur will present a slide talk about her life and career as a curator of Japanese art and read excerpts from the memoir. Her talk will be followed by a Q&A session and a book signing. We’ll also be serving sake and snacks, and offering raffle prizes—including a signed book, an artwork, and something cute from Japan!

Copies of the book may be purchased during the event from on-site vendor Chevalier's Books. Books purchased on site will be signed by the author.

Join us in celebrating a book that is as visually engaging as it is emotionally resonant — a love letter to Japanese art and the transformative power it holds.

about the book

A Japanese Art Journey: A Curator’s Memoir of Paper Dolls, Woodblock Prints and Polka Dot Pumpkins(Tuttle Books, November 2025)
By Meher McArthur

Japanese art historian and curator Meher McArthur was born in India to a Scottish father and Persian mother and grew up in Scotland, Canada, and England feeling very out of place. Hoping to go into international business, she studied Japanese at college and lived for two years in Japan, where she fell in love with the country’s art. Her life took a completely new direction. She became a Japanese art historian, moved to Pasadena (where she was a curator at Pacific Asia Museum for 8 years) and has been passionately curating Japanese art exhibitions in museums and galleries and for national tour for over 25 years. 

In her new memoir, A Japanese Art Journey, McArthur transports you into the extraordinary world of Japanese art — from ceramics, swords, prints and textiles to Buddhist art, folk painting, contemporary art and animation. One artwork and one language lesson at a time, McArthur unspools a compelling narrative of curiosity and inspiration, personal and cultural growth, with heartbreak and resilience, demonstrating the power of art, not only to inspire but to illuminate one's place in the world. 

about the authur

Meher McArthur

Meher McArthur is an Asian art historian specializing in Japanese art, with degrees from Cambridge University and London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). She was Curator of East Asian Art at Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, CA (1998-2006), Creative Director for the Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden, Pasadena (2014-2020), Academic Curator for Scripps College, Claremont (2018-2020) and Art and Cultural Director for JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles (2020-2022).
For over a decade, she has curated traveling exhibitions for International Arts & Artists (IA&A), most recently Washi Transformed: New Expressions in Japanese Paper (2021-2024) and KIMONO: Garment, Canvas, and Artistic Muse (2025-2029). She recently curated the local exhibitions SHIKI: The Four Seasons in Japanese Art at the Sturt Haaga Gallery at Descanso Gardens (2023), Elegance and Emotion: The Unique Dolls of Kimiko Muraoka Koyanagi at the Shumei Hall Gallery, Pasadena (2024), and TATSU: Depictions of Dragons in Japanese Art at the Japan Foundation Los Angeles (2024).