Gallery Fake

Gallery Fake is a small art gallery on a wharf in Tokyo Bay, run by Fujita Reiji, a former curator at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Once known as “the Professor” for his scholarship, remarkable memory, eye for art, restoration skills, and command of many languages, Fujita left the museum after trouble at work. He now deals in paintings, selling both genuine works and fakes at extraordinary prices. Fujita’s motto is that people without an eye for art are easily cheated, but being deceived can teach them to recognize the real thing. Though he trades in counterfeits, he is no villain: he values art and the artists who create it. He sometimes takes paintings from a corrupt politician who uses art to exchange bribes, and sometimes works to restore destroyed paintings. His passion for art often draws him into the lives of the people he meets, who find themselves attracted to him despite his reserve.