Brussels turns Hokusai’s Great Wave into a floral emblem of Belgian-Japanese ties
Brussels displayed a Hokusai-inspired flower carpet on the Grand-Place from 13 to 16 August, placing a Belgian-Japanese cultural celebration among the week’s stark images of real, destructive waves on China’s coast.
The installation joined a major Brussels public tradition to a substantive diplomatic and economic relationship, while the surrounding week’s photographs demonstrated how similar images can represent celebration in one place and physical danger in another.
placed at the centre of its from 13 to 16 August, when volunteers transformed Hokusai’s Great Wave into a vast carpet of dahlias marking 160 years of diplomatic relations between and Japan. De Standaard’s photographic selection subsequently set that carefully composed wave beside houses-high seas on ’s coast, turning the week’s images into an unintended study in beauty, danger and the different meanings carried by a single visual form.
For people in , the carpet was first of all a brief and accessible civic spectacle, not an EU ceremony. The says Japanese artist and his collective reinterpreted The Great Wave off Kanagawa using more than 500,000 dahlias. Around 120 volunteers assembled the 70-by-24-metre installation, which occupied the UNESCO-listed square for four days. A second carpet appeared at the for the first time, with a hop design referring to ’s brewing heritage.
Its diplomatic purpose nevertheless reached beyond tourism. ’s Foreign Ministry presented the carpet as part of a year-long programme celebrating the treaty of friendship, commerce and navigation signed by Belgium and in 1866. That programme has also included Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako’s June state visit, Japanese participation in the Ommegang and cultural events elsewhere in Belgium. The ministry says more than 300 Japanese companies operate in Belgium and account collectively for about 35,000 jobs, making the relationship tangible for workers in sectors including technology, logistics, chemicals and biotechnology.
That Belgian framing differs sharply from the news context behind the photographs from . A Reuters Connect caption placed tourists beside huge waves at Qingdao in Shandong province on 11 August, but did not independently establish their cause. Two days earlier, Associated Press reported that had struck eastern China after more than 300,000 people were moved pre-emptively and at least 1,300 flights were cancelled at Shanghai’s airports. AP described massive coastal waves, heavy rain and serious flood and landslide risks in Zhejiang and neighbouring Fujian. The available reporting does not show that the Qingdao waves photographed later were directly caused by Dolphin, so the visual connection should not be treated as a meteorological conclusion.
The contrast matters because a weekly picture gallery can compress events that have entirely different stakes. deliberately reproduced one of the world’s most recognisable waves as ephemeral public art. On the Chinese coast, towering water formed part of a hazardous environment in which authorities restricted movement and prepared for flooding. The resemblance is powerful, but the underlying stories are not equivalent.
There are also two legitimate ways to read the installation. City organisers emphasised craftsmanship, public space and a tradition dating to the first carpet in 1971. Belgian and Japanese officials treated it as cultural diplomacy: Deputy Prime Minister Jan Jambon has described as being “of enormous importance” to ’s economy, while Japanese diplomat Shuichi Nishino called anniversary events opportunities for younger generations to rediscover the relationship. Neither framing requires Brussels to be confused with the European Union. The event belonged to the city, while its wider significance arose from bilateral Belgian-Japanese ties and an EU-Japan partnership grounded in trade and cooperation.
The carpet has now disappeared, as intended, but the anniversary programme continues. Its most durable message may be that diplomacy is not conducted only through summits and communiqués. Sometimes it is built by volunteers on a medieval square, in flowers designed to last four days. What remains uncertain is how many people saw the carpets and what measurable tourism or commercial benefit they produced; neither the City nor organisers had published a verified attendance total in the sources reviewed.
Impact
Regional — The event brought a temporary cultural installation to central Brussels and introduced a second carpet at the Bourse, extending activity beyond the Grand-Place.
Local — The four-day installation concentrated cultural activity in Brussels’ historic centre from 13 to 16 August. Its main 70-by-24-metre carpet occupied the Grand-Place, while a second, hop-inspired work at the Bourse extended the event to another prominent central location for the first time. Both displays were temporary and have now ended, so readers planning a visit cannot see the 2026 carpets in place. The event nevertheless added a major public-art attraction to the city-centre calendar.
International — The carpet served as a public expression of the 160-year relationship between Belgium and Japan, translating a diplomatic anniversary into a prominent cultural event in Brussels. Its use of Hokusai-inspired imagery and collaboration with Hiro Sugiyama and the Enlightenment collective gave the Belgian tradition a direct Japanese connection. The accompanying images from China created a separate cross-border contrast: a celebrated stylised wave in Brussels appeared alongside real coastal danger from Typhoon Dolphin, which AP reported displaced more than 300,000 people before striking eastern China.
What it means for you
The 2026 Flower Carpet was a temporary event and closed on 16 August, so it is no longer available to visit on the Grand-Place or at the Bourse. Readers can use the City of Brussels event information and published photo coverage to review the installation. No admission cost, booking requirement or continuing access arrangement is established by the article, so readers should not infer one. The next edition’s dates are not provided; anyone hoping to attend a future carpet should monitor City of Brussels announcements rather than relying on the 2026 schedule.
Opposing perspectives
- Brussels and Belgian diplomatic framing
The City of Brussels presents the carpet as ephemeral public art and local heritage, while Belgian and Japanese officials frame it as cultural diplomacy supporting a relationship with economic, scientific and political depth. Jan Jambon called Japan “of enormous importance” to Belgium’s economy.
- Chinese emergency and wire-service framing
Associated Press treated the week’s waves as part of a dangerous typhoon environment involving evacuations, cancelled flights and flood risks. Reuters Connect’s Qingdao caption documented the visual scene but did not verify its cause, demanding more caution than a picture-gallery juxtaposition might suggest.
Who, where and what
Key people, places and terms in this story
Host city of the 2026 Flower Carpet and its additional installation.
Country commemorating 160 years of relations with Japan.
Country where destructive coastal waves formed part of the week’s contrasting imagery.
Central Brussels square where the main flower carpet was displayed.
Central Brussels location of the first additional, hop-inspired carpet.
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Japanese artist whose Great Wave inspired the main carpet.
Artist who helped reinterpret Hokusai’s Great Wave for the 2026 carpet.
Host city of the 2026 Flower Carpet and its additional installation.
Country commemorating 160 years of relations with Japan.
Country where destructive coastal waves formed part of the week’s contrasting imagery.
Central Brussels square where the main flower carpet was displayed.
Central Brussels location of the first additional, hop-inspired carpet.
Belgium’s bilateral partner and the cultural reference point for the carpet.
Biennial floral-art event staged in central Brussels.
Edition displayed from 13 to 16 August and dedicated to Belgium-Japan ties.
Storm associated with destructive waves and mass displacement in eastern China.
Collective that worked with Hiro Sugiyama on the floral design.
Hokusai image reinterpreted as the principal floral design.
Public authority that reported the carpet’s dimensions and floral composition.
Federal institution providing context on 160 years of Belgium-Japan relations.
Sources & evidence
- View sourceDe StandaardPrimaryprimary· standaard.beRetrieved 27 August 2026
- View sourceCity of Brusselsofficial· brussel.beRetrieved 27 August 2026
- View sourceBelgian FPS Foreign Affairsofficial· diplomatie.belgium.be· 23 July 2026Retrieved 27 August 2026· 71 days ago· Dated
- View sourceBelgian FPS Foreign Affairsofficial· diplomatie.belgium.be· 27 January 2026Retrieved 27 August 2026· 248 days ago· Dated
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This briefing was prepared with AI assistance and reviewed by a Belgium Impulse editor before publication. methodology.