Kitanippon Seiki founder Chairman Eiichi Kobayashi, his interest in art is deep, and in between overseas business developments, visiting art museums in various places, appreciating Western masterpieces, and has deepened his knowledge and understanding of painting.
Normally, people living in regions with little contact with art also appreciate genuine paintings, and hoping they want their lives to be enriched, for that purpose, creating an art museum to make his own collection public, was Chairman Kobayashi's many years' desire.
The Eiichi Kobayashi Memorial Art Museum, which utilized the former Nishi Ashibetsu Elementary School gymnasium as it is, in the coal mine town of Ashibetsu, is a black building without decoration in the quiet countryside, and as a unique art museum that makes use of natural light, we are wishing for it to continue to exist forever in the northern frontier land.