Day 64- Roppongi Hills

The other intern and I went to Roppongi Hills. Which is a hip/cool place in Tokyo. Also, where a lot of expats are located. Anyways, we went to Mori Tower, which houses the Mori Art Museum, a Dinosaur exhibit, and a view of Tokyo from it's helipad. So we first went to the Mori Art Museum. WHICH WAS AWESOME! They were showcasing an exhibit called "Sensing Nature: Japanese Perception of Nature".
"Maman" by Louise Bourgeois, just outside the entrance of Mori Tower.

The first installation when entering the exhibit, "Snow" by Tokujin Yoshioka. It was a massive room filled with feathers. The artist's intentions were to emulate snow. Evey so often the fan inside would blow which caused all the feathers to shoot up into the air and fall gracefully. I wanted to go inside...

This was by far the BEST installation I have ever seen. The first image is what you see when you enter the room. At first I thought it was some sort of "Alice in Wonderland" kind of room. Where you just squat and make your way out to the exit. But then, I noticed people's legs just standing there.

Then as I walked around, I found holes cut out into the paper...

Another person experiencing the rabbit hole! The artist, Takashi Kuribayashi, wanted the viewer to experience what it is like to be an insect or small animal on the forest floor.

This is what it looks like from the exit of the forest.

The amazing view from the top of the tower. You could see everything from there.

Day 60- Hanabi-dori

DAY 60!!! 1 month=30 days until I am in the sky off to the chi! Anyways, today was a very special day in Tokyo. It was the Sumidagawa hanabi-dori (Sumida river fireworks). This is the largest fireworks show in Tokyo. Since it is the largest there were tons of people everywhere. I met my boss at noon, since he woke up at 8am to tape off a spot for our group. I though we were intense because we came early to get a good spot. But according to my boss some people come a couple days earlier for the prime locations. The people that guard the spots are typically the underlings of a company. That was me for the day! I was given the honorary task of guarding our spot until the show. It was pretty boring. I sat there and watched as couples started to show up to take their spots. Me=awkwardly sitting on the curb, headphones in, hoping no one bothers me. Which no one did. In the end all faired well.

During all the guarding, I took a break and went to a shrine that was nearby. It was a tourist hotspot. There were so many foreigners. Gates prior to entering the shrine. The lantern in between was HUGE!

Near the shrine there are tons of food stalls and whatnot but there was this one stall that was making candy!

After the old man put the sugar coating on the fruit, he would put it on an ice block to let it cool down. From there you were able to choose which one you wanted.

Then making my way back to my bicycle, I saw this old lady. She was just walking and then all of a sudden she walks right inbetween two buildings! I was like SPIRIT! So, I took a snapshot of her disappearing into the otherside. (If you've ever seen TOKYO!, there's a scene where the two main characters of the first segament are talking about how spirits live inbetween the buildings. In Japan, you can find a lot of the buildings don't touch one another. Usually there is a tiny gap between both. Just wide enough to get a hand in. I think that's where spirits live too...)

I know it's blurry...Anyways, we're all sitting in the middle of the road waiting for the show!
The festival was started by the 8th shogunate to honor the dead and ward of disease and famine. At the time, the local restaurants were given permission to set off the fireworks and its been continued ever since.

Day 58- National Art Center

So, I know I've been m.i.a. for the past...I don't even know...and I'M SORRY! But it's okay because I'M BACK! The past 3 weeks have been uneventul up until now!
Firstly, I had to pay my rent for my last month in Tokyo! It was pretty epic. I have managed to survive 58 days and counting. Hopefully I make it to the end!!! On my way back to the train station I passed this store that had all these posters of bands on the windows. I'm guessing it was some sort of ticket store. But I saw this poster and had to take a couple snapshots. Only because I'm seeing them in September. Again! Really excited!
I went to the Man Ray exhibit at the National Art Center in Roppongi.

For my entire trip, I have been doing another assignment. I have been looking at tons or art/design/inspiration for, hopefully, my art minor show next year. I take my ceramics very seriously. lol. So far I have multiple ideas for the project. Now I just need the studio to start experimenting. Usually, my ideas come to me right before I fall asleep. Then I let them fester in my brain for a little bit before I actually make an attempt to write/sketch/describe them into my sketchbook. At the Man Ray exhibit a majority of the displayed artwork was his trials and products of experimentation. Unfortunately cameras/photography was prohibited. But no worries, I came away with a set of gold lips pin and a postcard! In my opinion it was a successful outing.

Day 29- Asia Cont'd

So day 2 of Asia's visit. We were originally going to go and visit a famous shrine 3 hours outside of Tokyo...But we woke up later then planned and didn't think we could make back in time for Asia to catch her bus back to Kyoto. So instead, we went to pay my rent and roam Tokyo. We headed over Shinjuku where the offices to pay rent are located. Afterwards, we went to this Indian/Pakistani restaurant which was so good. They had naan which was delicious. I'm not a naan expert but it was warm and soft and perfect. After lunch we decided to head over to Harajuku so we could visit the Meiji shrine.

There weren't any oddly dressed people. Partially because it wasn't Sunday. Until then...
We headed over to the Meiji shrine. In all honesty once you go to one shrine the majority of shrines are all similar.
Monks(?)

Asia crossing the rope! AHHHHH!!!

These are the tools Lotteria gave me for the next task...

HERE IT IS!!!

What's inside you ask???
10 patty burger!

DEMOLISHED...but didn't feel too good afterwards...still feeling the after effects...


-rog

Day 28- ASIA!

So for the past two days I got to hang out with...ASIA! Which was very surreal. She had been in Japan for the past 6 months studying abroad. Now, I was in Tokyo and she was in Tokyo. We were able to hang out! So I ditched work for the two days just so we got chill. So on Tuesday, we went to the Yasakuni Shrine. I was hoping for some protests (for those of you that don't know: the Yasakuni shrine was built in memory of the soldiers and 7(?) generals. They were convicted by the Tokyo war tribunal after WWII. They were guilty of crimes against humanity and other crimes which resulted in execution. So the Japanese government built the shrine to honor them. The controversy is that the government is honoring the people who took part in the Nanjing massacre, comfort women, and etc.) The day we went was the anniversy of the building of the shrine. But we found out nothing was happening until later at night. So we walked around the shrine and people watched. There was a wide variety of people that came to the shrine. There were old people, young people, couples, families, and we even saw a naval officer (I think it was a naval officer. I knew he was of high rank because of all the stripes on his shoulder board.)
The Yasakuni torii

Then our way to the train station we passed this...(i know a dead rat...no biggie)

BUT LOOK HOW ******* IT IS COMPARED TO MY SHOE!

After we regrouped, several hours later, Asia and I went out to look for the Japan vs. Paraguay match. We went to a bar but then got kicked out because we didn't have reservations. (reservations at a bar? What The Freak.) But then we found some random one that only served international beer. Then Japan lost. YEAH!!!

-rog

Day 27- mondays

No matter how interesting I would like Mondays to be, I am stuck writing about nothing. I always have work on Mondays. So until something interesting happens on Mondays I'll just skip them.

Day 26- sore...

Holy crap. My body is killing me. The end. My back has never hurt so much not even after a rugby match.

Pain.

The end.

-rog