Shinjuku pics

 DOCOMO Tower from shinjuku station

Par of the door to Isetan Department store, a survivor of air raids during the pacific war

 Find this on the street of shinjuku

At this point, the route from Nihonbashi diverges into two.

 Robot restaurant

 On the way to the Samurai Museum

Billboards of host members are a sign to the museum.

 Looks fun.

 

Lost in translation building from the observation floor of the metropolitan gov. building

Cocoon building 

KUSAMA Yayoi exhibition @ National Art Center, Tokyo

This is a large-scale exhibition now held in Roppoingi, Tokyo. The exhibition opened at an equally colossal national art museum which does not have permanent collection but borrows artworks of significance for the exhibits. 

The Roppongi area is fun for a stroll. Once samurai warrior-clans' grand Edo residences stood here. Now Edo is gone and instead called Tokyo. Among the skyscrapers, legacies from the TOKUGAWA castle town remains, such as old gardens and shrines. After all, Tokyo, once called Edo, was where the Tokugawa headquarters was established. Confining the imperial members tightly in ancient capital Kyoto, the Tokugawa reigned the country freely based in Edo, with all the other feudal clan members under control and their lords showing allegiance to Tokugawa and staying in Edo regularly. 

New wing of Corbusier's art museum, ueno, tokyo

The new wing of the national museum of western art, ueno, Tokyo, was designed by Maekawa, a Japanese architect who worked under Le Corbusier. The original wing designed by Le Corbusier is on the list of the world cultural heritage. 

Corbusier came to Japan in 1955 and stayed there for eight days. He looked at the site where the museum to exhibit the MATSUKATA COLLECTION was going to be built.

The collection consisted of western artworks collected by mr. Matsukata, an important business person of Japan in those days. Part of the collection kept in France was confiscated by the French government as enemy asset after the Second World War was over but as a result of diplomatic effort, was to be returned or PRESENTED to Japan with some conditions. 

One important condition was to build a museum suitable to exhibit the returned paintings and sculptures. Le Corbusier was approached as an architect of the new museum. He came to Japan, looked at the planned construction site, and later sent in the blueprints. In practice his three students including Maekawa was in charge of realizing the museum proposed by Corbusier. 

The Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, designed by Maekawa and opened in 1961, stands in front of the museum. It was built for opera and ballet performance but also commemorated the 500th anniversary of the city after the first castle was built in present-day Tokyo by OTA Dokan. Such complex for cultural activities was part of the plan proposed by Corbusier but given up due to financial straits. Later it came into being in a different way. The mentor and the student now see each other through their buildings.

 The green walls of the new wing

 

Bunka Kaikan whose large glass windows reflect autumn color in ueno park

Pine forests and the space it creates

Paintings on two folding panels entitled the pine forests painted by HASEGAWA Tohaku in the Edo period. The Tokyo national museum in Ueno Park, Tokyo, owns the original. Photography is basically allowed at this museum. Photographer SUGIMOTO did his version of pine forests and it is exhibited in the Park Wing of Benesse House in naoshima. You need to stay there to see the artwork because it's in the overnight guests area.  

In both paintings, air, space, or void is real. 

At the museum, an impressive volume and variety of cultural, historical items are exhibited. Ukiyoe prints by HOKUSAI were one of the objectives of the visit this time. Below is one of my favorites. 

Try Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum near Omote-sando, Minato ward, Tokyo

Okamoto Taro photographed

This makes a wonderful half day tour. Start your walking tour from Omotesando subway station. Walk for eight minutes and you will be at the museum. His former residence is now converted into the memorial museum exhibiting his works: just the right building, not too large but cozy in size. 

After the visit, try walking for twenty minutes or more (you might get lost on the way so this could be longer but fun to be lost in Tokyo) to Shibuya Station for whatever line (but Inogashira Line is eventually good for this tour). 

On the way, you will pass Okamoto's outdoor artwork in front of Kodomono-shiro building. That's on your right. 

Kodomono-shiro (Children's Castle)

When you come to a folk, go downward along the right street and soon you will be at the famed scramble cross-ways at Shibuya Station. Travelers from abroad are always taking a movie there.

Take an escalator to the Inogashira Line. Instead of going to its ticket gates, turn back and walk just for a few dozen seconds and you will see the mural done by Okamoto entitled MYTHOLOGY OF TOMORROW. 

MYTHOLOGY OF TOMORROW

This completes a fantastic artistic walking tour featuring Taro Okamoto. The most famous piece done by him has to be THE TOWER OF THE SUN, which characterized the Osaka Exposition held in 1970.

Photography allowed at the museum inside and outside in the garden. 

Okamoto and a miniature tower of the sun

An ambulance was around; thus less pedestrians on the crossing

MAX TOKI Shinkansen @ Tokyo station

This SHINKANSEN train bound for Niigata is named after TOKI, or nipponia Nippon. Sad because the Japanese species is already extinct. Those exist in Japan are from China.

KITTE building in Maru-no-uchi, Tokyo

First a glance from a distance. Looks good. Then I went inside and briefly looked around. The atrium and top light together have you connected with the day's weather and light. Just the right size to browse around the stores. Each floor has distinctive interior design. Architect KUMA Kengo did a beautiful interior job. Do not miss the basement, which I missed (shame!), but I didn't miss the roof top garden. There you are looking down on Tokyo Station. Somehow, the station, cars, and other items below look like miniature models. Loved the naming too. KITTE in Japanese means stamps; an appropriate name to a former post office building and there still is a post office inside. KITTE sounds similar to Kit-te, meaning "please come." Sounds so cute.

Now and Before

Exterior; the glassy high rise part is added

Tokyo Station looks smaller than life from KITTE roof top

KITTE in Tokyo

From KITTE roof top

KITTE atrium

KITTE exterior on the right; Tokyo Station on the left

KUMA Kengo's interior design

KITTE building in Marunouchi, Tokyo, shows KUMA Kengo's sensitivity. Every floor shows his affection and respect to heritage of this country. He was in charge of interior design of this building complex located next to JR Tokyo Stn. A former post office renovated into a commercial building embodies its history yet lives its second life greeting countless flows of visitors.

Tokyo Sky Tree makes a new skyline

The grand opening of Tokyo Sky Tree is coming soon. 

Here's their web site.

Nezu Museum designed by KUMA Kengo

Approach to the museum

Nezu Museum has a Japanese garden where you can take a stroll in addition to a fine collection of artworks and others. Architecture, displayed items, and gardening can be enjoyed here. An oasis in the middle of Tokyo.




Their web site says:
The Nezu Museum collects more than 7,000 objects including calligraphy, painting, sculpture, metalwork and arms, ceramics, lacquer, bamboo crafts, textiles, and archaeological work . 


For details about the museum, click here to check their official website.  

The garden is dotted with may stone lanterns.

Prelude to an eastbound journey

Aomori Ken by
NARA Yoshitomo at
Aomori Museum of Art

This year this March, I'm definitely traveling in Tohoku and then attending a graduation ceremony in Tokyo for the students successfully finishing their phD courses and going back home in Southeast Asia. 




I intended to do so last March but couldn't make it due to conflicting schedules. But it's partly an excuse. I didn't have enough energy and enthusiasm last winter and look what happened in East Japan on March 11, 2011: the earthquake of that unprecedented scale and ensuing disasters caused by successive nuclear meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. People evacuated from their home places contaminated by radiation leaking from the nuclear power plant in Fukushima Tohoku.


It still took some time to make up my mind to go for sure but something clicked one day and then right away I declared my decision to my clients who had kindly encouraged me to attend the graduation ceremony in Tokyo for the students they support as a corporation. 

Now I'm pretty happy and busy preparing for the journey, checking the places to go, making various reservations and arrangements.

Sawanoya Ryokan in Nezu, Tokyo

In Tokyo, I'll stay at Sawanoya Ryokan again. This inn even appeared in English textbooks for Japanese students thanks to their ingenious way for survival: they appealed to international travelers, updating their facilities and services to meet the needs of individual travelers from abroad. For details just type in Sawanoya and go to their site. Besides Sawanoya, there are several Ryokan inns in its vicinity. I had a chance to try out one and loved it. It was not new and fancy but clean and convenient and the room was spacious. 


In this article, let me just tell that I'm staying at Sawanoya again and I like the place and its neighborhood with old livable Tokyo atmosphere. Lots of photos and stories on Tohoku later on. The photo of the dog is from one of the destinations I plan to go. Amazingly Aomori has three architectural marvels which you should not miss. They will give you an inspiring and artistic experience. I'm gonna visit all three.


Many decades ago, I first visited Chuson-ji temple and other places nearby in Iwate Pref. They are currently designated World Cultural Heritage. Now I don't remember why I chose to go there as a young college student but this time I have a special feeling. Dr. Donald Keene, a renowned scholar on Japanese literature, visited there twice, long time ago and last year in 2011 and I had an honor to meet and talk with him on a winter day in 2011. I'd like to follow his footsteps and imagine how he felt there especially after the earthquake.


One of my friends I met at college was from Sendai, Miyagi Pref., Tohoku. and I once stayed at her house, meeting her parents for the first time. A funny thing was: my friend got ill and couldn't entertain me so her mother took me to Matsushima and a shrine called Shiogama Jinja. 


I remember this shrine pretty well 'cause I had just learned something interesting about this shrine in one of the lectures I took at college: the shrine has a large cauldron used for fortune-telling. I didn't appreciate much about Matsushima where a group of islands and islets in the bay are supposed to make a charming scenic seascape. How I like it now I don't know. Matsushima suffered from the earthquake but thanks to its geography of many islands in the bay and lots of pine trees, it spared itself from the worst. I might be able to go if time allows.


Besides Chuson-ji and Matsushima, I mostly picked up buildings in the present time. Gees I love architecture and want to see how architecture, landscape, nature, art, and humans have affairs.  


I'll see architecture by ANDO Tadao, AOKI Jun, NISHIZAWA Ryue, and ITO Toyo. The first three are in Aomori and the last in Sendai. Can't wait to go but this preparation period is not bad at all.