Author: Ella

From the contemporary art museum, these caught my eye because how could they not? The artist is Shinohara Ushio (1932-). The sculpture is called Motorcycle. The painting is called Motorcycle and Geisha. Photos below. From the Tokyo National Museum, the ancient carved from wood statues. Photo below. From the plaque: “Kichijöten, Goddess of Good Fortune Heian period, 10th century…

Ikigai生きがい The short translation: “The purpose of living.” More nuance: What gets you out of bed in the morning. What you are good at that you love and is needed by the world.  Embedded in the word is the belief that everyone has an ikigai. You just need to find it. Ichi go ichi e一期一会…

Yesterday I checked the weather for today. 100% chance of rain. Radar showed a huge mass moving in and sitting right on top of us. No stinkin’ rain would keep us from enjoying the day. But obviously we didn’t want outdoor expeditions.  After breakfast we headed to the front desk to inquire about umbrellas. The…

Grubb has mentioned how phenomenal public transportation is in Tokyo. Before we realized the ease with which we’d be able to zip around, we started mapping all the places we thought we’d like to go and organize our day around places that were relatively close to each other. Threw that idea out the window. Here…

The interior of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo is off limits to the public, The inner grounds can be visited by joining the official tour. Only offered twice a day in Japanese with English audioguides available. The application process for the tour must be completed at least four days ahead but you’ll be lucky to…

Yesterday we concurred that we’d both love a bowl of udon as our big meal of the day. We sat in comfy chairs in the National Art Center and googled for udon restaurants in the area. TsuruTonTan popped up and was only an 11 minute walk away. Google maps led us to the location and…

At the National Art Center, this robot rolled along, stopping as it passed people to wink its lights. Maybe take a sniff looking for illegal substances or weapons.  Its head swiveled continuously and I suppose it was producing a continuous live stream feed to whomever was monitoring the cameras. Or, maybe it had no need for…

Our first foray into the gigaplex that is Tokyo was for the Mori Art Museum located on the 53rd floor of the Mori building in the Roppongi neighborhood.  We realized today that in Tokyo, we had to be a little more clever with Google maps. Or maybe Google maps needs to get more clever. Tokyo…

We are in Tokyo now but I thought I’d share some last photos from Toyama and Takaoka Most of the manhole covers in Toyama were painted. Is there a more generic name these days? Where did “manhole” come from anyway? School zone. Beware of speedy kids. A typical street in Toyama.  What to drink? Why…

A massive city. The largest city on earth. Could be its own country. Bustling, busy, lots of people looking trendy. Big City, Earth. That was our last ride on. Shinkansen (from Toyama to Tokyo). Last stop on our 6 six week blitz through Japan. First day of Golden Week. Kind of a spring break for…

Having become fascinated with the notion of infinite Buddhas, I couldn’t resist suggesting an outing to one of the great bronze Buddha statues in Japan. Located in Takaoka, a mere 20 minute train ride from Toyama station, this giant 16 meter high bronze statue of Amithaba Buddha was quite a sight. The statue originated in…

Every regular hotel room we’ve stayed in comes with some version of these signs (photo below) on the back of the door. There is also often a small control panel in the wall next to the door with a button to push if you want the room fully cleaned. It turns on a tiny green…

A 20 minute walk from our hotel got us to the Toyama Glass Art Museum where there was a special small exhibition of Chihuly. I love the stuff.  The rest of the exhibit space was devoted to other glass artists, many local. The building itself, designed by Kengo Kuma, was quite spectacular with open spaces…

From Kanazawa to Toyama. We are in Toyama for 2 nights only. By Shinkhansen, it was under a 30 minute ride. Toyama is our last stop before Tokyo. Below. Sign in the Kanazawa train station. Japan has a reputation for being very safe. BUT, with the influx of millions of tourists, well, not all tourists…

Claw games are a big deal. We stepped into a claw game arcade to check it out. Each try costs 100 yen (US 70 cents). You can grab anything from a big stuffed animal to a package of cookies to a transformer car. Yeah, I was tempted to try but..oh well I have no excuse….