I’m an early riser and I always wake up ravenous. I don’t love going out to look for food especially when cafes here seem to come alive long after I’m awake so we had breakfast downstairs.
Not a traditional Japanese breakfast – I know.
A rainy day today.
My first order of business is to buy a Pasmo (travel) card. They look like this.
Cute, right?
We walk to the Shibuya station to get one but there are no physical travel cards to be had. Anywhere! I learn that there is a shortage of semi-conductor chips so I have to cave and get the e-Pasmo card.
Today, we have tickets to the Yayoi Kusama Museum so off we went in that direction. First, though, I have to stop at a nearby konbini (short for ‘convenience store’) to buy an umbrella. On the train, no one speaks loudly. It’s the most quiet train experience I’ve ever had.
The train system here totally overwhelms me. I can’t figure out quickly enough the right platform, train or line – even though Apple Maps does most of the heavy lifting.
In the neighborhood where the museum is located many houses have been built very close to each other, so close you have to wonder how light gets in – but perhaps that’s something you just accept if you live in such a house.
(I hope you can see the woman picking what I imagine are persimmons from her tree.)
On rainy days, colours usually appear more vibrant than on sunny ones.
While walking to the museum, we pass several monasteries.
How cute are the two small Jizo statues at the foot of the stairs?
In one of the monasteries, there’s a cemetery. Beside the graves there are long wooden staves with script burnt into the wood. Prayers? Wishes?
In another monastery, the tall Buddha has offerings left at his feet – money, juice boxes, fruit jellies, and Duncan and Old Slow Coach – two friends of Thomas the Tank Engine.
At 1:45, we enter the Kusama Museum . The museum is quite strict about how many visitors are permitted into the building at any one time. And once you’re inside the staff are strict about the length of your visit.
In the glow-in-the-dark polka-dotted room visitors can only enter for 1 minute 30 seconds.
As you can see, I don’t have a lot of photos from the museum. Photos aren’t allowed (which I totally understand) but even if they were, the collection is limited and somewhat underwhelming, not at all representing an artist who’s been working for over seventy years.
We head back on the train filled with people tired just like us.
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