Like so many others, I love Haruki Murakami’s writing. One of his books I read this year was The Wind Up Bird Chronicles (1997) . Murakami has this way of drawing the reader in – and before you know it, you’re 93 pages into his characters’ lives. He describes simple things – a man boiling…
Category: Travel
japan – day 27
The Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo is an amazing space. A huge structure of metal and glass – it’s beautifully bright and airy on the inside. I’d like to share some of the pieces I saw which resonated with me. From the MOT Collection, “Walking, Traveling, Moving―From the Great Kanto Earthquake to the Present”….
japan – day 26
This time around, we’re staying in a Muji Hotel in Tokyo. Muji started as a simple brand. According to my friend, Mujirushi means “no brand”. It initially started as a way to offer products to customers at affordable prices. Over the years, the “no brand” brand became just that. A brand. And now there’s Muji…
japan – day 25
Our Airbnb in Takamatsu is not within walking distance to any restaurant or supermarket. We drive to a supermarket about 6 miles away and buy whatever pre-cooked food we could find. Nothing is printed in English so we wander around with the aid of Google Translate trying to figure out what was in each package….
japan – day 24
Today we travel from Naoshima to Takamatsu (on the mainland). The Noguchi Museum is here and since we both admire his work, it made sense to visit it. The museum isn’t really a museum per se. It’s a series of buildings consisting of Noguchi’s workspace (a big outdoor “studio” where he sculpted in stone), his…
japan – day 23
On Naoshima art installation sites are all around the island. There is also a treasure hunt. We get on a yellow polka-dotted bus just down the road from the yellow polka-dotted pumpkin. (Some busses have red polka-dots) All the busses are called Naoshima My Bus. The bus can take you around the island and the…
japan – day 22
Art, art … and more art (continued) I’ll tell you about our day visiting Benesse House Museum – a site designed by Tadao Ando. On a side note, we also visited the Ando Museum – a small but insightful window into his work. At the museum, we saw Ando’s drawings for the Benesse House Museum….
japan – day 21 (naoshima)
Art, art and more art I’ve been having a little trouble getting around. While I was in Kyoto, I may have inflamed a tendon (or something of that nature) so walking has become a real challenge. What a time for this to happen! Seeing Naoshima’s art installations was one of the things I looked forward…
japan – day 20 (okayama / naoshima)
Today starts off with a breakfast that is quite good but spirals in a few different directions. Let’s start at 12:00 on the plate : 12:00 – carrot roll + brioche roll 1:00 – French toast5:00 – French toast 6:00 – dashimaki (rolled omelette – dashi is mixed into the egg mixture before it’s cooked)6:35…
japan – day 19 (kyoto / okayama)
Today we leave Kyoto for Okayama. I’m very sad to leave Kyoto behind. It’s a lovely city with many things and places to discover. Two nights ago, I went to have one last meal at my favorite udon place – and for some reason, I got quite emotional about it. This little place was my…