For The Love of Travel

It was an 8am start to make sure I could make Tokyo by 16.00 to hand over the car. Leaving myself ample time for whatever exigencies arose of course. A few kms down the road, an interesting road sign that didn’t make sense to me…why was a fish talking to me about an earthquake?

Drove through the Keihin Industrial Zone. The heart of the zone is the Kawasaki and Yokohama harbour area, a large industrial belt along the northwestern shore of Tokyo Bay! Never seen quite as much heavy metal concentration as there – shipbuilding and the production of chemicals, machinery, primary metals, petroleum products, automobiles, and fabricated metal goods. Kilometres of it, looking exactly like this pic:

I saw a strange structure with sail-like towers in the middle of Tokyo Bay. Its called the ‘Tower of Wind’, a ventilation shaft supplying air to the tunnel section of the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line, a bridge-tunnel combination that crosses Tokyo Bay. It consists of two bridges at either end, connected by a six-mile-long tunnel underneath the bay. The tunnel currently ranks as the fourth-longest underwater tunnel in the world, and the longest undersea tunnel for cars (the three longer tunnels all carry trains).

The Tower of Wind sits above the midpoint of the tunnel, which lies about 131 feet below the surface. Designed by the acclaimed Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Toyo Ito, the two elegant towers look like domes from some angles and wind-filled sails from others. Each tower captures the almost constant winds that blow across the bay, supplying the tunnel below with fresh air.

Just one venue visit today, the Hoki Museum of Art in Chiba City, which opened in 2010 as a rare art museum in the world, specialising in ‘Realistic’ paintings, collected by the late Masao Hoki, founder of a major medical supply company. It currently boasts 480 works by some 60 artists – nearly all Japanese and nearly all oil painters (the one outlier works in tempera). An added attraction was the museum itself, a prize-winning structure with a reputation as an architectural marvel. Consisting of several long, gently curving, overlapping tubes over 500m, it resembles a double helix resting on its side. Though it has three stories, two are on or below ground level, while the top cantilevered section thrusts dramatically out into empty space. It’s a stunning sight, particularly when viewed from the lush green Showa Forest, Chiba City’s largest park. The paintings inside, are lit by arrays of LEDs at varying wavelengths embedded in the ceiling, and the walls are free of rails. It’s one of the nicest museum interiors I’ve ever seen.

Emi Hiroto was one of my fave exhibition artists and his ‘My Baby Blue’ looked like a photo…extraordinary to see up close, the teeniest tiny brush strokes that create the image!

In Fumihiko Gomi’s ‘Still Life with Lemon’, a partially peeled lemon, a pear, and a chunk of French bread glow against a black background.

Masayuki Hara’s ‘Sheep Pastures in Hartsop’ (English Lake District), is a beautiful rich landscape image.

Driving into Tokyo, which was surprisingly easy, this image made me laugh…an ‘elderly freedom ride on the freeway’ …..later discovered its a very stable 3 wheel delivery scooter, they are everywhere!!

Handed over my ‘Roomy’ (Nissan cube car), back to Hertz after doing 4,500 kms over 3 weeks through Honshu and Hokkaido islands. $500 AUS paid in toll fees!

I’m celebrating with a tiny glass of premium sake. It’s made from gently polished and carefully selected Yamada Nishiki rice from the Akita Prefecture, and carefully grown under a thorough temperature control. With a slightly buttery flavour and mellow taste, it goes well with dishes such as soup and white fish.

Had a great night’s sleep @ the Chisun Inn Yokohama and woke refreshed, ready for the day’s new discoveries.

Good morning Yokohama! A population of 4 million, a seaport that opened to foreign trade in 1859, with many Chinese immigrants arriving and forming settlements – there is now a a large Chinatown. I like the feel of this city, lots of greenery, interesting streetscapes, water views and it has a cosmopolitan feel.

Drove into the downtown area to reconnoitre pic locations for a night skyline I’d previously researched…and had my first experience of multiple conjoined freeway loops taking you in very different directions, so if you get the ‘dismount’ instruction wrong….well…you are in trouble 🙂 Thankfully, I managed. Augurs well for Tokyo!

I had 5 spots picked and none of them had any parking areas where you could jump out, take your shot, and depart. There is a Japanese custom that only a handful of people seem to use, of just parking your car wherever, putting on the hazard lights, doing what you need to do and coming back to go on again. Very risky strategy in the areas I was choosing to take pics in….too busy. Also, my hotel is 40 mins away from these spots, so too expensive to taxi/Uber it. So I decided to just forego the drama and select a few images (that I would like to have taken) from others on the web, to share on my blog.

Took myself off for a couple of hours of walking in the Sankei-en (Three Creeks) garden. Wowser, apart from the Moss Garden in Kyoto, my next favourite! And some sunshine to boot. Yay. Sankei-en was designed and built by Tomitaro Hara (1868–1939), known by the pseudonym Sankei Hara, who was a silk trader. It opened in 1906, with 43 acres of ponds, streams, and very nice walking paths. Japanese-style architecture relocated from Kyoto and Kamakura is scattered throughout a gorgeously neat garden, producing a scene as beautiful as a Japanese painting. And I had the privilege of capturing some lovely wedding pic moments as well.

It started raining about 10 minutes after I started driving. Mountains I was passing swirled with fog. I thought museums first today and lets hope the weather improves in the arvo – as it happens, GREAT thinking and plan by me!! 🙂

The POLA group, a skin care and beauty products company, opened the POLA Museum of Art in 2002 to display the extensive private art collection of the company’s late owner, Suzuki Tsuneshi. The museum was built amid a forest of 300 year old beech trees in Hakone, and although constructed of concrete and glass, it is designed so as not to disrupt the natural environment that surrounds it. To achieve this, the majority of the building is located underground.

The museum features modern and contemporary paintings, sculptures, ceramics and glassware by mostly Japanese and European artists. Saw a lovely exhibition today “Modern Times in Paris 1925: Art and Design in the Machine Age”. In addition, some art I really liked – (1) Sonia Delaunay co-founded the Orphism art movement noted for its strong colours and geometric shapes; (2) Guerlain perfume bottle 1920’s; (3) Raoul Dufy’s ‘Paris’ in 1935; (4) Sugiyama Yasushi’s ‘Sharpness’ in 1973; (5) Mounir Fatmi’s ‘Modern Times: A History of the Machine’.

While in the area, had to visit the Hakone Venetian Glass Museum, Japan’s first art museum specializing in Venetian glass, and exhibits works from the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries and also modern pieces. (1) Compote with 2 sea horses 19thC; (2) Miniature of furniture in millefiori glass 19thC.

Noticed a special exhibit of some of Dale Chihuly’s works – so gorgeous!!

On my way to see Mt Fuji, at Lake Kawaguchi, I saw this incredible row of cherry trees in Gotemba, and driving towards them, found the Higashiyamako Fishing Area. Well, what a sight, a pond surrounded with glorious cherry blossoms. Quite a few fishing persons there, enjoying the hanami.

My first sighting of Mt Fuji was when exiting from the freeway…looming impressively but shrouded in fog, concealing its upper cone.

When I arrived in Kawaguchiko, the town, was spilling over with slightly crazy tourists…doing really silly things, like dashing across the road at the last minute to greet a friend, never mind traffic. The cable car entry area was worse…people wanting to get best in queue, as it snakes a fair way down the hill and around the corner. Crowds are epic. Kept on driving until I found a quiet part on Lake Kawaguchi where I could pull over and stretch the legs, take some pics. Fog completely gone, sun is shining…yay! And some cherry trees to do some arty farty shots.

Fabulous day of art and nature!