For The Love of Travel

My first adventure today was visiting the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, the former home of Prince Yasuhiko, of the Asaka branch of the Imperial family. He and his partner, Princess Nobuko spent time in France during the mid 1920’s, the golden age of Art Deco. They were inspired to incorporate its glories into their new residence, commissioning the French artist Henri Rapin, who worked with the Japanese craftsmen and the architect Gondo Yokichi in realising their dream.

I was quite taken with this lion, one of a pair guarding the premises.

Four female figures welcome guests with their elegantly out stretched wings…..these glass relief doors by Rene Lalique have adorned the entrance since the buildings completion. Satine, like silk, is Lalique’s term for a treatment he used of frosting the surface of the glass. This matte finish allows light from the inside to glow softly through the doors.

Henri Rapin painted the murals himself in the Salon; the etched glass doors are by Max Ingrand -its a good example of different artists assert their individual aesthetic yet harmonising together, making the room feel like a single work of art.

The wall coverings in the Small Drawing Room are large oil paintings by Henri Rapin, surrounding the space with forest scenery. You can almost hear the sound of the waterfall.

Henri Rapin was also responsible for decorating the Prince’s Study – the arrangement of the display shelves and pillars in the corners, makes this square room appear round. the use of indirect lighting on the domed white plaster ceiling draws attention to the centre of the space. Rapin also designed the desk, chairs, telephone stand, and carpet.

Princess Nobuko worked diligently with French designers on the construction of the new residence. She had studied watercolour painting in France and oil painting after coming back to Japan and had a good knowledge of art. The radiator registers throughout the house are based on her design sketches of combining flowers and latticework.

Different wood materials were selected for use in the interior, with intended usage being specified, the type and part of the tree to be used, the hue of the lumber and the manner of preparation. Loved this stairwell.

There’s a large lawn area directly in front of the residence, and an extensive set of gardens to the side – with Japanese and European sections and a teahouse.

Next stop, the Sanyodo Book Store – described as a cozy, funky bookshop established in 1891, featuring an outdoor mural and an upstairs exhibition space, in a funky area of Shibuya, Omotesando. When I arrived, there was no mural on the side of the building (arrh!); upstairs was being renovated and the book shop itself, well, a bit meh! So decided to keep on walking down the street, and saw a huge queue forming…….

I discovered it was was the equivalent of Melbourne’s fascination with ‘Lune’ products, in Shibuya it’s for 8 little offerings from the ‘I’m donut’ chain….they are crispy on the outside (deep fried at high temperature) but melty inside. Apparently donuts are having their fifth boom of popularity in Japan since the treat became widely eaten in the 1970’s.

A delightful little pet supply store, Forest Tokyo, on one of the side roads I ambled down, and a willing model appeared for me just in time… 🙂

Lastly, a ‘hanko’ (name seal) purchase. A hanko is used as a signature in both formal and informal situations. and accepted as more secure than a signature, since it is believed they cannot be forged. There are 3 different types – for signing a contract (jitsu-in), for financial transactions (ginko-in) or your regular everyday on (mitome-in), the latter being the subject of the purchase. Well it was quite a process. So interesting.

There are different character forms – Kanji, Katakana and Hiragana that can be used. With my new Japanese friend Sano, we looked at the origin of a couple of western names (people I was buying for) and found Kanji, Katakana or Hiragana characters that are similar in meaning. We also tried to pronounce the western names as close as possible to Japanese, and associated characters. Then chose the seal material and lastly the ink paste. Wow. Needless to say, a lot of Google Translating!

With a 700m long tunnel of cherry trees, the Edo Castle’s Chidorigafuchi moat pathway is spectacular in Spring…and just a very pleasant view, when you arrive when the blossoms have almost disappeared 🙂

To capitalise on the great weather, made my way to ‘Scramble Crossing’ in the Shibuya district, widely regarded as the busiest pedestrian crossing globally, with 2.4 million people crossing the intersection daily, an average of up to 2,500 people per crossing.  Pedestrians are allowed to cross in all directions, including diagonally, once the traffic lights halt vehicles in all directions. It took me an hour to find the photo access point in the ginormous Shibuya station for this shot below (grrr, what a disappointment, hatched film on window! why??) and then from the opposite building (look at the red N, then take the eyes up to the platform encased in glass)…

Then off I went to explore an art village area in Shibuya I’d read about, and specifically the ‘Design Festa Gallery Harajuku’, an exhibition space for local artists with a bar and restaurant attached. These are a couple of interesting murals I loved from there.

Shibuya, whether by day or night, always give you something to look at, talk about, experience! Like Godzilla, staring down at you….prefer the night image taken with more foreground (off the web), but it was a giggle during the day too (had to come in closer to take the shot because of the delivery vehicles unloading).

Tokyo Skytree, opened in 2018 as the world’s tallest tower @ 634m, and beckoned me from my hotel…just a couple of kms away… I see its illumination every night. Quite magical. On the day of my timed 10 am visit, it was very grey to start, but perked up by the time I got to the Tembo Deck on the 350th floor. Quite a journey to get to that point…firstly to find the entrance at the base; then you queue to exchange your online ticket purchase for a physical ticket identifying if you are going to both the 450 and 350 floors; then queue to get to the lifts to take you up; you are segmented numbers-wise for each lift quantity; you enter your lift….and suddenly you are soaring…..whoa! Looked for Mt Fuji, shrouded of course! You get a 360 degree view of the world’s largest city, with an amazing population density, the incredible megapolis – 40.8 million in the City and surrounding metropolitan areas/prefectures. Coming out after experiencing the dizzy heights, loved this sibling interaction…check out the little guy’s product-filled, slicked back hair! And both, impeccable in manner and dress.

I experienced a new thing in Tokyo tonight, an ambulance vehicle trying to move through traffic, having turned on its sirens, then using a loud speaker to communicate their intended movements to help them orchestrate passage! Like… ‘ we’re passing through the red lights, so please wait a moment’. Apparently some pedestrians refuse to stop walking across crossings, even though an emergency vehicle is requesting to pass. Wowsers! Aussie emergency services’ slightly more ‘robust’ response style might be a learning for Japanese crews.

Made my booking for the Narita Express this morning, for next Sun @ 15.00, to travel to the airport for my flight home. Blimey, glad I got online, seats are getting snapped up. Went to Tokyo station to download my ticket (you need a physical ticket! to hand to conductor) and sussed out where in the vast complex, you go to catch this particular train. All good and prepared for Sunday.

First visit, the Midtown Yaesu building with its public sculpture, ‘the Shining Star’ by Tokujin Yoshioka, who created the piece, wishing for peace. It’s made of 2,000 octagonal and mirrored stainless steel rods – when sunlight hits the sculpture, the beam bounces off, creating luminous light.

Then to teamLab Planets, a museum where you walk through water and a garden, where you become one with the flowers. People go barefoot and immerse themselves in the artworks – yes I was worried about the possible public health implications of walking through water with a few thousand today :), hope disinfectant was applied to that water!

The entrance was pretty speccy, first going down a darkish path with a blue leading light, turning the corner and whoa!….’Waterfall of Light Particles at the Top of an Incline’.

Walking down pathways that shimmer and shine, and where large balls bounce and change colour when you touch them…

I particularly liked ‘Floating in the the Falling Universe of Flowers’ immersive – the cycle of birth and death continues – flowers grow, bud, bloom, wither, die.

An impressive immersive, sensory experience over an hour.