A FEELING OF THE SEASON
SEPTEMBER 2024
Sept. 26: I spent a lovely day yesterday wandering the streets of Kiyosumi Shiramawa to visit the Contemporary Art Museum Tokyo, Kiyosumi Shirakawa Garden, and a coffee break at a riverside restaurant.
Many tourists are more likely to go to the more popular places like Asakusa, Ueno, and Akihabara. Kiyosumi Shirakawa is a hidden, less touristy town. Kiyosumi-Shikawa is well known for Blue Bottle coffee and Fukagawa Shiryokan for history lovers.
"Takahashi Ryutaro Collection" at the Modern Art Museum is a must-see exhibition for a contemporary art lover. Kiyosumi Shirakawa Garden is a Japanese landscape garden, originally used by feudal lords, but later it was owned by Iwasaki Yataro, the founder of Mitsubishi Group. It's a beautiful garden and the perfect place to stroll on a sunny day.
For lunch, I'd recommend a riverside restaurant. It's on the 2nd floor, the 1st floor is a lobby and the 3rd floor is The Share Hotels. It's a nice place overlooking the Sumida River.
7 Sept 19: I bought a small painting "Sparkling 7" by Shihoko, depicting a face with a big nose. I have a series of her "face" works hanging on the wall. Each conveys a myriad of emotions through the face.
Sept.7-8: The Togoshi Ginza Annual Grand Festival was going on in the Togoshi Ginza Shopping Street from September 7-8. Autumn is when the hot summer is over, typhoons have passed and the weather is pleasant.
I bumped into the Mikoshi proceedings in the long shopping street. The festival was in full swing in the late afternoon. I pushed my way through a mass of spectators from everywhere to go to the shoe store to buy a sneaker, hearing the sound of drums beating and a cheer given while carrying a portable shrine in a parade.
It was fun watching the parade feeling the arrival of autumn.
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Sept.3: Cloudy, rain later
I went to the Tokyo National Museum to see "Wang Yancheng's World – Contemporary Art" at the Hyokei-kan. Wang Yancheng is an internationally acclaimed artist known as "one of the Franco-Chinese representatives of lyrical abstraction". It was my first time seeing his artwork, and I was amazed. I was fascinated by the energy and vivid expression combined with delicate finesse, sensitivity, and movement inherited from calligraphy, all within an abstract Western style. It's worth a visit!
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Tokyo National Museum, HYOKEIKAN
"Wang Yancheng's World – Contemporary Art"
Sat. August 10 ~ Monday, September 9, 2024
Aug
"SHOKADO-9" at Hyatt House Tokyo Shibuya
Sparkling 7
Onigiri at "7 Musubi", Jiyugaoka
Togoshi Ginza Grand Fesitval
INSHO-TEI, Ueno
HANAKAGO dish~Yuki
Tofu/Yuba(Soy milk skin)/Sashimi Konjac/Okura/Omelette/Herring/Taro root/Wheat seitan(Gluten) with sweet miso paste/Chicken and dried mango pate/Red Konjac/Pumpkin/Eggplant/Shiitake/Crab pate/Shrimp simmered in sake/Pickles/Vinegared lotus root/Steamed egg custard with sesame tofu inside/Soybean rice and Miso soup
JPY2,300.-
