A FEELING OF THE SEASON
Haneda Airport
July 2022
July 24: Vegan food - Falafel
Do you know Falafel? Falafel is a deep-fried ball made from either chick peas or fava beans and spices. I think it is a food of the Middle East. It is a vegan or vegetarian food and very popular in London and other places in the world. It is crisp outside and tender inside with soft spicy flavor. Yoko and I had lunch to catch up in Hiroo on Friday.
We had Edamame falafel, beetroot hummus, black tahini sauce & pita pan and a cold curry flavored soup. JPY2,400. We were fascinated by its spicy delicious Middle Eastern Cuisine.
July 20: For the first time this summer, I heard a cicada calling from somewhere. The weather is unsettled these days, but summer in Japan is so hot and humid that you feel like you’re going crazy, on top of which a huge number of cicadas make noise at the same time. This conveys the sense of being in the height of summer.
Deep-fried horse mackerel (Aji Fry) is my favorite! 'AJI Fry' is available at any casual eatery or Izakaya, but not served at fancy restaurant. This is our home-cooking dish.
"Aji Fry" at SHINATORA TOYOSU
July 13: The Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported 11,511 (up 6,209 wow) new cases of the coronavirus on July 12. Japan caught in 7th COVID wave.
The major causes of the resurgence include the BA.5 subvariant of the Omicron variant which seems to be accelerating the infection, immune compromise due to the time passed since people received the last shots and more active social activities.
Summer holidays is from July 21 thru August 31. I hope children are having a good time during this difficult time!
July 9:
Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated by a gunman during a campaign speech ahead of the upper house election scheduled for Sunday.
We are shocked to know that Japan has lost a great leader and Mr. Abe was gunned down while campaigning. In Japan political violence and gun crimes are extremely rare and it is an unusual act of political violence.
We express heartfelt condolences on the death of Former Prime Minister Abe.
July 8: "Gerhard Richter"
Gerhard Richter is one of the most influential German painters. He has been highly acclaimed for his photo-based painting and experiments in abstraction. His first grand solo exhibition at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo features 122 works. It covers oil paintings, photographs, digital prints, glass and mirrors.
"Birkenau" consists of four enormous paintings matched with their photograph versions in exactly the same size and a large horizontal mirror work, "Grey Mirror". Although apparently abstract paintings, hidden underneath are layers of images that were coped from photographs taken by a prisoner at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
In abstract paintings, Richter used a large squeegee in order to smudge several thick layers of oil paint across canvas to create deeply textured mixes of color.
"Aladdin" is a series of glass paintings. He applied several colors of lacquer to a panel. I liked the color combination and smooth surface. "Aladdin" resonate with me most.
Don't miss the chance to see Japan premiere of Richter's most important recent work!
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The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
June 7 through October 2, 2022
10:00 ~ 17:00 (10:00 ~ 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays)
Closed on Mondays, except July 18 and September 19.
July 19,Tuesday and September 20, Tuesday.
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Gerhard Richter exhibition
Toyosu Market
We visited Toyosu Market (Tokyo Central Wholesale Market) after a long interval. The market building is divided into 4 areas, fish wholesale market, fish intermediary wholesale market, vegetable market and shops & restaurant. The restaurant area was quite crowded around noon with long ques to many restaurants.
I had sushi bowl (JPY3,300) at Iwasa Sushi. A variety of fresh fish on sushi rice was so fresh and tasty!
After lunch I went to the shop area, but most of them were closed.
