Wednesday, October 1, 2008

People watching and origami

Absolutely exhausted having walked and walked and walked today.... but what a great day. It was marked by the fact it didn't rain and we hadn't taken umbrellas so a little bit lighter load.
Looking back over the photos I took there is an emphasis on people watching and kids in particular. Walking from the station to the Ceramic exhibition at Matsuoka Museum (near Meguro station- again) we spotted this group of children from the local day care being taken to the shop on the corner it would seem. The "cart" was parked up against the wall while the carers swapped who was walking and who was being perambulated. The ones in the "cart" near the metal wall were having a great time beating out their our music on the wall.
The museum was truly a treasure trove with some wonderful sculpture by Henry Moore- seems to be making an appearance in every city I visit. No mean feat given the size of the scultures and the distance from England! The main reason we were there was to see the ceramic exhibition which was from the 1600's, beautiful Kokutani ware- the colours and detail on the bowls and jars were glorious. We strolled through other parts of the museum where there were some beautiful scrolls and screens from similar if older periods of history. The main entrance to the museum is a work of art in itself so it was a lovely start to the day.
We booked tomorrow night's venue for the birthday celebration and after a lunch of fabulous tonkatsu we headed for Myinichikan- the School of free spirit the buildings of which were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1921 and remains today fully restored in a side street not far from Ikebukero station. Unfortunately the upper hall was in use (I guess they need to make their money somehow) so we had to content ourselves with looking through the classrooms of which there were about 5 or 6 in this junior/high school for girls. The building has all the simplicity and style that is so distinctly Frank Lloyd Wright's work (I was tempted to write oeuvre here but wasn't sure if it was the right word and tense!). We had a cup of tea and biscuits in the main hall- lovely biscuits and cup of tea and cheap at twice the price compared with yesterday's fiasco of $6 for a cup of iced tea!
To get to the restaurant for tomorrow night we went past an exhibit of origami and in the middle of the square people were taking advantage of the seats and the fine weather (no sun but no rain) and eating their lunch in the open. Mothers were feeding their young children- it was like watching birds feeding their young in their nests. No soggy sandwiches for these kids- meals of rice cakes and other dishes that required spoons and chopsticks.















On the toilet critique front a couple of today's experiences were squat variety (which I avoided) and another one had the necessary noise maker to camouflage the undesirable/ embarrassing sounds that may be emitted.

2 comments:

Barb said...

Thanks Celia for my escape around the world today. You should write a book. Your writing is captivating.

I loved the Frank Lloyd Wright. I just saw him on an old old What's My Line. I love his style. there are many of his buildings in Lakeland, Florida which I hope to be able to see soon.

Thanks again for sharing with us.

Anke said...

This is totally amazing. How did you wind up in Japan now, what am I missing here? Your pictures are fabulous and you are quite the adventurer! I am so glad you are back on line, you have the coolest stuff to talk about

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