Goodbye Tokyo

Last night (Sunday night) our group of 14 (13 Americans and 1 guide) had a group dinner to say farewell to Tokyo. I hesitate to bore you with food photos, but here it is anyway. By the time we leave Japan I hope to eat rice with chopsticks and get more of it in my mouth and less of it on my shirt. I can pick up little things pretty well. It's the bigger, heavier stuff that slips out of control.

Tokyo Sunday 2

Today, Sunday, our group took a chartered bus to a shrine, a temple, a war memorial, and to Ginza, the upscale shopping area of Tokyo. Our guide designated the lion statue in front of the department store Mitsubishi as our place to meet after some "free time" in which we could explore the area. We went inside the store to look around and when we got back outside the scene below was happening. I looked around but no one seemed to be watching the rabbit or concerned about it. After a few minutes we walked down the street to look around. When we returned to meet the group for lunch, the rabbit was gone.

On Sunday, some of the main streets in Ginza are closed to traffic so pedestrians can move about freely. That's Robin way back there in the middle of the street, wearing an orange scarf around her neck.

Since the streets are blocked off, it was a good time for either a wedding or a wedding fashion photo shoot. I couldn't tell which was happening, but several photographers were on each side of the couple shoot photos & video.

After wandering around the Ginza neighborhood, we all met at a great restaurant that specializes in a dish called Shabu Shabu. You pick up very thinly sliced pieces of raw beef and pork, then dip it into a boiling pot of broth for about 20 seconds to cook it. Very dericious.

We made a quick visit to the grounds of the Imperial Palace, home of the Emperor. The Palace grounds are immense, surrounded by two moats and including a dense forest. We couldn't get close enough to see much other than this statue which depicts a Shogun warrior who died in a battle, fighting for the Emperor. It's considered on of the three best/most famous statues in Japan.

Tomorrow, Monday, we leave Tokyo and head towards our next destination, Hakone. On the way we're supposed to go half way up Mt. Fuji, but the weather forecast calls for rain so we may not be able to see it. 

Sunday in Tokyo

People who want to offer prayers at the Asakusa Kannon Temple file into the temple beneath a giant lantern.

In front of the main temple people gather around a big pot of smoking incense and fan the smoke toward themselves for good luck.

The entrance to the Yasukuni Shrine, where 250,000 spirits from several wars have been enshrined. The giant gate at the entrance (in the background) is found at every Shinto Shrine (although usually much smaller). It represents the border between our world and the spirit world. You should always pass through the gate on the left side or the right side, not the middle, because that space is reserved for the spirits. Or God. Or someone with a similar skill set.

Also, before you pass through the Shinto gate, you should purify yourself here by washing your left hand, then your right hand, then your mouth, holding the cup in a certain way, then draining the water out of the cup in a certain way that washes the handle. Our guide prefers to pretend she put some water in her mouth. The Shinto religion is super flexible.

Another view of the burning incense pot in the Temple courtyard.

More Saturday Tokyo Photos

These are more photos from yesterday (Saturday) when we visited the Fish Market and the Kabuki Theater. Today is Sunday (more on that in the next posting). 

Saturday evening some of us had dinner at a restaurant in one of the two malls that are located within a block or two of our hotel. Very nice upscale Tokyo stuff, although not as upscale as the Ginza district which we visited earlier this week and again today.

This is a Shinto shrine located just outside the Kabuki Theater. It's a special shrine that's dedicated to a successful Kabuki performance. Because it's a Shinto shrine, the devotee approaches the shrine, claps his hands twice (to get the attention of the spirits), then, in his mind, says his name and then his "wish." Sounds as effective as anything else I can think of.

Subway signs: "Do not Rush" (above) or "Do Rush" (below). Come on, make up your mind.

Robin and Elizabeth check out some of the vendors on one of the side streets of the Fish Market.

While at the Fish Market we enjoyed a sushi tasting at one of the popular restaurants in the area. Our guide Ayana made reservations so we avoided the very long line of sushi lovers trying to get in. A couple of our group sat here, but the rest of us were in a private room on the third floor, sitting on the floor. Great sushi. 

Kabuki

Guide Ayano gets instructions from one of the Kabuki Theater staff guys. The word Kabuki is made of three words that mean Singing, Dancing, and Acting. To get tickets you have "rine up" an hour and a half early. All of the actors are men. The stage was huge, 3 or 4 times wider than most stages. You can watch an all-day performance of various scenes from various Kabuki plays for $300. Or you can watch one scene from the 4th floor balcony for $6. We chose the $6 option, which, for our chosen time-slot was a famous 15 minute scene of "acrobatic rice dumpling making". If you're thinking "WTF?" you're on the right track. I was there and that's exactly what I'm thinking. It seems that the word "acrobatic" in this case means shuffling around in slow motion and hitting a glob of rice with a wooden sledge hammer, in slow motion. Every once in a while an actor would cock their head slightly, or move their wrist just enough to make their fan move. This would bring shouts of excitement from some members of the audience that sounded like maybe they were shouting "Bravo" or maybe the actor's name. It was a very interesting experience.

End of Line guy.

A beautiful Kabuki poster in the subway.

A Kabuki puppet on display in a subway station.

Front of the Kabuki Theater

Catching Up

I didn't realize that some of my blogs were getting posted to a wrong address. I'll try to do better in the future, but I can only say that you missed some real Pulitzer-Prize-calibre stuff. Unfortunately, I'm now back into the mundane-mediocre writing style that is sort of my trademark. I also haven't had time to sketch, but I'm told our next location, Kyoto, will be good for that. By the way, have you ever noticed that Kyoto (the ancient capital) and Tokyo (the new capital, which used to be named Edo) have exactly the same letters in the name? Also, the two syllables are two words in opposite order. TO means "east." KYO means "capital." (East Capital). If you switch the order of the two words (Kyoto), it means "Capital Large City." Yeah, I don't get it either.

The view from the window next to the elevator on the 16th floor of the hotel. You can go to the observation deck of the tower (SkyTree), but you have to stand in a long "rine" for tickets, so we haven't taken the time to "rine up" yet.

Our guide, Ayano, explains how Matthew Perry brought his black sheeps (ships) to Japan and, in effect, opened up Japan to the world. The two paintings on the right are portraits of Perry, based on verbal descriptions of him. Perry's arrival caused "big problem" in Japan because the Emperor and the people were in favor of being more open, but the Shogun and Samurai class knew their power would be usurped. Ergo, wars between the Emperor and the Shogun. The bullet hole on the left is in the front wall of a temple, evidence of one of the battles that took place in Tokyo. The 15th and last Shogun died about seventy years ago.

The last Shogun's grave (and his family) is in a cemetery near here. The family crest on the gate represents Hollyhocks. Or maybe Horryhocks.

The back of Shogun warrior armor in the National Museum of Art. Nice knot work.

Robin and Ayano make detailed plans of train and subway connections in order for us to meet Lady Matsukata on the other side of Tokyo. Thanks to Ayano's great planning and Robin's subway/tube experience, we pulled it off like regular Tokyo-ites.

Lady Matsukata, Elizabeth, & Robin admire handmade belts that are specifically to wrap around an obi, the material that wraps around the waist of a kimono. These belts are passed down in families to younger generations. Or at least they can be if they are high quality like these. This is a very famous shop and has been here for 340 years, although remodeled recently. In the future, I will make sure that I buy all of my Obi belts here.

If you're lucky you might catch a sighting of a beautiful young American on the subway.

Most subway sightings look more like this.

Or like this.

Robin admires a Rodin, seconds before a panic-stricken security guard rushed up and saved the sculpture. Lady Matsukata's grandfather was friends with Rodin and was instrumental in getting this and much more art to Tokyo. His collection is in a separate wing of the National Museum of Western Art.

Getting around Tokyo is easy. Just check the map in the station

I came really close to buying an Apple Watch while in the Apple Store. Fortunately, our friend Elizabeth wanted to buy a new iPad and that distracted me. 

A Tokyo cityscape by Robin. A cold, damp, and chilly night. I assume she shot this from our hotel room window. Either that or she spent a lot of money on a Selfie-Stick Pro.

Other Side of Tokyo

Friday morning. Our guide helped us plan our day of wandering around Tokyo on our own via train, subway, and taxi. Our new friend, Lady Matsukata ( a famous family according to our guide ) will meet us for lunch in the Ginza area of Tokyo. 

Details soon. 

Tokyo Arrival

Pal Elizabeth and Robin in the 82 British Pub located in our hotel. After landing at Narita Airport an airport bus took us on a 2 hour 40 mile drive into a big bus terminal in Tokyo where we hailed a cab to take us to our hotel. 

We'll be here for four nights before the other members of our group get here and continue on to other parts of Japan.

 

Comanches, Butterfingers, and Japan

Another blog to test posting a blog from my iPhone. 

Hey wait! That's not Empire of the Sun! Oh well, close enough. Where did that candy bar come from? I never eat junk. And if I do it's never on the way to Tokyo. 

The weirdness begins and we're not off the ground yet. 

Japan and Exposed

This sketch has nothing to do with our trip to Japan that we embark upon later today, but I needed something to put on this initial Japan blog, so I decided that I would show what a professional designer sketch for an art exhibit catalog looks like.

On June 17th, the Tuesday Night Drawing Group (at Argos Studio & Gallery)  that I attend is having their 3rd annual exhibit of drawings that were done on Tuesday nights. Lots of great drawings will be on the wall, although you can't really expect them to all be masterpieces like this.

This is just the first idea, so it will probably change. I don't really like the font I used here.

Enough chatter. Gotta pack. Just making sure I remember how to blog.

Abrazos! 

London Morning & Coffee

London Morning & Coffee
28" x 24"
Digital print on paper

While sipping a latte in a London coffee shop, I noticed a group of three young women at a nearby table. “Aha! Inspiration for a painting!” I thought to myself. Several years later I've finally gotten around to creating an image based on that morning.

Train From Kew

While in London, several years ago, Robin and I took a train to Kew, to the Royal Botanic Gardens. On the return trip to London, I was fascinated with the contrast between two women across the aisle. One was young, beautiful, stylishly groomed and dressed. The other was elderly and casually dressed. I thought they might be mother and daughter, but they never spoke. The younger woman seemed to be lost in distant thoughts and never looked away from the window. The older woman was totally absorbed in the daily tabloid and never looked up from it. I wondered how many years ago the older woman was the beauty in the window, and how someday the beautiful young woman would be the elderly one reading the daily tabloid, dressed for comfort instead of style.
They both probably wondered why the creepy old guy across the aisle was staring at them.

Two Women on a Train from Kew
Digital print on paper
20" x 23"

Detail

Conversation

Conversation in a Noisy Place
Digital print on aluminum
22" x 28"

Based on a drawing done during a fundraiser drawing event for CCA, Center for Contemporary Art in Santa Fe, NM. 

Two groups of 25 artists each took turns drawing for one hour while attendees roamed around and watched the drawing. I did four drawings during the hour. Later, during the second group’s hour of drawing, I tried to have a conversation with a friend who was waiting in line for a Tarot card reading,  but the background noise and music were so loud that I couldn’t hear what she was saying.  Something about quitting her job, I think.

Cool Shades

Cool Shades
Charcoal on newsprint

Props

Leather Jacket 

In a departure from the usual posing, we asked the model to use any items she had with her as props.  She did an amazing job of improvisation that made the poses seem both classical and contemporary.

Lipstick

Lipstick
Color version, detail

Shoulder Bag

Boots & Books

Boots & Books

A current project involves creating promotional materials for a new 501c3 non-profit organization, the International Shakespeare Center, Santa Fe (ISC).

One of the goals of ISC is to promote the study and appreciation of the Shakespearean works through reading groups, professional performance, and professional training.

The photos are meant to show a juxtaposition of Shakespearean imagery and iconic Santa Fe imagery. So far I've photographed a cowboy in a Canyon Road art gallery (including Shakespearean props) and a cowgirl, Denise, at her hacienda in Galisteo, a small village south of Santa Fe. Other shoots are planned at a historic, iconic Santa Fe house and at Los Golondrinas, a living museum ranch that was the last overnight stop for wagon trains from Mexico City before reaching Santa Fe.

The image above is a sepia version of one of many shots from the Galisteo photo session. Most of the Galisteo photos feature both Denise and her beloved horse, Sapphire.

A Cowgirl’s Passions
Denise & Sapphire in their Galisteo stable