International Project

International Project was a good chance to explore my neighborhood.

By using two ways of transportation, I was able to see the two different views.

1. Train- from Asakusa sta. to my house- : a train gives me faster trip. That gives me a chance to think of how close areas are connected. I could see the gradually changing views easily. To feel that is just like to listen to a music. The gradual change in my view is alike the gradual change in melody. If you just take a look at the score, you may not feel the music. But if someone plays the piano for you, you will feel the music better. If I just took a look at a map, I would not feel the place. But a train allows me to feel the place.
2. On Foot- from my house to Asakusa- : To take a long walk provides me a long quiet time. That enables me to take a close look at people living there or working there. There are many kinds of people: an old man sitting at a bus stop, a young woman working at a restaurant, a middle-aged man leading cars at a parking area, a little kid playing in the kindergarten, high-school boy working at a convenience store, mothers chatting at a coffee shop, an old woman hanging out the washing on the line to dry,....so many people! I could see where I live actually on the day.

As an artist.

This is my first time to see me as an artist.
What I felt before taking this course is that I was not an artist.
So, I have never thought I could be an artist.

The fact was not.
Having a chance to express or show his/her work to someone, anybody can be an artist.
You do not have to have career.
More like it is free.
I do not have any artistic career.

I am just an artist who has got a chance to exhibit my work and enjoy it.
I am just an artist who goes to an international university.
I am just an artist who tries to show somebody what is in the part of my life.
But, I became an artist in July 2007.

Field Trip to Azabu Jyu-ban

I walked around Azabu Jyu-ban sta.
It was a beautiful day between the end of spring and the beginning of summer.

The area right around the station is "Sho-ten gai," meaning shopping street.
There are many mom and pop's shop. Toy store, futon store, izakaya(bar), etc.
Between these shops, there are modern shops such as Mc Donald, Starbucks, Wendy's, TULLY's coffee, am pm, etc.
We can see the combination of traditional and modern at the same area.
We can see it not only among shops but also amog houses.
An old house stands right next to a very modern house.
The buildings next to each other are quite different. They really does not match.
However, this is what happens in subarban area in Japan.

There is one more kind of combination you can see there: nature and artificial.
In a certain area, we can see a park and temple surrounded by trees.
But, when you look up sky and turn right a little bit, you can see the soaring skyscrapers: Roppongi Hills.

This kind of way to construct neighborhood is very unique to Japan and it is pretty interesting, isn't it?

"Ashes and Snow" @ the Nomadic Museum

The exhibition "ashes and snow" is taken place at the Nomadic museum in Odaiba from March 11 to June 24.

The exhibition consists of photographic works, film, art installations and a novel in letters, and every one of them shows us nature and person/ people in it. They tells us about our relationship with nature including animals which live in there.

Gregory Colbert, the artist, has long worked with Japanese collaborators to create this series of work. The Nomadic Museum was designed by architect Shigeru Ban, the photographic works are printed on custom handmade washi paper, and cinematographer Koji Nakamura filmed many of the underwater scenes with elephants and whales in which Colbert appears.
"Ashes and Snow" is a work in progress. Over the past fifteen years Colbert has collaborated with more than forty species of animal around the world. (Tokyo Art Beat: http://www.tokyoartbeat.com/event/2007/C7CC)

In his film I sometimes confused which one is human and which is an animal. It is easy, when you see an elephant and a kid, to point out which is which. However, I felt some more humanities in animals such as an elephant embracing a sleeping child in his nose, or an chimpanzee kissing a lady's arm.

What's in my bag!?

In my bag, there are...
notepad- to take notes/ make comments during classes

pens- to be able to take notes anytime

glasses- to let me see the world

make-up stuff- which is essential to the social life in city

electronic dictionary- which is great assistant in any classes

wallet- to carry my opportunity to join in the society

cigerrette- to get relaxed

bottle of tea- to get refleshed and necessary especially when smoking and being in the place with strong air-conditioning

schedule book- to organize my life

papers for job hunting- to be able to research anytime I have some to look over

Nintendo DS- to have a little bit of joy during work

That's what stuff in my bag tells us!

Kanegafuchi sta.

Kanegafuchi is between Asakusa and Kitasenjyu.
That town is what's called "shitamachi."
Direct meaning of "shitamachi" is ''downtown," but it's not.
It is the town which keeps old traditions in the area.
A lot of 'mom & pop' shops.
People there know well with each other.
The relationships between people in the area are very tied.

In the evening, you can hear a lady talk to a butcher man, saying like "Hi, how are you? how's your son?" you also may see ladies or men in a sento(public bath) chat and chackle at gossips. At the dinner table, family talk like "Hey, listen. The man behind the liquor shop, you know? He did x, y, and z." In any time, people greets with each other in many places: on the road, in a supermarket, in front of his/her house, in a convenience stores, in a waiting room of a hospital... anywhere! Junior-high kids are together and taking a rest after their club activity. Moms are trying to persuade their children to stop playing and go home. Fish seller is asking with aloud voice, "Come on, come on! Today's tuna is owesome! No kidding! you have to get this!" High school girls are making up in a Mc Donald.

Everyday, same things happen.
This is the Kanegafuchi community I've grown up!
Yes!

Tokyo is filled with villages!?

I agree with Donald Richie who says that Tokyo is a collection of villages.
Village is a community in which certain size of group of people live.
In a village/community, there are a lot of places which maintain people's lives.
There are parks, schools, landries, pharmacies, greengroceries, sentos(public bath), bookstores, butchers, fish shops, barbershops, flower shops, restaurants, libraries, toy stores, and in the present day, pachinko parlors, coffee shops, supermarket, fast-food shops, convenience stores, and so forth.
Let's take a closer look at the areas in Tokyo.
A lot of areas in Tokyo apply to this model. Azabujyu-ban, for instance, has bakeries, toy store, supermarkets, family restaurants, gas stands, pharmacy, pachinko parlor, bookstores, ra-men shops, convenience stores, parks, offies, coffee shops, fast-food shops..... anything!

United States, that does not happen. Areas are demarked by the area's feature, such as class or race of people. This place is where to shop! This place is where to travel! This place is for artists! This place is for gays! This place is for wealthy families! ...stuff like that.

Because Japan is the island with 99% population of Japanese and they do not have so huge gap between rich and poor, the areas in Tokyo are very similar in most of places. Similar people have their similar community. They have common way of living, tradition. They go to a specific shop depending on what to get. Kids go to a local park to play with other kids. Old people go to sento(public bath) to chat with their friends. Moms go to coffee shop after they see off their children go to kindergarten or piano lessons. Those reasons help the village-like community survive or even develope without collapsion. He calls that condition, "natural order" which no town planner has touched.

According to Richie, impermanence is the natural state and transience is the quality of life. The concept on this development, pulling down and putting up, is very strong.
The villages in Tokyo have been constructed as it shold be.