Yaizu, Shizuoka, Japan.
A few minutes away from the station, there is a small river filled with enormous carp. On my day off, I spent some time watching them swim around and eat cherry blossom petals from the surface of the water.
Here in Japan, there is something called a Lucky Bag, which is sold around New Year’s. The draw of such bags is two fold. First there is the perceived value of getting a bag full of items worth more than the retail price. Second is the mystery aspect of what will be in the (often sealed) bag– although in recent years stores have been becoming much more transparent.
This year, I droped $50 on an instant Polaroid-type camera set. The set came with a camera (in either pink or yellow), a carry case, and a packet of film. I purchased a few extra packets on the side.
It’s nostalgic for me since I remember a time before even disposable or one-time-use cameras. Looking through the tiny viewfinder, which has a little circle to denote where to aim, brings back memories of borrowing my mom’s camera in middle school and walking into the woods with my uncles to take not-so-great photos.
The set included the rainbow border film, but I couldn’t resist the monochrome and classic white either.
After dinner, I figured I would try experimenting with said camera. I choose one of the plants in my indoor garden, to mixed results. On one hand, it doesn’t exactly match what I saw in the view finder and the plant is blurry as all get out. But on the other, the textured window came out real nice. I’m thinking pictures taken in well lit areas should be better and plan to hold the camera steady for a few seconds after shooting to see if that improves image quality. If nothing else, it should prove an interesting experiment.
There’s an interesting illumination display in the shopping center next to Kanayama station.
I’m not sure what the theme is per say, but I imagine that it might be fantasy or something similar.
Regardless, it’s rather unique and incredibly beautiful when lit up at night. In the day, it’s a bit…
Well, you judge for yourself.
Around Obu train station, there are metal rails with sparrow sized metal birds perched on top. I’ve been to the station at least half a dozen times but have only noticed them this morning.
I didn’t see any info about the pieces or about the person(s) that made them. Most people around the station didn’t seem to pay them any mind as well.
However, I thought they were absolutely adorable and had to take a few pictures before heading to my appointment.
At a major intersection in downtown Nagoya, someone has set up an intricate flower display.
A small garden shed like building was erected and surrounded by flowers of different kinds. There is even a little path from one end to the other if you wish to walk through.
Inside the shed, there are yet more flowers.
I had a one-day assignment in Tajimi yesterday and saw this while at the station. Tajimi, which is a city in Gifu Prefecture, is famous for its pottery and ceramics.
When I first saw this display, I simply thought that it was a pretty piece of ceramic but when I returned to the station to go home, I found it lit up and quite pretty.
After visiting the main building of the Furukawa Art Museum, a staff member who was bringing an item to the Annex building was kind enough to show me the way and chat a bit. She took me though a shortcut and introduced the building and explaining that there was an antiques exibit that I might be interested in. As someone who loves old architecture and the art deco period in particular, I was more than happy to check it out.
The house-turned-museum is absolutely breathtaking. But for me, the antiques on display were even more so. There were household items, like glassware and flatware, as well as jewlery and handbags.
The best part though was being able to speak to an antiques specialist, who explained the history of some of the items that I was particularly interested in.
The exibit called Esprit Antique, hosted by Hideko Kitamura, is running until 6/28 (Sun) and contains 85 pieces.
Today, on a whim, I visited the Furukawa Art Museum. I had been running errands at Nagoya Station when I caught sight of a flyer similar to the one above. Being a cat person, I googled the exibit, before deciding to go. It wasn’t too troublesome to find, though I did almost go the weong way, since I am not at all familiar with the area around Ikeshita station.
The current exibit is dedicated to animals and although the building itself isn’t overly large, there was plenty to look at. The real draw to the museum is that for the price of ¥1000, you get access to two interesting sites: the art museum and the annex.
At the annex, there was a different exibit of antique items. If this is something that interests you and you are in the Nagoya area, it’s only a few minutes walk from Ikeshita station on the Higashiyama line. However, please be aware that like most tourist or cultural places here, it’s closed on Mondays. Here is the site (Japanese) http://www.furukawa-museum.or.jp/
A while back I wrote about an art challenge that I issued to myself when Aichi first put the state of emergency into effect. That challenge was to produce one piece of art for every day I was home under the SoE. However, in that time I only completed five pieces before turning my attention elsewhere. I poted the first three in am earlier post and now am posting the final two.
Due to Coronavirus, many public events are on indefinite hiatus, including hanami. Hanami is a spring tradition of eating, drinking, and socializing under the cherry trees. It usually involves being packed into confined spaces with strangers and friends alike, so it’s a total no go these days.
That said, my local supermarket came up with a solution in the form of selling cherry blossom branches for ¥300 a pop. The idea is that you can view the blossom inside your own home with your family. Since it wasn’t so expensive and figuring why the hell not, I bought one– much to the confusion of many of the other shoppers.
However it seems that I missed the peak bloom for this particular branch as the few blossoms fell off rather quickly. But I’m not too upset as it’s still a nice pop of colour in my apartment. Plus it smells nice. ¥300 well spent.
