tokyo street art

On my one of usual modern art hunts I stumbled across an incredible street art gallery. The entire outside was tagged and the side was full of paintings and wall piecies. I bought 5 prints for 10 bucks (signed prints! The only deal i've gotten in this country so far). Here are some street are pics from the 5 days I was in Tokyo:

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BIG BUDDHA

Took a day trip to kamakura. Beautiful temples every where. I got to see the second largest Buddha in Japan. It is huge! I payed an extra 20 yen to go inside. The bronze heats up in the sun so it like an oven. I found a small modern art museum that the guide book neglected to mention, which is a shame because the exhibit was great. I spent 20'min watching these turtles beg for food outside one of the main temples. They were huge and super active. I think I liked them better than the temple.

graveyard

Went to the national museum. Turns out I'm not a huge fan ancient Japanese art. Aside from hundreds of cool Buddhas it was not my cup of tea. The park that surrounds it is incredible. A much less boring version of central park. I went looking for the emperors cemetery and ended up in a huge private one by mistake. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Every grave is like a mini monument. They all have tiny bonsai trees growing and people show their respect by watering the monuments. I knew I wasn't supposed to be there so I didn't take too many pictures out of respect. I spent a good hour wandering around in awe.

note: the skyline pictures were taken from the cemetery

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Tokyo can't block my shine!!!

I failed at getting to two of the three museums I wanted to go to today. One was closed to put up the next exhibit and one I missed by 30 minutes. It didn't matter though. I ended up in an amazing hotel/art/mall/ complex in Roppongi. It had two museaus in the complex! One had an increidble japnesse graphic desigm exihibit that I spent forever in. Lonely Planet says the hotel that is the complex gets 25 stars! I pretty sure I even saw a few movies stars walk by. I ate at a great little tapas place and drank over pitcher to my self (the waitress thought I was crazy for ordering so much). I just sat and ate great food and watched money walk by. My meal bill for dinner was almost $60, I guess I wanted to fit in with the rich folks. It was dark by the time I left and I wandered into a water/lazer/fake firework display??? You will have to watch the video to understand. Words can't explain water fireworks  (put on the big boi guchi song "shine blocka", that's what I was listening to). I couldn't wipe the smile from my face. I could live here.

crowd madness!!!

Went to Shibuya crossing. Madness!!!!! Total organized chaos as everyone crosses the street. I crossed like 10 times because it was so much fun. Everyone dresses like they are from some elite fashion magazine. I have never seen clothes like this in person before (only on project runway). I spent a half hour just trying to get pics of the sweet outfits but it was so crowded that most of them turned out pretty crappy. People watching heaven.

I also went to Harajuku where all of the cos play/goth/freak girls hang out. I didn't get to see very many off them (I was pretty disappointed) but I did get to walk on the most crowded street on the planet. PEOPLE WATCHING OVERLOAD! I walked through this wonderful mess twice. If I lived in Tokyo this would become a Saturday ritual.

sento

I did the public bath tonight! Easily the most relaxing thing I have ever done (also one of the most bizarre). Let me set the scene:

• everyone gets naked and scrubs themselves down (they lather up till they are all sudsy and white)
• most of the guys sit on little stools and use little 2 foot high showers (it looks hilarious, I was the only one who used a normal shower)
• you get into the water (which is either ice cold or burning hot)
• all the water is pumped so full of minerals that it looks like flat coca-cola
• one of the baths has electricity in the water!!! (you can feel it tingle when you turn the bubble jets on)
• they have a coy pond and a little water fall and people sit on little wood stools and stare at them while they are butt naked (it looked crazy at first but I tried it and found it very relaxing) who would have thought that fish and nudity would be a good combo???
• the girls do the same thing but they are on the other side of a big wall (you can hear them talking and laughing (the guys are pretty quiet)

I'm totally going back tomorrow night. I would have NO STRESS if we had this in Michigan.

second day in tokyo

I started my day with some noodle soup for breakfast. You can order your food by looking at a display of plastic food and then putting money in and choosing your meal. The ticket you get tells the cook what to make you. It is a great system. I went to the Ghibli museum. I have never been to anything quite like it. The animation they have is beautiful and the building is like a giant  playground. There are little doors that you can sneak through, a spiral staircase and a giant cat-car that kids can climb on. They show a film that can only been seen at the museum and the ticket is an actual piece of slide from the movie! The movie was so good I almost cried. Ghibli films have the same effect on me as pixar does (the turn me into a weepy baby). 

I spend the middle part of my day in Sinjunku. It was what Tokyo is like in the movies. Loud, busy, colorful and completely overwhelming. I played a few arcade games and went into an awesome toy store. I spent the rest of my afternoon and night hanging around the temple that is by the hostel. It has a ton of shops and restaurants around it, I should have gone and checked it out last night. I found the public bath that Lonely Planet mentions, but was scared I'd screw it up and chickened out (I assume you get naked and sit in hot water with a bunch of strangers, but if I'm wrong it could be pretty embarrassing). I am gonna talk to the people that run the hostel about proper etiquette in the morning so I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow. 

day one in tokyo

This is the smoothest travel has gone for me. No airline problems and no trouble getting to the hostel even though it is over an hour away from the airport. The hostel is adorable and the staff have already been very helpful. I am right by the subway and there is a building with a giant gold horn sticking out of it so it should be pretty hard to get lost (note: I still got lost). I can't read any of the street signs so I am gong to have to rely on landmarks and luck to get around. I got showered I made my way to super deluxe via the subway to see some experimental keyboard music. The club was a very cool modern space with trippy visuals projected on the walls. The music was great. Very spacey improv stuff that made my head swim (I also haven't slept in over a day and drank for 12 hours on the plane so that adds to the effect). I am sitting in my wood box loft getting ready for bed. It smells like college (feet and armpits). 

 

I'm off again on my annual summer adventure. Had literally zero wait at security...

I'm off again on my annual summer adventure. Had literally zero wait at security so I have almost three hours to kill. I'd rather have it this way the nightmare of lines dtw usually is. Have fun following the blog! I should be able to post daily. Only 18 more hours until Tokyo.

Sent from my iPod

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