kyoto modern art light/sound/brain destroyer

The modern art museum in Kyoto has this bizarre exhibit of interactive art. They had stuff you could climb on, a huge rotating stage, and this crazy head machine. It looks like a large tube with a bed and lights inside. While I was looking at it two cute Japanese girls asked me if I would try it. Of course I said yes. I had sign a bunch of wavers in Japanese. They put some electrodes on my head and big isolation headphones on me and laid me in the bed. You stair at the ceiling and they blast if with super bright colors and play water/forest sounds in your ears. It gets to be very overwhelming. It feels almost like you have left your body and are traveling through space. You completely forget that everyone in the gallery is staring at you. When it is over they show your results on monitors in the gallery. The machine was able to tell that red/magenta freaked me out and that green relaxed me (which is dead on, I though my head was gonna explode whenever red came on)

my results

I CLIMBED MT FUJI!!!!

Everyone wants to climb it at night so they can see the sun rise when they get to the top. Those people are stupid. The view as you go up during the day is stunning. It took me 8 hours to get up and down (which is pretty good, a lot of people take longer or don't finish at all). I cried like crazy when I got to the top. One of the most overwhelming moments of my life. My body is now dead. Every muscle I have is in pain. It was worth it though. I feel like I can do anything.

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.