How to tell the weather in Kanazawa.
How to tell the weather in Kanazawa.
a random night out at Super Deluxe, Japanese punk rock and super mega experimental electronica. awesome outfits, especially the retro ski sweater.
the leaves are starting to change here now and its UNBELIEVABLY gorgeous. here’s some shots of the garden at Kengo Kuma’s Nezu Museum.
Christmas in Tokyo, Nov 1, 26degrees.
my buddy Will’s awesome blog; a cool vid on our Kyoto trip (and others too!)
yokohama ferry terminal, Foreign Office Architects (FOA). part 1
kind of like playing on a massive, grass and wood covered artificial landscape that might come to life at any moment. pretty unreal. i would have killed for a wide angle lens…..
I had to post some photos from our visit to the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa earlier this month; its an incredible building, if not for the innovative plan (a series of exhibition rooms as individual boxes, planted within the greater whole), then for the floating feeling the roof gives the space, as it almost hovers above you on spindle thin columns.
10.29.10 kuma & ito
yesterday was a pretty amazing day for two reasons;
1. we got our space heater working. we have been freezing our butts off here since we got back from traveling with mom and dad, and have come to know what it means to be a virtual icicle (our friends in England may also understand this well). but now, heat. ahhhhh.
2. we got to meet one of my favorite Japanese architects, Kengo Kuma (a 50-something guy with a very cool and collected sense of fashion, and a surfer-style haircut). Kuma graciously invited us to his office to chat about architecture, and this, we did. I am not going to get into great details here but its safe to say it was one of the highlights of this trip. Check out his work, and the view from his rooftop deck.
The other thing we did yesterday was visit the Tama Art University Library, by Toyo Ito.
this has long been one of my favorite Japanese buildings, mostly because its one of the only new buildings I have seen that uses the arch in a way that I can tolerate, without looking like a post-modern disaster. Instead, Ito spans the space with arches of various widths to create an elegant interior, which frames both the exterior view of the hillside, and the interior of the library.
The internal arches also create small pockets of space inside the library, making it ideal for studying, researching etc… its a very comfortable yet modern experience, softened by industrial felt furniture (my felt addiction is not news to anyone), translucent floor to ceiling drapes and living room lighting.
The other unique part of the building is the sloped floor plane on the bottom floor, which follows the slope of the site (AKA its not flat). pretty rad. Definitely the best library I have ever seen…. check out Dezeen’s article (including much better pictures than mine) here.
[Flash 10 is required to watch video]
How many Canadians does it talke to drive from Gifu to Wajima? One to drive, two for moral support and one to document everything!
in case you weren’t sure.
RYOKAN ROBE KUNGFU.
10.20.10 The picturesque.
Today we decided to get Rural. After meeting mom and dad in Kyoto we took off towards Gifu to start our three day roadtrip. To my complete and utter dismay I had not been able to convince dad to take the trains. He insisted on renting a car, so this we did. They drive on the left here, which is not the issue. Its remembering to turn into left lanes, especially when turning right, across three or 4 lanes of traffic. Amazingly dad managed this with only some mild heart attacks from the back seat.
4 hours later we arrived in Kanda (Shiragawago) or somewhere between these two places. Its interesting, navigating on Japanese roads, with no maps in English, and not speaking a word of Japanese, in order to ask directions. Kind of puts a new perspective on traveling blind. Anyways, we only got lost a few times, and arrived at what can only be described as the most perfect 18 century Japanese farm town, nestled between blue mountains within a valley filled with farms and rice paddies.
This place is a World Heritage Site and rightly so. Its simply quite amazing, and though a bonified tourist trap in some places, also a fully functional village in others. The buildings here are characterized with thick thatched roofs that almost touch the ground, A-framed over post and beam timber structures, with shijo doors and wood framed windows nestled into their peaks. They glow a lovely, cozy yellow at night, and present a very Hansle and Grettle feel to the place. The valley is spotted all over the place with these buildings, with rice and farms in between, combined with a very fast flowing systems of stone lined ditch irrigation. Its pretty amazing, really. The air is crisp and clear here, it kind of feels like you are healthier just being here.
So- now to our lodgings. We are staying in the most awesome Ryokan ever. The place is actually huge, but we only have two rooms, facing out to a porch, and a view of the west mountains. Our rooms have clearly been reno’ed, but they’ve managed to maintain most of the old school charm, including original doors and walls, as well as beautiful paper shijo paintings. They also served us an extrememly satisfying dinner, of local delicacies; plus, tempura, miso etc etc. we were (and continue to be) totally stuffed.
We come back to our room and find, ahhhhh, futons and the most fabulous, billowy comforters laid out for us, ready to snuggle in at the grand old time of 8:30pm. That’s life in the country. Gooooood times!!!!
