In Tokyo cherry trees officially started blooming today despite the stormy wind. It is exactly the timing as Japan Weather Association has forecast. Good job. It can be very chilly at this time of the year and I still cannot put away my winter clothes, but the news of cherry blossoms always makes me feel the spring season which symbolizes the start of life's new cycle.
Art Fair Tokyo, which is another event that reminds me of spring, started yesterday. Last year it was postponed to July because of the earthquake, and it came back to its regular season. I see it has been getting more attention year by year and has established a position as an international art show with the consistent quality of galleries and artworks.
Although cherry blossoms are gone by then, Art Kyoto 2012 will be held from April 27 to 29. What used to be a hotel exhibition show is being expanded to an international art fair for the first time this year. It is an interesting sign that art market in Japan is opening up to wider range of buyers. It can be worth traveling for.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Friday, March 23, 2012
"Cosmic Travelers" at Espace Louis Vuitton
The moment I walked into the floor, I was struck by the balance created by the combination of unique installations, lighting, and the architecture. It looked beautifully surreal against a backdrop of dusk sky.
The show is held through May 6, 2012.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Under Bhutan's Clear Sky
I visited Bhutan in February. Although it is much closer than Europe and United States are from Japan, it is still a distant destination to most of us. The lack of direct flight is not a big reason. The Gross National Happiness concept sounds so fabulous that it mystifies us a little.
It turned out that Bhutan is a country of good people, great culture and beautiful nature. I think what is underlying all these is the sense of respect.
Bhutan is a Buddhist country. They learn the teaching of Buddha since childhood and it becomes an integral part of their life and their way of thinking. I did not see it as a blind dependence on a religion, but I think they naturally respect the deities, nature and people.
Once in Bhutan, one can easily see that people LOVE and admire the current 5th King and his father the 4th King. Their photographs are everywhere including temples. I see why. When the 5th King visited Japan in November 2011, he visited the areas affected by the earthquake and tsunami of the previous March, including areas near the destroyed nuclear power plants. People who watched the news and who actually met the King all felt his compassion and sincerity. You cannot just act it. The Bhutanese people must be proud of having such a leader.
I was also impressed to learn that a good part of the country's income comes from the sales of hydro power electricity to India. Clean energy. How advanced is that.
Almost all the people in Bhutan speak English besides their own dialects. They do internet and Facebook and have iPhones, and stay clad in their traditional costumes.
I once asked my Bhutanese guide,
"Are people happy?"
He thought for a second and replied,
"Yes. I think in general people are happy."
Can we even say that when asked about our own country?
At night I looked up to the starry sky through the clean air. It is a small country with a population of 700,000 but has many things we don't have. I hope to go back one day and find more keys to happiness of the Earth.
It turned out that Bhutan is a country of good people, great culture and beautiful nature. I think what is underlying all these is the sense of respect.
Bhutan is a Buddhist country. They learn the teaching of Buddha since childhood and it becomes an integral part of their life and their way of thinking. I did not see it as a blind dependence on a religion, but I think they naturally respect the deities, nature and people.Once in Bhutan, one can easily see that people LOVE and admire the current 5th King and his father the 4th King. Their photographs are everywhere including temples. I see why. When the 5th King visited Japan in November 2011, he visited the areas affected by the earthquake and tsunami of the previous March, including areas near the destroyed nuclear power plants. People who watched the news and who actually met the King all felt his compassion and sincerity. You cannot just act it. The Bhutanese people must be proud of having such a leader.
I was also impressed to learn that a good part of the country's income comes from the sales of hydro power electricity to India. Clean energy. How advanced is that.
Almost all the people in Bhutan speak English besides their own dialects. They do internet and Facebook and have iPhones, and stay clad in their traditional costumes.
I once asked my Bhutanese guide,
"Are people happy?"
He thought for a second and replied,
"Yes. I think in general people are happy."
Can we even say that when asked about our own country?
At night I looked up to the starry sky through the clean air. It is a small country with a population of 700,000 but has many things we don't have. I hope to go back one day and find more keys to happiness of the Earth.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
The Historic Village Illuminated
The historic villages of Gokayama and Shirakawa-go consist a UNESCO World Heritage site. Old folk houses in the traditional gassho-zukuri architectural style are still preserved in the villages. It is a landscape you rarely see in the present Japan.
The area has heavy snows in winter. With the roofs covered with thick white snow, the old houses get lit-up on selected dates in January and February every year. I went to see the sight in Shirakawa-go on January 28.
As the sky gets dark, the lights get brighter and warmer. It was a fantastic view, just like I had seen in postcards.
Though the place is not an easiest access (because of the snow and limited public transportation), people from all over Japan and even from overseas flock to the event! The villages are accessible from Kanazawa, but there is no public bus that brings you back from Shirakawa-go to the city after the light-up event (17:30-19:30). It is recommended that you hire a car, or book a local inn way in advance. (There is no 5-star hotel in the village.)
The area has heavy snows in winter. With the roofs covered with thick white snow, the old houses get lit-up on selected dates in January and February every year. I went to see the sight in Shirakawa-go on January 28.
As the sky gets dark, the lights get brighter and warmer. It was a fantastic view, just like I had seen in postcards.
Monday, November 7, 2011
World's 37th Best Restaurant
I made a short trip to Hong Kong last week and had a chance to dine in "Amber" at Landmark Mandarin Oriental. It ranked 37th of the Top 50 Best Restaurants by S. Pellegrino in 2011, and the only Hong Kong restaurant among the top 50. I do not always believe in Michelin stars or other ranking stuff, but this place was certainly worth visiting.
Their degustation menu was a series of pleasant surprise. Beautifully prepared dishes with high level of artistry that taste good. When you pursue artistry you tend to overdo and sometimes lose the texture of ingredients, but it is not the case with Amber. I saw in their cuisine a delicacy that was common with Japanese cuisine, with a touch of the season. Ambiance and service were also good.
The 8-course degustation menu must be very filling. We skipped two and went with 6 courses, but it was still good enough (for gentlemen, too) especially with two desserts at the end.
Amber www.amberhongkong.com
Their degustation menu was a series of pleasant surprise. Beautifully prepared dishes with high level of artistry that taste good. When you pursue artistry you tend to overdo and sometimes lose the texture of ingredients, but it is not the case with Amber. I saw in their cuisine a delicacy that was common with Japanese cuisine, with a touch of the season. Ambiance and service were also good.
The 8-course degustation menu must be very filling. We skipped two and went with 6 courses, but it was still good enough (for gentlemen, too) especially with two desserts at the end.
Amber www.amberhongkong.com
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Stay overnight in Plitvice!
I sometimes think that people travel in order to get the messages they are supposed to get, through things they see and people they meet only once in their lives. It is up to you to notice the message or not.
The messages can range from clearly important ones to not so obvious ones. Perhaps the message I got in Dubrovnik does not sound life-changing, but it changed my travel experience in Croatia for the better.
We were waiting for the hotel's porter in front of the Pile gate when we arrived in Dubrovnik, when a smiling Asian man saluted to us in English, "Good afternoon." He asked if we were from Japan, we said yes, and he said he was from South Korea. He was a social solo traveler, which is hard to be for many people. He asked us to take a photo for him, and we did. That was it then.
Three days later, when we were waiting for a bus to the airport near the Croce gate, someone walked toward us with a smile. It was the Korean guy. We met for the second time. We didn't ask his name, so let's call him Mr. K. We were heading for Zagreb and Mr. K was going home after traveling from Zagreb through to Dubrovnik. We told him that we would stay in Zagreb and visit Plitvice National Park on a day trip. Then Mr. K insisted, "Please, stay overnight in Plitvice." He explained he had spent two nights there and loved it. He gave us tips on hotels and walking courses. OK, I appreciated his advice, but we already booked a hotel in Zagreb, so I wasn't really sure if we should change the plan.
When the bus arrived at the Dubrovnik airport, we wished each other a safe trip and walked in different directions. But when we got on the airplane, we heard,
"Oh, we meet for the third time!!"
It was Mr. K. His seat was right next to ours. Out of dozens of seats, what a chance is that.
When we disembarked in Zagreb, Mr. K said again, "Please, stay in Plitvice!"
This time I realized we were meant to change our plan and stay overnight in Plitvice.
Plitvice is two and a half hours of bus ride from Zagreb. We left Zagreb in the morning. By the time we started walking, the national park was full of people, despite that it was not the peak season. There were so many tour groups we sometimes encountered human traffic jam. The waterfalls could not impress us enough because of the crowd.
We spent a night in Hotel Jezero and started walking again when the park opened at 8:30am the next morning. We were the first visitors and had the park all to ourselves for quite a long time. We enjoyed listening to the streams and birds, watching clear blue-emerald waters, and inhaling clean air. We were able to appreciate Plitvice at its best. What a fortune is that, to fully appreciate the beauty of a place that you may visit only once in your whole life.
Mr. K was right. Next time I will take over his message and say to someone traveling in the area,
"Please, stay overnight in Plitvice!"
The messages can range from clearly important ones to not so obvious ones. Perhaps the message I got in Dubrovnik does not sound life-changing, but it changed my travel experience in Croatia for the better.
We were waiting for the hotel's porter in front of the Pile gate when we arrived in Dubrovnik, when a smiling Asian man saluted to us in English, "Good afternoon." He asked if we were from Japan, we said yes, and he said he was from South Korea. He was a social solo traveler, which is hard to be for many people. He asked us to take a photo for him, and we did. That was it then.
Three days later, when we were waiting for a bus to the airport near the Croce gate, someone walked toward us with a smile. It was the Korean guy. We met for the second time. We didn't ask his name, so let's call him Mr. K. We were heading for Zagreb and Mr. K was going home after traveling from Zagreb through to Dubrovnik. We told him that we would stay in Zagreb and visit Plitvice National Park on a day trip. Then Mr. K insisted, "Please, stay overnight in Plitvice." He explained he had spent two nights there and loved it. He gave us tips on hotels and walking courses. OK, I appreciated his advice, but we already booked a hotel in Zagreb, so I wasn't really sure if we should change the plan.
When the bus arrived at the Dubrovnik airport, we wished each other a safe trip and walked in different directions. But when we got on the airplane, we heard,
"Oh, we meet for the third time!!"
It was Mr. K. His seat was right next to ours. Out of dozens of seats, what a chance is that.
When we disembarked in Zagreb, Mr. K said again, "Please, stay in Plitvice!"
This time I realized we were meant to change our plan and stay overnight in Plitvice.
Plitvice is two and a half hours of bus ride from Zagreb. We left Zagreb in the morning. By the time we started walking, the national park was full of people, despite that it was not the peak season. There were so many tour groups we sometimes encountered human traffic jam. The waterfalls could not impress us enough because of the crowd.
We spent a night in Hotel Jezero and started walking again when the park opened at 8:30am the next morning. We were the first visitors and had the park all to ourselves for quite a long time. We enjoyed listening to the streams and birds, watching clear blue-emerald waters, and inhaling clean air. We were able to appreciate Plitvice at its best. What a fortune is that, to fully appreciate the beauty of a place that you may visit only once in your whole life.
Mr. K was right. Next time I will take over his message and say to someone traveling in the area,
"Please, stay overnight in Plitvice!"
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Transforming spacial concepts into natural forms
I have just been to Taipei. The main purpose of the trip was to visit Art Taipei that was just being held over the weekend, but I also found Taipei Fine Arts Museum very good.
Because it is the city's municipal museum, you can enjoy 4 to 5 exhibitions for a mere 1 US dollar (NTD30) admission fee, and each exhibition is good. Interestingly one of the exhibitions was "Trans-Cool Tokyo," which featured many of the most major contemporary artists of Japan. Indeed it is a very efficient opportunity to have a quick overview of the contemporary art scene in Japan, and you would never see such a show in Tokyo. So if you are interested in the Japanese contemporary art and happened to be in Taiwan, it is a must see. It is open until September 25, 2011.
I was more impressed by the retrospective of Read Lee, "The Struggle of Space and Sentiment." I did not know about the artist until I saw the show, but I was just fascinated by the colors and brush strokes of his abstract paintings. Many of the works looked soothing to me, having no conflict, so to say. And I believe that must have been what the artist struggled to achieve.
Lee said "In my paintings, I transform spacial concepts into natural forms." On the other hand, according to Lee, Cezanne transformed natural forms into painterly space.
Because it is the city's municipal museum, you can enjoy 4 to 5 exhibitions for a mere 1 US dollar (NTD30) admission fee, and each exhibition is good. Interestingly one of the exhibitions was "Trans-Cool Tokyo," which featured many of the most major contemporary artists of Japan. Indeed it is a very efficient opportunity to have a quick overview of the contemporary art scene in Japan, and you would never see such a show in Tokyo. So if you are interested in the Japanese contemporary art and happened to be in Taiwan, it is a must see. It is open until September 25, 2011.
I was more impressed by the retrospective of Read Lee, "The Struggle of Space and Sentiment." I did not know about the artist until I saw the show, but I was just fascinated by the colors and brush strokes of his abstract paintings. Many of the works looked soothing to me, having no conflict, so to say. And I believe that must have been what the artist struggled to achieve.
Lee said "In my paintings, I transform spacial concepts into natural forms." On the other hand, according to Lee, Cezanne transformed natural forms into painterly space.
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