Abe Ten-ei

One of the stops E. and I took during our Golden Week holiday was the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art.

There was a special exhibit of the very varied works of one Abe Ten-ei, the most adorably handsome old man in all of Japan.

We were taking pictures of really frustratingly shiny copper bottles and suddenly I hear, “どこの出身 [Where are you from]?” and “芸術家です [I am the artist].”

Fancy.

I haven’t been able to find anything on him in English, so I’ll type up the good bits of his introduction at the museum.

Born in Sapporro in 1939, Ten-ei Abe devoted himself to studying art on his own during his high school years. At the age of 21 and 22, he entered abstract paintings in a national level painting contest and received awards. After that, he made the transition from paintings to reliefs and then to three-dimensional works, including objects, sculptures, and installations. His travels on the road of creation, which span more than half a century, are heavily infused in the avant-garde spirit, interweaving with the most advanced innovations of the times. But the wellspring of his approach to art actually dates back to his childhood years … [when he was] immersed in the hard work that [his] household needed to survive. It was there that the severe conditions of nature revealed their bountiful pleasures in ways he would never forget. The creatures of the sea that were constant companions in those days were to become one of Abe’s richest wellsprings of imagery, continuing to inspire him even now.

He kind of kept an eye out for us and tried to explain everything we were standing near since there wasn’t much English signage. What a sweet man. And he even let people take pictures of his work so bravo.

I cannot do these things justice. They were hyper-polished globs of molten metal.

Love his signature.

A wall of lovely brides, off to their wedding ceremony.

My favorite little bride.

He made a cute zodiac series for some children’s book. Look at those tiny glasses.

Just as we were leaving, we saw Mr. Abe again and I asked him why he used so many different media instead of focusing on one. He replied something along the lines of, “A painter uses colors like yellow and green on his easel. Well, silver and wood and clay are my colors.”

List #3

I have a baby name spreadsheet.  I started it almost a decade ago when I was bored and haven’t looked at it in ageessss.  And I have no idea what whimsical, pretentious, self-hating phase I was going through, but I am in tears over how horrible some of these names are.

A Day at the Zoo

I spent my last day in Tokyo at the Ueno Zoo.

Some of the sakura trees in the park were in bloom. There were a few random groups having hanami parties on blue tarp and virtually every other person was huddled under the blossoms with their cameras/phones/camcorders out.

The main attraction at the zoo atm are two pandas on loan from China. Did you know that most countries have to pay China $1 million a year for their pandas?

In any case, the line was MASSIVE, so naturally I just snuck to the back and zoomed in on Ri Ri (or was it Shin Shin?) with my camera. I mean, sure they’re cute, but panda, please, I am not going to wait 30+ minutes to look at them up close.

All My Material Things: Tokyo Trip Version

I went down to Tokyo on Wednesday night and got back at 5 this morning. Of course I proceeded to conk out until nearly 6 PM!  In the name of productivity, I unpacked my bag and took a picture of my physical non-receipt remnants of my trip.

1. New iPhone charger: I forgot mine at the most horrible manga kissa in all of existence and you can read a bit about my night in the lovely review I left on that site.
2. A-Yo print: Over the Rainbow Once More Exhibit at The Museum of Contemporary Art
3. Amrita by Banana Yoshimoto
4. Sleeveless button-down from Forever21
5. Underwears
6. Socks
7. Foundation: I forgot mine
8. F21 Necklace: I am going to start wearing them :le gasp:
9. F21 Earrings
10. H&M Earrings
11. Perfectly light blue jeans from H&M
12. Gray H&M blazer: Because I really need one. I sacrificed buying a funky black and neon yellow dress and a ombre orange top for this.
13. Dried food from an interesting Lawson combo store: I had to kill 30 minutes before catching a 11:55 bus. I ended up having to sit in the cold for 20 minutes anyway.
14. Gross bread that I thought was filled with blueberries but ended up being beans
15. Lovely apple tea
16. Cool anemone pens: Had to do because I didn’t like the prints for the Lee Bul exhibit. It was fantastic. I was worried I would hate it because she does mostly sculptural things but it was so. good.
17. Print of an adorable figurine made during the Tang Dynasty with the cutest little hands: From the Ceramics exhibit at the Suntory Museum of Art
18. Fruit gummies
19. Dry shampoo: A travel necessity that I forgot to pack
20. Earrings from Don Quixote: I also forgot to bring nose rings.
21. 3D glasses: I watched Hugo. I really do not understand why it was so well-received. There were so many unnecessary scenes, Chloë Grace Moretz was horrible, and it tried too hard to be funny/sad/touching/etc.
22. A monkey print
23. Print of a celadon ewer made in the Goryeo Period: It looks like a bamboo shoot!!

I budgeted myself 5 man and I spent ~49700 yen.

Shopping includes everything from prints to personal hygiene products.
Entertainment includes exhibits and things like my movie ticket and entrance to the Ueno Zoo.

I spent a ridiculous amount on food and drinks. I drank coffee every time I had to kill time. I ate when I didn’t even feel like eating. Why, you ask? Well, my dear. Simply because I could and I knew I wasn’t going to eat this well back home. Do you know where you can get a souffle for brunch in Koriyama??? Because I sure as hell don’t.

Ikkou to Nikko

Long long ago, when a hoodie was appropriate outerwear and my hair was still straight, I went to Nikko with three lovely fellow lady JETs.

Given that I have not asked if I can post their picture on the world wide web, I have modified a photo of us:

Nikko is a small city in Tochigi known for its ornate shrines and temples.

We took the Shink and local train there under the handy-dandy leadership of our very own Steph Marley.

Ukiyo-e prints featuring a hawk and kabuki actors

A gorgeous onna (woman) noh mask. Fun fact: Japanese people used to dye their teeth black both to look beautiful and prevent teeth decay.

Shinkyo (Sacred) Bridge. We had to pay a few 100 yen to cross it but it was worth the view.

List #2

On Racism

I honestly don’t think we will ever live in a world free of racism. I’m not even being pessimistic here, it’s just the way I predict things will be given oh, I don’t know, almost all of recorded history and the ongoing discrimination people of color face even in this day and age. Hell, I can’t even go out to Manhattan for an afternoon without hearing a “ni hao ma” somewhere along the line (seriously, NYC, sometimes I am so ashamed of you).

I tend to make friends with decent human beings and given the very specific sample of society that I interact with day to day, I often forget how the rest of America/the world thinks. Then a hot topic like Linsanity comes along and I’m faced with a wall of racist comments to any article with a comment box and it’s like … oh yeahhhh, I forgot about you guys. And yes, it is the Internet and people are given a mighty Cloak of Invisibility to cackle under, but the fact that there are so many people who even THINK these things is revolting.

And I will not stop saying this until people finally get with the program, but what is it with people who still think it’s okay to be racist towards Asians? Running with the whole Jeremy Lin topic that sparked my post, ESPN fired a writer for publishing an article titled “Chink in the Armor” after playing it off as a mistake. Out of ALL the words available in the English vernacular, you pick the most offensive terms used towards Asians and call it a mistake?! Don’t go all Jeff Winger on me and pretend that you “don’t see the world through that lens” and somehow failed to catch what I’m sure you thought would be a clever, backlash-free play on words.

It reminds me an awful lot of Russell Peters’ bit on how white people are coming up with ways to degrade black people now that the n-word is off the table (ie. Could you pass me the … vinegar?). … Except chink reads chink no matter how you hard you try to hide behind its other meaning.