Art Fair Tokyo 2008

Masashi, Yuka and I went to Art Fair Tokyo 2008 last Friday evening. I had wanted to check out contemporary art here, so it was good luck that this was happening during my visit. Compared to the European and American fairs, Tokyo is very small, local and conservative. Half of the work was from galleries that specialize in a sort of faux traditional Japanese style. There were some cool galleries there, and some interesting work, I would be interested to see how it develops over the next couple of years. In one of the book publisher's stalls we found a Japan-only postcard book of work from our home town gallery the Albright-Knox. Masashi (an 8 year B-lo resident) bought one.

Stray Shopping Cart Activity in Tokyo

As far as I can tell, Stray Shopping Cart Activity in Tokyo is practically non-existent. There are most likely a number reasons for this, but I expect that it is mostly cultural. There is very little graffiti here and you rarely see litter. For shopping cart activity you need more open space and a higher level of disorder.

Erotic Electronic Bubble Wrap (the Future is Now)

These are little gadgets meant to simulate the popping of bubble wrap. But every once in a while, instead of making the popping sound, a girl's voice says something suggestive. The maid character on the right says "welcome home master" and the one on the left, who is supposed to be a "bitch" character, says "Don't touch me!" There was even one who is supposed to be a younger sister who says "brother, don't touch me." I would hope that most people who purchase these are people like me, who find them funny, and not people with dual interests in bubble wrap popping and incest.

Projects Library #8

This cover combines two things I really like, Cooper Black and Hiroshige prints.

The Meguro Parasitological Museum

On Sunday we went to the Meguro Parasitological Museum. It was cool and fairly disturbing. The museum is very small, but since most parasites are pretty small, it all works out. The exhibits and graphics are nicely designed. The best known item in the collection is a 30 foot tape worm (not small).

Japanese Giant Salamander

The conditions were very bad for taking pictures, but you get a sense of the size from the head in the foreground.

the eyes are specks

I think I first became aware of the Japanese Giant Salamander through the 1983 Guinness Book of World Records. It was, and is, the world's largest amphibian by a huge margin, they max out at just under 5 feet in length. On Saturday, M (he is Japanese but lived in Buffalo for 8 years) and I went to Ueno park in Tokyo to see the cherry blossoms. He informed me that the Ueno Zoo had Giant Salamanders on display, and we both decided it was worth going, despite the fact that it was probably the zoo's busiest day of the year. I was not disappointed. It is one thing to read about a 4' plus salamander, it is quite another to actually see it. It is not so much the length that is shocking but the overall volume and features; the huge mute head, the flaccidly phallic body, the specks for eyes, the wide gummy mouth. You get the feeling that you are looking into the very distant past when large amphibians rule the earth. The idea of stepping on one of these in a mountain stream is horrifying.

This picture comes from here.

Looking Around the School

More Tokyo Images

More Tokyo images at Flickr.

Turning 35 in Tokyo

Today is my 35th birthday (it is already the 24th here but this post is going up on the 23rd EST). I am a bit alarmed to be at the mid-point of my 30s, but that's the way it goes. I'm in Tokyo to do an art project with the students of an international elementary school. The classes are taught in English and the student body is composed of Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Indian children (ages range from 4 to 12). Today was my introduction to the students, I gave them a short, simplified Power Point presentation of my work and outlined the project I have in mind for them. I was not sure if they would have a frame of reference for the Stray Shopping Cart pictures but they howled with laughter at the first one and then continued to do so for each following image. Clearly they were enjoying making noise more than they were truly amused, but I was a better than expected reaction. During the question and answer period a tiny little Kindergartner in the front row had his hand raised and seemed desperate to ask me a question. His question turned out to be "Who is your friend?" The kids sang Happy Birthday, which was nice. It was also funny when the song got to my name which they had all forgotten.

The images above are from yesterday. Matt and I went to the Edo-Tokyo Museum in Ryogoku. We did a lot of walking and ended up in Akihabara, the center of Otaku culture. We spent a couple hours going though stores that sell a mind bending variety of anime related toys and models. I will have more to say about that later.

I am adding daily to my Tokyo Flickr set HERE.