Andy Warhol - 15 Minutes Eternal

Monday was the last day of school break and since we had everything ready I thought we should do something fun. I checked the listings for things on in Tokyo then remembered that most museums are closed on a Monday - bugger! BUT, then I spotted the Andy Warhol Exhibition on at the Mori Art Museum in Roppongi - perfect!

The only drawback is the trip there, it takes about an hour and a half and we have to get on a commuter train (which means getting badly squashed). I don't know how people can do that day in and day out - truly awful experience! Ebi-kun wasn't impressed either.

We spotted the Ebisu god as we changed trains, obviously we had to take a photo! Such tourists! 

We made it to the museum just before it opened. I was a bit confused with the tickets, they had set up a special Andy Warhol Cafe, which I thought would be fun to go to but it is in the observation deck and you need an extra ticket to go to the observation deck. Anyway, it turned out that the section where the cafe is, you don't need to pay extra for - just in case you decide to go and are confused too! You also get to see the views without the extra charge!

The Mori building is 54 floors and the gallery is on the 52nd, that is quite a long way up!

You are not allowed to take photos inside the exhibition so you'll have to use your imagination a bit. It was really well done, thoughtfully laid out and the English explanations were great - obviously not done by google translate! I can't say I am a big Warhol fan but I do appreciate the influence he had in modern art culture and it was really interesting to learn more about him and his thinking.

The exhibition is mixed media, so not only his art and sculptures they have a room with video footage that he took and another where they re-created the silver studio where he worked. There were interviews on video and they had The Velvet Underground playing (he was their producer) Ebi-kun was not a fan of their music, he said that it sounds like someone being murdered!

I made Ebi-kun a quiz sheet to take round with him, I will do a separate post on that but it definitely helps to make the exhibitions more meaning full when he has to figure out the answers.

Once we were done, it was lunch time so we eventually figured out where the cafe was and that we didn't need to pay extra to go in! The floor was artificial grass which was fun and there was copies of his artwork on all the tables. They also have an installation of his rain machine set up.

The menu is very limited, we decide to get the lunch set and share it. It was a burger, (cold) fries, signature Campbells soup and a drink…

And we decided to sit at the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, an amazing vista, the skyscrapers in the distance are Shinjuku, we could see Mount Fuji too but only just. It is such a big city, it goes on for miles and miles!

I must admit, the thought of what we would do if there was an earthquake crossed my mind more than once!

For dessert we tried the Warhol Parfait. I have no idea why but Ebi-kun is going through a phase of 'The Fonz' thumbs at the moment!

I think a close up of the parfait in all it's glory is needed! It was very sweet, and a good job we decided to share or I think we would have both been sick! It did get us to wondering what kind of special food would we have in out imaginary artists cafe - I feel a project coming on there!

After lunch we decided to explore the area a bit, we found a map which had all the different outdoor art sculptures on it, so we went on a hunt to find them all. We missed 2, I think and decided we had had enough and headed home - before the trains got too busy.

Great day out, highly recommend the art show, perfect way to finish the holidays!

**edited** We made a great time capsule inspired by this day out, check it out HERE

Day Tripping to Gyoda for magatama, jelly fry and Samurai

We had fun on Monday (yes, I know it has taken me all week to get the post up, these 4 day weeks are playing havoc with my routine!) Anyway, we went up to Gyoda, which is about an hours drive away. There are some burial mounds and a small museum plus a castle. 

We started at the museum and joined a class to make a magatama. They are a type of necklace carved from stone, originally they were good luck charms made from bears teeth but over the years the shape stayed the same but the material it was made from changed. 

You buy a kit which was about ¥500, you can choose from pink, white or black stone, matching stone bead and there is a choice of string too. You also get 2 types of sandpaper. The class provides everything else.

First we drew around the template and then we had to drill a hole, the traditional way - well using mostly traditional tools, they did have a modern drill bit attached to the end!

Then the rest was the sanding, daddy took a black stone, this is harder than the others, Ebi-kun picked white and I did pink. We started off with the coarse sandpaper in a tray of water and sanded the rock down to the basic shape. Then we switched to the finer sandpaper to get it nice and smooth. The final thing was to polish it with felt. There was a bead included in the kit too, so we sanded that to make it smooth too.

Everyone was really proud of their finished masterpieces!

After the class we had a look inside one of the burial mounds, this is the only mound in Japan that you can actually go inside. They have a TV feed set up so you can see the real body and belongings and then this replica. In Ebi-kuns words "It stinks in here"!

After all that we were ready for lunch, we found a pleasant little restaurant 5 minutes walk from the museum, we all wanted to try the local dish "Jelly Fry", OK, I was a bit apprehensive, they eat some weird shit over here! But it was delicious, it was actually fried mashed potato and veg, tasted a bit like bubble and squeak. It got it's name because it looks like old Japanese coins and the word got changed along the way - or something like that! If you go, try them or make them yourself, there is a recipe here.

After lunch we headed Oshi Castle. It is, like many in Japan a replica. It's not in my top ten of sight seeing places, but OK for an afternoon out. It is very old school in the layout, precious things in glass cases, pretty boring for kids and those who don't read Japanese. I spent most of the time walking round deciding what changes I would make if I ran the place to make it more exciting! 

They did have a couple of Samurai wandering around and answering questions, as well as posing for the camera.

After a wander round the grounds we headed home, yet another fun filled day!

Next Monday Ebi-kun is off again because it's undokai tomorrow - the sports festival, it is such a big thing here. I am off to the supermarket to stock up on bento supplies...

Just Me and The Boy....

Last Friday was Ebi-kun's school foundation day so it was a holiday for the kids (and presumably the teachers too), so I decided we should have a trip out together, it is a long time since we have had just a mommy and boy day. I had considered going to Ueno zoo but I haven't been for about 12 years , I asked around and so many people said it was pretty awful, I had to come up with a plan B. I am really NOT a fan of bad zoos, I hate seeing animals in tiny concrete cages - but I will save that rant for another day!

I decided instead, that we would take a trip to Odaiba, it is quite a train journey but at least we only have to change trains once. Odaiba is actually a man built island in Tokyo Bay and I must admit that more than once I thought "If there is an earthquake followed by a tsunami, we are buggered!" But there wasn't, so that was OK.

Although it was really windy and not really beach weather, we headed down to the beach anyway, it was some reminiscent of beach holidays in the UK when I was a kid. Ebi-kun was excited to find sea shells, of course we ended up bring a bag of them home, I'm not sure what he plans to do with them yet.

We discovered a beautiful pinkish jellyfish, it was dinner plate size too.

Ebi-kun tried to capture a picture of a sea gull in flight...

We then headed to the Aqua City Building which has a movie theatre and lots of shops plus the Sony Experience place we planned to visit. We had taken a bento with us and find a nice spot inside over looking the bay to have lunch.

Then it was off to Sony ExploraScience, we spent about 2 hours in there and with it being a school day it was virtually empty, I think the staff thought we were tourists because they were trying to explain everything in English. Even when Ebi-kun asked questions in Japanese they still tried to answer in English.

It is cheap to get in, ¥500 for adults and ¥300 for kids and lots of hands on fun to be had. There is some English explanation but very basic, I studied a lot of this sort of thing at uni, so I had to dust off the cobwebs and try and explain it to Ebi-kun where I could. I think younger kids would just have fun playing with all the lights and sounds.

They have a 3D cinema too so we sat through a couple of the films being shown and because it was empty we could have as much time on each thing as we liked, which was just as well since Ebi-kun wanted to try out all the characters for this one below. It monitors your body then makes the animation move in the same way as your body - highly amusing! Although it was smaller than I expected and doesn't really justify a whole day trip, it was a lot of fun and we both enjoyed it. The Lego Discovery place is in the next building so you could make a whole day of it and do both.

After we had tried everything out at least once we left and finished off with a crepe treat, yum. It was a lovely day out and of course we prefer it when daddy is with us but sometimes it is nice to have the boy all to myself!

What did you get up to at the weekend?