The Universe And Art

Daddy was working on Saturday, so Ebi-kun and I went on a date to Roppongi to the Mori Arts centre.

We stopped off at the little German market first, there are only a few stalls but it wasn't overly crowded so we grabbed a couple of pretzels and brotwurst and of course Gluwein (for me) for lunch

Then we headed up to the museum. Luckily it wasn't busy, so we outdated our time and saunter around.

It was quite a strange mush mash of exhibits from Leonardo Da Vinci and Galileo to installations by teamLab

As you walk through it kind of takes you through the ages, although I feel they were grasping at straws with some on the items on display it was interesting and enough to keep the kids interested too.

I think the museums are catching on that social media can be free advertising for them. Although you can't photograph everything in the exhibit, there were quite a few pieces marked with a photo ok sign. And social media icons so you can hashtag each one.

Win-win as far as I'm concerned, we get to share what we are up to and they get free publicity.

This exhibit is on until Jan 9th
Www.mori.art.museum

Don't forget to check out the view, it really is stunning in the winter

Fun For Free - statue abuse!

I saw a post on somewhere like Buzzfeed a couple of weeks ago, basically with people doing stupid poses with statues. I showed it to Ebi-kun and he decided it would be fun to do. After our trip to the Star Wars exhibit, we popped into the TV studio lobby to see if there was anything interesting and so the fun begins....

Punch To The Chin

Hair grab!

Doremon getting handy with his mic

Punch to the stomach!

Kick in the head

We ran out of statues to abuse so it was time for a bit of a rest. Ebi-kun has recently gotten into Doremon. A lot of the stories are history based, I'm not sure how accurate they are but the kids love them!

We had a wander outside for more statues but could only find this heart! We will definitely be doing more of these, I can see Paris being a fun place to do it, as long as we don't get arrested! If you want to join the fun, follow me over on Instagram!

Simple Forms at The Mori Museum

After Star Wars we popped into the Simple Forms exhibit as we had already paid. Ebi-kun and I were not very impressed with most of it. Maybe we were just missing the point, but how you can put a pile of stones from the beach in a case and declare it art is beyond me. Kudos to those who can pull it off and make money out of it!

There were a couple of interesting installations, this one had a spinning silver hoop with a light projected on it, making rainbow on the wall. Nice but not overly clever.

This one was though. There were vents in the floor which shot blasts of air up and carried the sheet up and down, strangely relaxing. I can't seem to get the video to load, but if you pop over to my instagram page you can watch it there CLICK HERE (and follow me whilst you're at it! ;)

We didn't stay long as Ebi-kun declared he was starving, if you go to the Star Wars exhibit, then pop in here too but it won't be the end of the world if you miss it!

The Panda Bus...

And other random photos! After the Yabusame we had a wander around, I think this is the closest I've been to Tokyo Sky Tree, to be honest, I don't fancy being up there if we have another earthquake! Heights don't bother me but through an earthquake into the mix and that is a whole different kettle of fish!

Then there was the panda bus, seriously, how cute? Not only is she adorable with her red bow, but she winks too...

I couldn't possible visit the area without doing the "Golden poo on the head shot" Ebi-kun was obviously not impressed with my antics! The golden poo is actually supposed to beer beer froth and is the Asahi beer company building.

After standing for almost 3 hours to watch the yabusame, we were all pretty tired so we found a spot to have some cake and cuppa before taking some top secret photos for a competition and then heading back home. We dropped lucky with the weather, it has been cold and wet pretty much all month, it was nice to feel the sun for a change!

Now Ebi-kun is back at school and is getting used to his new schedule, I'm hoping we can get back into a routine and start doing more crafts/projects/experiments...watch this space...

Adventures in Oji - paper museum

After our adventures in Nippori, we hopped back on the train to Oji, which is just a couple of stops away. It's the first time I have been there. We were starving and so wanted to grab some lunch. I have to admit, I always find looking for somewhere to eat always stresses me out somewhat. At the station there were the usual suspects, MacDonalds, Sukiya, chain coffee shops... Then we spotted Little Mermaid. Turned out to be a Dutch cafe, lovely sandwiches and pastries, totally hit the mark.

With our bellies filled we headed off to find the museum. Ebi-kun wanted to get on the tram but I had no idea where they went but then he spotted the monorail instead.

Of course, I had no idea where this was going either but figured it wouldn't be too long. The fella at the bottom made us sit down, when I asked where to buy a ticket, he told us it was free - even better. Well, I have to say, it would have been quicker to walk up the stairs! The monorail is about 50m long, the kids all thought it was fun though!

The Paper Museum is a 5 minute walk through the park, right next to the kids playground. When you get in, there is a ticket machine to your left, the instructions are in English too. We got there just in the nick of time to make out own postcards.

The first fella was trying to explain everything in very broken English, we had to tell him to use Japanese in the end. They must get a lot of tourists in Oji because everyone tried to use English on us, it was quite weird for me!

The process was fun and you get to choose an image to watermark your postcard with, Ebi-kun picked out Tokyo Sky Tree and I picked the panda.

The process only took 5-10 minutes and the staff were really friendly.

There isn't that much English as far as explanations go but there is a very detailed handout when you arrive. The second floor has a lot of hands on stuff and was quite interesting.

I spotted this in the display section and thought it would make a fun activity. You could use family members photos and make different wigs for them.

Of course, Ebi-kun wanted to have a play in the park before we left. Looks like a nice little park, lots of kids running around.

We had a lovely day and finished off after the park by buying new shoes for Ebi-kun, his old ones had a hole in them. He has yet to grow out of a pair of shoes, he just wears them out!

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