A Nice, Too Short Weekend in Tokyo

This past weekend was a nice one. Friday night we saw a great art exhibit. It was at Roppongi Hills. It was all about laughter and funny art. The first part of the exhibit included ancient Japanese art. My favorite pieces were these 6th century sculptures of characters with big old goofy grins on their faces. It’s nice to know that even way back then, people were goofing around and having a good time. The second part of the exhibit was all new, modern art from all over the world. They explained the exhibit as a representation of a new art movement, a new kind of Dadaism. It was filled with quirky, strange, funny and smart ideas. I couldn’t help thinking of David Neevel, Seth Gross & Eric Mallory. There was a huge installation of wind up doll businessmen crawling over a map of the world, tackling each other over skyscrapers & horses. There was a lot of video, one of which starred a grocery cart filled to the brim with groceries. The cart was alone, bumping into things and wandering through the aisles of a grocery store.

After the show, we went up to the top of the Mori building. This was exciting because it was at night, and the view was outrageous. After exploring Tokyo for a while now, we could look out at the city and see all the places and directions we had been to.

Saturday morning we went for a jog. It was nice, sunny and cool. And I finally got to take Driscoll to my favorite restaurant in Nakameguro. After lunch, we strolled through Nakameguro and happened upon a really great thrift store. It had multiple shelves of amazing, vintage fabric, as well as some really nice vintage furniture. Some friends invited us over for dinner on Saturday, a rare but exciting event these days.

Sunday was spent lounging at home. I helped Driscoll cut some wood for a bed frame, which he actually managed to put together in one day!

I guess we’re starting to get more and more comfortable here in Tokyo. It’s feeling less like the biggest city in the world, and more like a familiar place that’s filled with a lot of the stuff we love. I do miss my people, a lot, but the good news is that I’ll be seeing you all soon!