First Day in Japan

Here are some photos from my first 24 hours in Tokyo. I'm still jet lagged - so I won't write much, but I did want to get something up about the trip! This first shot is a picture of my hotel way out West in Hachioji. Hachioji is basically an unremarkable big city suburb without even very good shopping, but the hotel is nice and I got a good deal through Agoda online.



Here is my room, pretty spacious by Japanese standards and with a refrigerator and free internet.



For lunch I arranged to meet Miki S in Takebashi station. I got there a bit early so I explored the Mainichi newspaper building. Here is a small garden in the area.



In the lower level there is a food court and a place with all these old-style beer posters.



First we decided to go see the Gauguin exhibit at the Tokyo National MOMA. It was small but had some absolutely wonderful works. All the signage was in Japanese, but the works are famous. Here are some of the things we saw: This first one - called "Loss of Virginity" is autobiographical about a young girl that Gauguin got pregnant. It is stunning and very disturbing.



This is a Tahitian version of the Eve myth, Te Nave Nave Fenua. A lizard substitutes for the snake which does not exist in Tahiti and the peacock-like plant replaces the forbidden fruit. It was my favorite piece there.



This larger piece was the highlight of the exhibit.

We had a wonderful Tahitian-influenced meal at the Museum restaurant - Papaya shrimp cocktail, roast pork, a lovely coconut dessert.



There are sculptures inside the restaurant and there is a veranda with fruit trees and a view of the Imperial Palace. Great company and food! What a wonderful combination.



After lunch we had a chance to see a wonderful series of rooms on Japanese Modern art. Here are a couple of things we saw. Perhaps I'll write more later.

This first one is called Somebody Tore My Poster by Kaniyoshi Yasuo.

The second one is called Three Stars by Sekine.



Something about this by one Fujishima Takeji drew me in. It is called Perfume.



Then it was off to Kichijoji to meet with Miki U and her family. Here is Hajime



...and Naomi. I can't believe how much they've grown since last Winter!



I made them some sock monkeys, which were well-received even though the hats kept falling off!



We had a wonderful meal of Sushi and then capped it off with ice cream.



After a quick bit of shopping. I headed home to Hachioji. This interesting gentleman was on the subway - He was wearing traditional Japanese festival garb and lots of very long dreadlocks with African nationalist red and green bands. We did not go to the festival because it was raining, but many people are walking around in Yukatta for the festivals.