Art, Shrines, and Sake

We have been busy the last three days! I'll start with some of the cool and whimsical art exhibits we've been to recently. Yesterday we went to the National Art Center Tokyo. We skipped the special exhibition (Modern Art from the Tate Gallery) in favor of two local Japanese exhibitions. The National Art Center is an interesting museum -- it doesn't have its own permanent collection. Instead it focuses on rotating special exhibitions and provides exhibition space for local and national artist associations to display their work. The first of the two exhibitions we saw was the 79th Japan Independent Exhibition. Every year, the Japan Art Association hosts this non-judged, open exhibition where artists can show off their creativity. Some of the art showcased playful takes on Japanese icons (like the Hokusai wave series, below). While other pieces showed off technique, like this pointillist painting of mountains and a valley of blooming cherry trees.

The second exhibition was the 102nd Hakujitsukai Art Exhibition. This group of artists was founded in 1924 and according to the website, exhibitors are meant to "pursue a new realism" and "strive to portray the invisible through the visible through respect for traditional techniques". The skillset of these artists was definitely at a more professional level. The galleries were filled with still-lifes and finely detailed portraits.

The National Art Center building is a bit of a work of art itself. One wall is made entirely of undulating waves of windows. Very modern and a really pleasant space to explore, or just sit and have a cup of coffee.

Just across the street from the Art Center is the Aoyama Cemetery. This was Japan's first public cemetery, established in 1874. We had noticed it the other day from the viewing deck of the Mori Building -- it was hard to miss because it is a really large green space surrounded by buildings. Walking through it was quiet and peaceful, and you forget you are in a huge bustling city. Many of the cherry trees here were blooming, so beautiful!

Since we saw some blooms at Aoyama, we thought maybe things might be starting up for the hanami picnics in the public parks, so we headed over to Yoyogi Park to have a look. Hanami is the Japanese tradition of "flower viewing". They welcome the arrival of spring with family and friends sharing a meal and some sake under the blooming trees. This has been a tradition since the 700s, during the Nara period. I love how the Japanese culture reveres the ritual of the changing seasons and appreciating the beauty of nature. This group of girls really took their hanami picnic to the next level -- their coordinated garlands and pastel outfits almost look like something out of a Jane Austen novel.

We walked through the park to the Meiji Jingu shrine. The word "jingu" in the name indicates that this shrine is associated with the Imperial House of Japan. This shrine was built to honor Emperor Meiji who died in 1912. But the original building was destroyed in an air raid during WWII and was rebuilt in the 1950s. Last time we were in Tokyo we tried to visit but there was a big wedding and we didn't want to disrupt the proceedings to take a look at the shrine. We were able to get a lot closer this time. Notice the enormous camphor trees that were planted around 1920 when the shrine was completed. The two on the left are "tied" together with a rope and are considered the "husband and wife" trees - a symbol of a happy marriage (and probably why this shrine is a popular place for weddings).

Today we explored more art by heading over to Teamlabs Planets. We have visited other Teamlabs projects before, but this one was new to us. Teamlabs installations use digital technology to create interactive art that allows the viewer to be a participant in the artwork. They are a lot of fun to visit, although sometimes you'll see similar installations, like the waterfall imagery in this room, called "Existence in the Flow Creates Vortices".

The one called "Floating in the Falling Universe of Flowers" made us dizzy. The floor is mirrored and above your head the room seems to spin with projected flowers floating all around. Not ideal if you suffer from vertigo or motion sickness. For good reason viewers are encouraged to sit down while viewing this one!

The main attraction at Planets is the art featuring water. You don't have to go through this wing, but if you do you'll have to take off your shoes and roll up your pant legs. In this room (called "Drawing on the Water Surface Created by the Dance of Koi and People - Infinity") you wade through shin-deep water that has projected koi fish swimming all around you. If you step on a koi or if one bumps into you, they burst into a small explosion of color.

All of the artworks have pretentious names, like "Expanding Three-dimensional Existence in Transforming Space - Flattening 3 Colors and 9 Blurred Colors". Whew! All those words when they could've just called it "Bouncing Balls That We Make You Walk Through".

Speaking of bouncing balls, the more interactive wing of the museum was called the "Athletics Forest". Here's Kevin navigating the artwork "Rapidly Rotating Bouncing Spheres in the Caterpillar House" -- trying to walk on the squishy hemispheres was challenging for sure!

 

Not far from TeamLabs is a fun little museum called Small Worlds. This is a museum of miniatures with moving parts that you can activate, not unlike the McCormick-Stillman Train Shed back at home. The only difference is that these miniature models aren't just limited to trains. There was a working Space Center.

And a miniature Kansai International Airport with planes that could actually taxi, take off, and land.

We have been doing a lot of daytime activities, but there are some really cool things to do at night, too. Earlier in the week, on Sunday, we went to a late afternoon guided sake tasting class at a venue called Wasake in Asakusa. Our sommelier Nori explained the finer details of the sake-making process. First, rice is polished to remove  the outer layers of the grain (the more polished, the clearer the sake). Next the rice is steamed and a mold called koji is introduced to convert starch into sugar for the fermentation process. Yeast is added and the mash ferments. Then it gets pressed and filtered before aging (generally for less than a year, although some high-quality sake is meant to be aged longer).

We were able to taste ten different types of sake, and learn the difference between sake classifications. Although towards the eighth or ninth cupful I started to forget about 90% of what we had just learned. Good thing Nori gave us paper handouts to take home!

Still a little tipsy, we meandered over to see the Senso-ji Temple at night. This is the oldest temple in Tokyo and one of the most-visited Buddhist temples in Japan. As with other major sites in Japan, the main hall was bombed in WWII but rebuilt in the 1950s. One of the best places to view the temple is actually from the free viewing deck at the Asakusa Tourist Information Center.

It really is beautiful all lit up at night (and less crowded than during the day). Although the temples origins are murky, there has been a temple on this site since at least the 1100s. Even in the past, fire was a danger, and the temple has had to be reconstructed many times throughout the centuries prior to the last reconstruction in the 50s.

Just before you reach the main hall, there is a bank of o-mikuji stalls. We each paid 100 yen (about 70 cents) and had a chance to shake a labeled stick out of a noisy metal container to get our fortune. You draw a numbered stick and then you go to the appropriately labeled drawer to pull out your fortune. Luckily each paper also has an English translation. Kevin drew number 8, it was literally labeled "Best Fortune". It read "Happiness will come to you just like cutting rice plants with a cutter". It also said things like "your wishes will be realized", "the lost article will be found", and "marriage is very good". 

Then I drew fortune stick number 83 which must be the polar opposite of Kevin's. I mean, seriously read this: "Your wishes will not be realized as if it is impossible to climb up to the heaven". (Gee, don't sugarcoat it...) "It is bad to make a trip." (uh-oh). "Both marriage and employment are bad". Yikes!

Luckily, the god has a remedy for a bad fortune! All you have to do is just tie the unlucky piece of paper to the rack and leave it behind you when you leave the temple. Easy peasy! At least I wasn't the only one! Since we are in this for the long haul, I'm hoping some of Kevin's good fortune will apply to both of us. Otherwise we are in for a rough rest of the trip!

Tokyo, Japan: Ebisu, Ginza, and Shibuya

We landed in the afternoon and arrived at our apartment right around dusk. Our apartment is about the size of a postage stamp, but it is in a great location, about halfway between the Hiro-o Metro Station and the Ebisu JR Station. We were able to explore the cute Hiro-o shopping street, and pick up a few groceries and things for the apartment.

On our first full day here we hit the ground running. We brought a Moon guidebook of walks with us (the book is not surprisingly called "Tokyo Walks") and decided to start by doing the first half of Walk 1 which just happened to cover the area near our apartment. We started by heading over to the Yebisu Garden Place which is a shopping area just south of the Ebisu train station. You may notice that Yebisu and Ebisu almost look the same in English -- well, in Japanese they actually sound the same (EH-bee-soo; the "Y" is an archaic spelling and it is not pronounced). Everything seems to be named "Ebisu" something-or-other because this area was the site of the original Yebisu Beer Brewery. 

The beer was named after Japan's lucky god of wealth and prosperity. Yebisu beer is one of Japan's oldest brands -- production started in 1890 and in 1901 Ebisu station was built to transport beer for distribution (only later was the station expanded to include passenger service). The district did not take the name Ebisu until the late 1920s. In summary: the beer came first; the beer was named after a god; the station and the district were named after the beer. Although large-scale brewing production has now moved to Chiba (the peninsula to the east of Tokyo), the areas around Ebisu Garden Place and Ebisu station celebrate their beer-centric origins with cute decorative beer mug-shaped streetlights.

Of course we had to give the beers a sample to fortify us for the rest of the walk! Kanpai!

We continued walking westward to the Nakameguro River. Right now this place looks like a canal lined with dead trees. But just wait! In about two weeks' time all the trees will be covered in fluffy pale pink blooms.

On Thursday we took the metro over to Roppongi Hills to check out the Mori Art Museum. Roppongi Hills was established in 2003 and is a mini city-within-a-city with high-rise apartments, malls, shops, the Grand Hyatt hotel, and numerous gardens and greenspaces. At the center of it all is the Mori Tower, the sixth tallest building in Tokyo. It's mostly office space with stores and restaurants on the first six floors. But up on the 53rd floor you'll find a modern art museum with a view. (I will note that the elevator ride up to the 53rd floor of the Mori Tower is not *quite* as fast as the elevators in Taipei 101).

On the same floor as the museum, you can check out he Tokyo City View Observation Deck. I'm not sure which building is which, but it's always easy to pick out the Tokyo Tower.  This 1092-foot bright red tower sticks out in the crowd! It was constructed back in 1958 and was inspired by the Eiffel Tower. 

Down at the base of the Mori Building is a small but pretty garden and pond. We saw a group of women pausing for a photo op in their beautiful traditional kimonos in an array of pretty spring colors. You can tell these are formal kimono by a few details - kimono are made of high-quality silk fabric, and there will be an underlayer (that looks like a second collar). The underlayer is worn so that the silk of the kimono is not directly against the skin. The sleeves of a kimono are wide and long and flowing. You'll also notice the tabi (a white sock with a separate compartment for the toe) and the very-difficult-to-walk-in shoes, called geta.

There are more casual Japanese clothes that are much lighter (generally made of cotton or polyester) and aren't usually worn with an underlayer, called a yukata -- which I think is what's on sale in this store in a Ginza mall (in the photo below). Notice that the sleeves are not as wide as a kimono so the cuffs don't hang down alongside the robe. I can imagine there is much more to wearing a kimono than I've specified here. There are plenty of places where you can rent one and have a knowledgeable Japanese person kit you out and make sure it looks correct. Not sure I will try that this time around. We do see plenty of kimono on the street, some clearly being worn by tourists and other times it appears to be a Japanese person going about their normal day.

We happened to be in Ginza on a day when they shut down the main throroughfare for pedestrians only. It was nice not having to fight the tourist crowds for space on the sidewalk for once!

Our primary goal was to shop for some clothes at the flagship Uniqlo store, but we also made a stop at the Art Aquarium Museum. This place was a PETA supporter's nightmare but an instagrammer's dream: kaleidescope-colored lights projected through tiny decorative fishbowls filled with different breeds of koi.

In the States, animal rights groups would be staging big protests about the unethical living conditions for the fish - tiny bowls, constant bright light, and nowhere to hide and avoid being stared at by hundreds of visitors an hour. Kevin and I had mixed emotions -- each display was very eye-catching, and I managed to learn the names of a few different kinds of koi ("Celestial Eye" was a crazy one -- these carp have protruding eyes on either side of their head, kind of like a hammerhead shark). But at the same time, it's not a very enriching environment for the fish to live in. But it looks kind of cool in photos...what do you think?

Saturday was a really pleasant day, so we decided to pick up the second half of Walk #1 and head up to Daikanyama and Shibuya. Each of the names I'm throwing out ("Shibuya", "Ginza", "Roppongi", etc) are either districts or wards. Tokyo is divided into 23 special wards, each having its own mayor and assembly, kind of functioning like a mini-city within a city. Districts are smaller designations within the ward. For example, Roppongi is just a district in the larger ward of Minato, whereas Ginza is a district in Chuo ward. So for us, we are in the Ebisu district but Ebisu is also located in the southwest edge of Shibuya ward. Confused yet? So am I a little, honestly.

We did see some gorgeous bright pink cherry blossoms lining the street leading up to Shibuya Station. These are an earlier blooming species, probably Kawazu-zakura. The "main attraction" Somei Yoshino species comprise about 80% of the cherry trees that bloom in spring -- those will reach peak bloom in a few weeks and will have the very pale pink almost white blossoms that show up in so many photos. I am partial to these brighter pink flowers though, so I was happy to see that they were still flowering!

There are two other things that Shibuya station is known for: Hachiko and the Shibuya Scramble. The story of Hachiko is this: in the 1920s a professor at Tokyo Imperial University had a little Akita dog named Hachiko who walked with him every day to Shibuya station and waited until evening to meet his master when he came home from work. One day, sadly, the professor had a cerebral hemorrhage at work and passed away without returning to the station. For the next nine years, the little dog Hachiko appeared at the station every day when the train was due, waiting faithfully for his master to return. His fidelity is commemorated by this much-loved little statue which now greets an endless stream of photographers on a daily basis.

The Shibuya Scramble is the world's busiest pedestrian crossing. Every couple of minutes, stoplights bring all traffic at this large intersection to a halt, and the race is on! Several thousand pedestrians scurry across the street in all directions hoping to get across in less than a minute before the lights turn green again. We threw ourselves in among the crowds and made it across with a few seconds to spare. I'm sure you've seen many photos of this famous intersection from above, but here is what it looks like from a boots-on-the-ground perspective! For most people there are probably easier ways to get where you're going, but it was fun to do once!

Video: Taiwan Part 2

 Here is a video from our time in Alishan, Tainan and Kaohsiung.

Kaohsiung, Taiwan

On Friday we took the train to Kaohsiung, the southern port city that juxtaposes modernity and tradition. A symbol of the city is the "Dome of Light" ceiling in the Formosa Boulevard MRT station. It was installed in 2008 and is made up of 4500 glass panels.

Playful art installations can be found throughout the city -- we found some fun examples down near the waterfront. This Banana Train was at the Hamasen Railway Cultural Park, a collection of vintage train cars on the former site of the first railway in Kaohsiung.

Although Kaohsiung is Taiwan's busiest port, there were a few unused piers that had been abandoned for decades. Local artists repurposed the unsightly warehouses, turning them into art exhibition spaces, workshops, and boutique stores decorated with more whimsical art. The Pier 2 Art Center, Dayi Warehouse, and KW2 Port Warehouse No. 2 are now major tourist attractions.

Kaohsiung is a town that knows how to preserve and rehabilitate old spaces. In the Yancheng District, there was a public market that had first opened in the late 1940s selling produce, fish, meat, dry goods and all the things that previous generations used to buy at open-air markets. The modern supermarket kind of put markets like this out of business, and it declined for years. It was still hanging on by a thread about five years ago when a concerted revitalization effort renovated the space to house individual eateries and niche hipster-style vintage shops. Each little stall operates as its own mini-business. Most were selling Taiwanese or Japanese foods, although there was a Mexican (!!!) place and this adorably decorated British pub selling sausage rolls and savory pies. We tried to get a couple of burritos from the Mexican place (called MADDOG) but unfortunately they were completely sold out when we got there. So if you're craving burritos in Kaohsiung, get there early and if you're craving a British pasty you can only get it on a Saturday or Sunday after 4pm!

On another night we did sit down at the counter of Yama Ichi, a fish tempura restaurant, also in the Yancheng market. This family-run place has been in business for four generations, selling deep fried fish cakes with a tangy homemade sauce. We ordered beers but the chef was curious if we'd ever tried Kaoliang -- a sorghum based liquor so he gave Kevin a shot to try. It wasn't bad!

On Saturday morning we headed up to the northern part of town to see the famous Lotus Pond. If you are in the mood for interesting-looking temples, this is the place! The artificial lake is dotted with temple complexes and pavilions on the western shore, with a pleasant pedestrian boardwalk between each of them. Here I am in front of one called the "Spring and Autumn Pavilions". The pavilions themselves are just normal pagodas (you can just see the tip-top of the second one), but the interesting part is the walk-through dragon that is being ridden by Guanyin, the goddess of mercy.

These lakeside pavilions were all built in the 1950s and are a good representation of Taiwan's blended Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucianist belief systems. The best-known of these is the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas. This pair of seven-story pagodas are accessed via the animals' gaping mouth entrances. But be careful -- the dragon represents good luck; the tiger is bad luck. So to go through these pagodas properly, you should enter through the mouth of the dragon and leave through the mouth of the tiger if you want to leave your bad luck behind you.

Once you are inside the throat of the beast, the walls are lined with decorative and terrifying ceramic reliefs depicting heaven, hell, and moral judgement -- kind of like "be good, or this will happen to you!"

The third large-scale pavilion we went to was my favorite. This one is dedicated to the Xuantian God in Beiji. This Taoist god is the "dark heavenly emperor" and has the power to protect people from the elements like dangerous storms and floods. He is a warrior god who wields a magic sword.

But what made me like this pavilion the best of the three was that just as you approach the god statue via the bridge, there is a little kiddie funfair off to the left with those little ride machines that you can put a quarter in to entertain your kid while you're at the supermarket. Like, little rocketships and horses and mini-locomotives that the kids can ride.

There were also these cute wooden prayer cards that you could buy. The idea is that you write your request on the card and tie it to the golden string in front of one of the statues along the bridge. The hope is that the god will answer your wish. Obviously most of these were in Chinese, but if you look closely at this photo, the third one begins "May the cat distribution system choose me...". Well Leila, I hope you got your wish! 

After spending the morning in the spiritual realm, we headed to the beach on Cijin Island for some sun worship. This long narrow island separates the Taiwan Strait from the Kaohsiung Harbor and serves as a breakwater for the port. We took a ten-minute ferry ride to the island and fought our way through the Saturday crowds on Old Street to get to Cijin Beach, where we had lunch and a couple of beers at the Sunset Bar.

Like many of the other Taiwanese cities we visited, Kaohsiung really seems to come alive at night. We took a stroll along the Love River to enjoy the neon reflections of some of the interesting buildings. The oddly-shaped hexagon and triangle structure on the left is the Kaohsiung Music Center, a concert hall that only recently opened in 2021.

We also took a boat cruise on the Love River which was thoroughly entertaining as we were surrounded by a huge tour group of boisterous elderly ladies from Tainan. They chattered away which made it truly impossible for us to use Google Translate to understand the Chinese-only cruise commentary. There are some colorful buildings along the waterfront.

After the cruise we headed over to the Dayi Park, which was hosting a huge craft and food fair with live entertainment. 

We passed several of these sweets vendors that seemed popular -- at first we had no idea what they were selling because the signboards weren't in English -- was it candy? Was it mochi? Flavored ice cubes? We found this vendor that had some English on the menu and discovered that they were "Fruit Jelly" so I ordered some to see what all the fuss was about. Turns out they were like big gelatin globs, each with a different flavor. They weren't very sweet -- I got coconut, lychee, sakura, and a couple of others that honestly tasted a bit like soap. Well, you don't know until you try!

On our last evening in Kaohsiung we visited the Sunfong Temple. It was a quiet Sunday night after dark and there were only a handful of worshippers. The temple is dedicated to Nezha, a god who can ward off evil and protect the neighborhood. Something you'll notice on the altar are the little red wooden blocks that look like apple slices. 

These are called moon blocks or divination blocks. They allow the person to communicate with the god. But the person can only ask yes or no questions, kind of like with those Magic 8 Balls you see in novelty stores. They ask their question, then throw a pair of these blocks to find out the god's answer. The blocks are flat on one side and curved on the other. If they land with both flat sides up that is an angry "no" from the god. If they land with both curved sides up, that is a laughing "hahaha....no" from the god (the equivalent of the Magic 8 Ball's "ask again later" answer). If one block is curved side up and the other is flat side up, this is a "yes" from the god.

I was kind of surprised that there weren't more people inside this pretty temple. It's known for the beautiful canopy of red lanterns hanging above the courtyard. You can actually climb a flight of stairs to see the canopy from above -- it looks like a floating sea of red lights.

I mentioned that there weren't many people inside the temple, but there was quite a crowd gathered outside the temple. There was some kind of song contest event going on -- there was a dayglow stage and various singers attired in their sparkliest sequined outfits singing their hearts out for a pretty lively crowd. All of the songs were in Chinese and they sounded like they might have been old standards. It was fun to watch and some of the singers were really talented. I'm not sure if this was something special, or just a typical Sunday night at the temple.

Today we took the high speed rail from Kaohsiung all the way up the coast and back to Taipei -- a distance of about 350 kms or 230 miles. If we'd driven a car it would've taken a little over four hours. Instead our journey clocked in at around two hours -- amazing! We didn't do much more sightseeing once we got to Taipei -- we grabbed a quick dinner and repacked for our early flight to Japan. We had such an enjoyable time here meeting some wonderful people and experiencing a fascinating culture so different from our own.