Akira Yamaguchi, TOKIORE(I)MIX

I sometimes drop by Maison Hermes when I go to Ginza. I don’t go there for shopping because most of their products are not affordable for me. I pass through floors watching high-end fashion items and head for the top floor.

There is a small but very nice gallery called Forum there. Now, Akira Yamaguchi, a modern art artist is having an exhibition titled “TOKIORE(I)MIX.”

Even if you don’t know him, you might have seen a piece of his work at terminal 1 in Narita international airport.

Yamaguchi’s typical painting style is a bird-eye view inspired by a national treasure Rakuchu Rakugai zu, or views in and around the city of Kyoto. In this exhibition, he has been drawing a new piece at the site since the exhibition started and every time you go there, you’ll see how much his painting has been completed.

The picture seems to be just a simple bird-eye view of modern Tokyo but soon you’ll find it has multi time axes. For example, there are old buildings that existed before World War II next to today’s buildings. It stirs our sense of time and makes you wander around Tokyo that is a mixture of the past and the present. That’s what the title TOKIORE(I)MIX refers to.

Gallery is open to anyone and you get a free booklet of the exhibition.

With the quality of the exhibitions and a prestigious location, you must want to keep this gallery all to yourself.

↓ thank you for your click.

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Squid Center

The other day, I found a tweet that a friend of mine made on Twitter. He said; “Squids from Squid Center taste really good.“

It was just a simple message but I never overlook this kind of gourmet tweets because squids are one of my favorite foods. I felt like going for it right away!

At first, I thought that Squid Center was like a fisherman’s marketplace in a seaside village. Soon, it turned out to be an izakaya or a pub restaurant that has some branches in Tokyo.

The one I went to is in Nihonbashi. When we got there at about 7 p.m., tables in the pub were fully occupied and the air was very animated with a lot of guests. There was a big fish tank near the entrance and I found my dinner fish of the day was swimming in it.

One of the strong points of Squid Center is that they provide us with super fresh fish for the reasonable price. They say that they buy fish directly from fishermen and deliver it to their pubs quickly by their own transportation system. They cut the commission of distributors, it enables them to serve us fresh and lower priced seafood dishes.

The dishes we enjoyed at the night were fresh squid sashimi, an assortment of fish sashimi, squid flitter and grilled enzara. I was very happy with them.

A chopstick rest is also squid shaped!

A list of today’s special.

Tokumori, or a special assortment, Onimori, or a fiendish assortment!? ww

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sakura 2012 at Chidorigafuchi.

It was a super sunny day last Sunday. Cherry trees were almost in full bloom here and there. No weekend is complete without having Ohanami in such a lovely day! Then, I went to Chidorigafuchi and Kitanomaru Park, just North-West corner of the Royal Palace.

A picnic under sakura trees.

It must be the most gorgeous lunch.

Rowing a bout in the pink sakura tunnel. It’s like a daydream.

But things are not that easy.

People had to be waiting in line all but two hours for riding a boat on the moat.

Well aged trees stretch their branches down towards the surface of the moat.

It looks like a sakura water fall, dramatic display.