Eat

Can you believe that 10.758 kilometers away from home one of the hardest things on us was breakfast?! Well, it is true. On the other side of the world, where obviously everything is so different, breakfast was no exception. So in Japan (and afterwards in China) we had to get used to the heavy breakfasts. It was new to me because I hate breakfasts and rarely have them while I’m at home, but you know what they say, “when in Rome do as the Romans do”… The day we went to the Fish Market, the biggest in the world and a well-known market for its early fish actions, was the most difficult. Not much food option to start-off the day followed by fish and seafood sightseeing it’s not a good mix. Believe me! 

Hey, but don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. The early heavy breakfast, in a typical place near the market, full of locals that got in and out without saying a word and after having eat a tall bowl full of udon in only 10 minutes and the visit to the market were a lot of fun and two new perfect experiences (sociologically speaking) that allowed us to see how the Japaneses are incredible people; so respectful, so organized, such hard workers. Truly, one of a kind!

Crossroads

The Shibuya crossroad is the epicenter of Tokyo and the biggest crossroad in the world. Per day thousands of people coincide in here. But the most incredible thing is how, when the lights turn green a sea of people start walking from one side to the other, passing only a few centimeters away from another human being that happens to live or to be visiting the world’s largest city, without touching each other. Not even slightly! And the Shibuya crossroad is just another symptom of how Japanese people are: super respectful. For a Portuguese-living-in-Spain-for-a-while, where everyone talks and talks (not to say screams and screams), touches, hugs, collides, crossing in Shibuya meant much more than a simple act of crossing a street. It was over all a great experience! So good that I couldn’t keep myself from crossing again and again, just like a little girl that can’t stop herself from sliding a toboggan. Over and over! 

Peekaboo

And talking about Japanese artists… There you go some pictures from Tokyo, the first city we’ve visited during our 2013 summer tour in Asia. But if some of you (and by “you” I’m actually referring to my friend Ivan [you asked to be mentioned in my blog, and so you were]) are already getting confortable in the sofa, preparing from what is about to come, I’m sorry to tell you… not so quick! The rest (and the best) is yet to come. Just not today! Today I only bring you a taste of the capital of Japan. 

Despite the briefness of our stay in Tokyo we were able to see the “All You Need is Love” exhibition in the Mori Art Museum (this very cool modern art museum is inside the Mori Tower, one of the tallest buildings in town and the best sightseeing point, which is exactly why we went there in the first place), where I came across with this art installation. It is called “Love is Calling” and is from the Japanese visual artist Kusama Yayoi. You can learn more about her in here and about the piece in here and hopefully feel what I felt… how it perfectly reincarnates the spirit of that amazing city: colorful, vibrant, fun, slightly childish, modern, interactive… perfect from anywhere you see it!

Meanwhile in Madrid

The Retiro Park is one of my favorite places in town! On my free days I usually walk from home until the park just to sit there for a while, reading a book, sunbathing (even during the winter… aren’t those sunny and warm winter Sundays one of the most amazing things that Madrid has?!) and listening to the sounds of nature. But the best part of this “ritual” is that I always get surprised. In the middle of the Park is the Glass Palace, an oasis of creativity in the very heart of Madrid. It is actually just a glass greenhouse, but a couple of years ago the Reina Sofia National Art Center bought this place and often uses it as a shelter for some cool art installations. The coolest I saw in there so far was last winter, it was called “Two Golden Rings” and it was an installation from the Czech artist Jiří Kovanda with wires and, of course, two golden rings that really suited this place giving it an even more ethereal feeling. 

And this spring/summer (until the 2^nd of September) there is also another very interesting intervention. Mid way between the art installation and the architecture, “Imagined Memories” is a piece from the Japanese Mitsuo Miura. It is actually very discrete, only a dozen of circles with washed-out colors distributed by the space and crowned by hanging circles in the exact same color. But the way both sets of circles are placed in the floor and ceiling of the Glass Palace creates vertical lines that, depending from each one memories, remind us of imaginary columns… or trees. 

I came across it a couple of weeks ago, when I was in town for a weekend between travels and, once again, I though “spot on”! The art installations in the Glass Palace never disappointed me and this time was no exception. Actually this minimalist piece, that creates an invisible (but yet very tangible, because as you can see from the pictures, no one steps the circles that lay on the floor) “forest of columns”, makes more sense in here that in any other place. Because it brings together concepts such as nature/organic, urban and culture it totally benefits from this location. Nowhere else but here the piece could change depending from the month and the time of the day. The light that comes from outside, and that neither the tall surrounding trees nor the glass can filtrate, contributes to change the colors in the chromatic surface of the circles, transforming this installation in a brand new piece every time you see it! Judge by yourselves… Isn’t it beautiful the way the structure of the place and the different elements of the installation complement each other?!