Zen Craft

Weekend before last, we visited a couple of museums on the grounds of the Imperial Palace with our friends Amy and Eli (Eli is in the program with Pete and Amy is doing a ceramics residency in Shigaraki). Unfortunately I didn't write down the names of the artists, but on the bright side they did let us take pictures after Pete got an official "can take pictures" sticker. After we wandered around the grounds a bit and were eyed suspiciously through binoculars by the guards standing outside the very imposing gate leading to the Palace, we went inside the Bijutsukan Kogeikan (Crafts Gallery of the National Museum of Modern Art) and saw some incredible pieces. They did an excellent job on presentation, as there was plenty of breathing room around each of the pieces and the rooms were smallish, which perfectly matched the intimate scale of the work. After you see the exhibition there is a place to mark your program using a stamp and ink pad - a nice way to get viewers involved while encouraging you to keep the handouts as a memento.

Next we went to the Kokuritsu Kindai Bijutsukan (National Museum of Modern Art) for a backwards time-trip (we started on the wrong floor) through 20th century art, focusing on Japanese art with an occasional George Grosz or Francis Bacon thrown in for comparison. Later that night we ended up at an Izakaya just up the street. At these places, you order small dishes, like tapas, so it is a nice way to sample different foods.