Its hot again today, and my pace along the Kamo-gawa was definitely slower as a result. I cycled north, down beyond Kyoto train station to the Temple at To-Ji. There is a five-storey pagoda there- the tallest in Japan! After lunch I crossed the river to see the Zen temple at Tofuku-Ji. This temple complex […]
It gets dark early in Kyoto now, and although it is still warm during the day, the air cools down fast once the night falls. I passed this beautiful light shop in the Higashiyama area of Kyoto on my way home this evening, and I doubt I will pass this way again, so I took […]
Today the rain has set in, and thinking this would deter visitors to the temples at Ginkaku-Ji and Honen-In, I cycled across the river to Northern Higashiyama early this morning. Ginkaku-Ji was already quite busy despite the rain, but it was still possible to get an unimpeded view of the stroll garden and the carefully […]
This afternoon I made a presentation about my early videotape and installation work in the Media Centre at Kyoto-Seika University. Professor Shinsuke Ina provided an introduction and Isanori Oha made a live translation of my presentation for the students, as well as handling a question and answer section at the end. During the two-hour session […]
Last night Shinsuke took me out to Ume-N0-Hana, a traditional Japanese restaurant, to sample the delights of Japanese haute cuisine. Tofu-Kaiseki, which was originally developed as an adjunct of the tea ceremony, is served in a private room and presented as a series of small courses, and is a visual as well as a culinary […]
Fighting the throngs of school children (who far outnumbered the tourists!) I visited the gold-clad temple at Kinkaku-Ji today. It is a stunning sight, and waiting patiently for an opportunity to photograph it, I found time to have a bowl of green tea and a sweet cake in a little grove under the trees nearby.
Heading south beyond the Higashyama area of Kyoto this morning I explored the vast shrine at Fushimi-Inari-Taisha, which is spread out across a wooded mountain area to the east of the city. The most extraordinary feature of this huge shrine is the incredible number of gates (called Torii) which snake through the landscape in numerous […]
This weekend I visited Nagoya to explore the Aichi Triennale 2010 with Akiko Hada, a Berlin-based artist, who spent some of her childhood in Nagoya. The theme of the Triennale for 2010 is “Arts and Cities”, and the venues for the event are spread across the city on four main sites, although the majority of […]
This evening I attended a concert performed by “Ipso Facto”, an ensemble of four musicians featuring Kishin Hunada on the Theremin. An enjoyable and unusual concert, and fascinating to be able to experience the extraordinary and haunting range of sounds the Theremin can produce!
Tsukimi- a celebration of autumn moon, took place on the night of Sept 23rd. This is a fragment of video footage I recorded that evening at the Tsukimi which was held at the Kamigamo Shrine. Click on the highlighted link: Tsukimi, and then on the link that appears next (“? attachment id= 403”) to see […]