27 October 2009

Tokyo Two

Breakfast to go at the World’s Busiest Train Station: Shinjuku. But it was Sunday after all –not so crowded. And it looks like every other station in Japan, of course.Dwarfed in this district of salarymen-stocked skyscrapers, government buildings, and business hotels, we located what should have been the Pentax Forum, a showroom of the sweetest new camera equipment to play around with, open Sundays. The place was now, however, a Canon conference center, and closed. We moved along to Harajuku, which guaranteed some Sunday liveliness. Harajuku Station’s exit was packed with a crowd similar to Shibuya’s night scene. Narrow alleys buzzed with cafes and crepe stands, and clothing-store racks with uber-flashy garments and accessories spilled out onto the streets. Shop clerks with electric-blue hair and face paint backoned customers; off-the-clock costumed kids stood grouped as passers-by snapped pics.Juxtaposed with the cosplay kids was Meiji-jingu shrine, just a quick wooded walk from Harajuku’s shopping-mecca heart. No purchases made in Harajuku…museums were on the afternoon agenda and it was time to move along. In the Ebisu district, the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography offered three extensive exhibits: a general exhibit of Japanese photographers viewing foreign countries; Kitajima Keizo's photos of the 1980's in Tokyo, New York, Eastern Europe, and the U.S.S.R.; and Koichi Inakoshi's photos of China, Africa, and elsewhere, up until his recent death. Next door, there was brew to be sampled at the Yebisu Beer Museum.
After a breakfast pastry on the go, a lunch smoothie on the go, and afternoon samples of beer and crackers, we were due for an amazing dinner. A wood-fired pizza place in the vicinity = dream come true. Definitely amazing, in my book. And that fire-roasted tofu-walnut-gorgonzola ravioli!We were quite the tourists on this trip (yes, I took a photo of a train station). But it is hard to pass up a skyscraper skydeck, especially on a clear night, and even more so if the overlook features a contemporary art museum as well. The Mori Art Museum was on the 53rd floor of the Mori Tower—the building must have a massive freight elevator to transport oversized exhibition pieces—and the current show was by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, with pieces ranging from photographs of Beijing Olympic Games construction projects to massive sculptures from tree trunks and bicycles to video installations involving prank phone calls. The 54th floor was the glass-walled skydeck, with a separate corridor displaying a fun photo exhibit.
And then there was roof access. It was freezing up there, but we could see two giant ferris wheels, fireworks, the hard-to-miss Tokyo Tower, and city lights twinkling to all horizons.

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