A Day in Tokyo and tokyo was mysterious for me, profoundly, in the deepest and simplest ways… every corner offered me a new discovery… Talenia wanted to show me the Palace Hotel, overlooking a river? and the Palace and its brilliant gardens.. and we started with breakfast there… the only western food we had in japan… then he headed towards the Scai The Bathhouse, the famous art gallery owned by masami shiraishi, little did we know we would be having tea with him and his curator, osaka… then shiraishi graciously offered me his best seat, which overlooked through a tiny window a brilliantly beautiful cemetery. after we left, filled with awe and fulfilment, we headed towards the Meiji Jingu temple in Asakusa. and on the way i saw a little shop, where they sold beautiful looking crackers, we bought a few packs, and as she was packing them, i turned around and i saw that she had a curtain leading to the inside open, and we could see how the woman serving us lived there… and we had an insight into her japanese life… just like that, like magic… her kettle, her cushion on the floor, her private possessions where all open to my eyes, and i felt so grateful to be able to have that insight… and then i wondered… did she make the crackers? how? where? no, i could not ask, nor tal or i speak japanese. and so we left, still en route to Asakusa… and then, there, by the side, was another little crackers shop, and this time, we saw on the floor, inside, a man and a woman with a charcoal fire in between them, and they were putting these round dough things in the fire and turning them around with some kind of tongs… they were making rice crackers… now i knew, that is how they make them… and i was so happy, i had the answer… and joyfully we bought some packets and eating crackers on the streets we kept going towards the temple, to look for more tradition and perhaps, a slice of further peace. we arrived and had to walk through a long avenue filled with shops on both side, Champs Elysees a la Japanese…. inspiring, delicious and we had the opportunity to see how they made many things, like the old fashioned little cakes with red bean inside, with the old fashion iron moulds which were placed in the charcoal fire… t here we breathed the smoke of the thousand incense sticks burned on a huge central cauldron, all seeking blessings. Then i drew the number #8 from the fortune sticks, and as we left happily and headed towards the main road, we digressed, and on a side street we saw japanese men who still carry people on walking trishaws, like in india… i could not believe it, they make a living out of this? In Tokyo? Simply awesome - talenia would not ride with one… we kept walking and further down the alleys we found a shop with all kinds of natural hair brushes, for all purposes, from horse and squirrel tail, from pigs and other incomprehensible animals - oh dear, we were shocked and fascinated at the same time… And i could not resist, i bought washing brushes from pigs tail, nail brushes from horses tail and a blush brush for Talenia from the softest squirrels tail… an ancient craft indeed… any hairless animals anywhere? oh dear, how? hmmm…. And yes, then i saw row after row of the most beautiful oil painting brushes… all with lovely hand made wooden handless which would look awesome worn out with a thousand different colours as used through time… and oh dear me, they had the softest of bristles, and i surrendered once more… now they are part of my treasure, and i shall use them when i start at NAFA, or shall i keep them from when i graduate?… ah, we shall see… and like that, uncovering hidden treasure after hidden treasure, till the end of the day, the simplest of all hidden street by street and the obvious and must see - although much more of the first than the second one, and all this secrets were popping out like little sprouts from fertile ground… indeed, what a joy, what a magical memory it has left behind… and there was so much more, much more, my japanese friend, the music, the jazz, the food, the architecture, the art… what joy, mysterious tokyo, grand japan. thank you.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 16:01:09 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015