a little memory.

yey, im in tokyo baby. woopwoop. ah-hmm. bullet trains are fa-ast. dont let anyone tell you otherwise, but as we whirled through the japanese countryside between kyoto and tokyo this morning. out of interest and intrigue the kyo in both of these means capital, but the to is differnt. in the tokyo it means east capital and i cant remember in the kyoto, something equally as fun im sure....back to the story. we had to stop due to the newest typhoon not as big sweeping its way through the mean streets of tokyo. they are not really mean it just sounded better. so we were to wait for 45minutes for the rain to clear enough for us to continue. it was cool though, there were five nozomi bullet trains all lined up. nozomi means hope in japanese by the way, or have i already told you this. we met a girl the other day one of koshos friends girlfriends who was called nozomi, she couldnt speak a word of english but i thought id amaze her with my trivia anyway, she looked blank then giggled with her boyfriend. i thought it was a nice name. this is our train, the nozomi n700. only released earlier this year it has a different shape engine cab to the original nozomi bullet trains. i prefer the originals. check em out on wikipedia if you want to be ultra cool like me. im not ultra cool by the way, that was sarcasm.


anyway, tokyo is massive. huge. bigger than new york, but not as tall. we were up the tallest building already, which was free by the way. not quite the 60dollars or whatever it costs to go up the empire state and i have to say the staff are alot nicer here too. but you dont get to outside and the glass is not non reflective so the photos are not quality. so i took lots to make up. luckily i spent along time last night uploading my stuff to my spanking new externalharddrive so now i can afford the space that all these photos are taking up. here is tokyo from the north tower of the metropitan government buildings. tokyo is officially a metroplois as it is made up of so many differnt cities. not a city itself.


this is the guy that cooked us lunch.


sorry rthe images are so small, the internet connection is taking forever and i dint have the patience to wait the twenty minutes it is taking to upload the big ones. we found a really naff little noodle-esque bar. a kind of quick and plenty of tokyo. in shibuya adn i had meat with my noodles. again no english in the establishment so kosho filled in the gaps for us. we would be utterly lost without that man.
oh yes that reminds me why i started writing this blog, i remembered earlier what i was doing when my back was cooking (my back is much better today thankyou, although still rosy its not nearly as sore and no other side effects) i was writing up my version of our travel story. i only got so far but i photographed the pages and wanted to post them up so as you can read....but the internet is being very temperamental here in the hotel so i will have to leave it before i get upset with it. i shall try again later. after our evening tonight.
catch you laterl.

each hat hand crafted.

the 100 yen shops are legend, today i bought some plastecine in anticipation of possible works for tokyo (all for only 100yen. i found chris the m,ake up mirror he has been looking for aswell.) i figure even if i just do small things 'Installation: Tokyo' will look nice on the c.v. took the exhibition down today. it was quite sad really. i liked it alot. ive got loads of really lovely comments in my book. they are all in japanese, so ive been told they are really good. about all of us and the exhibition in general. and especially about kosho, quite the dark-horse i'll have you know. the characters look great, some are so complicated its really amazing that anyone can remember them. up at 7 tomorrow and on the Bullet Train at 9. cant wait. its been a bit of a far-fetched wish for me ever since phillipa forrester introduced me to the 'train that travels as fast as a ferrari' on tomorrows world. well worth the hundred pounds!
hope you had good days and will speak to you soon.
heres a photo of kosho in the gallery today. actually as it was taken. skills people.

'Cruisin' with the bitches.'

its a lame title. but maybe it fits. check this guys look at me. as if its just normal to be riding your mobility scooter, with three dogs, in a sailer top whilst having a smoke. maybe hes right, maybe it is just me.

looklook a huge dolphin.

we found this rare fibreglass specimen in toba. but also in this photo notice how few people are there. in the height of the summer holiday season at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. weird. off to see a couple temples this afternoon after relaxing morning sorting out pictures. nice. catch you later on.x

bad memory.

i just realised i had given an explanation for disappearance. oh well, should really remember what ive written. take care.x

top of the castle.

bebebeeep.

hey guys. sorry its been a while and i just realised that i hadn't even given explanation for an absence in updates. hopefully you have already found chris's entry as to the last few days mis/adventures. it was a weird one and didnt really catch upto me until we were back in ise and i saw kyoto as an option on the board. a reality check was necessary, so 'yes, please' i thought, 'some normality/familiarity will do nicely.' im not sure if chris mentioned, but i will add also that this sun is not one i have ever known before adn boy is it strong. dangerously so. and as we tend to our burnt backs, i feel we have learnt our lesson well. that is all i have to say about that hopefully. it will be better soon...
on our travels i considered a writing, based on 'post-post war japan; the aftermath of the american green.' i feel it unfortunate that it seems all the guilt money paid to japan as compensation for dropping (and testing) atom bombs on their beautiful island went hastily into defence structures. massive concrete moulds lining, where once was beautiful coast, huge concrete jungles built hastily and simultaneously, the intensions were there but the sudden boom in financial ability was not put into sustainable means adn now these once self efficient practical small villages, most of them fishing ports of some kind are now victim of a lost dream. an american dream, sold to the japanese as it was sold to the americans. and just as unsustainable and fundamentally flawed as any great ideal. so the scene was not pretty. but intensely inspiring. the whats, whys, wheres and when are questions left wanting nothing but a logical answer. but there is none. only a severe feeling of ill-advisement and inexperience. ghost town would be a word to describe killin. lost would be a better way of describing what we experienced. and somebody mentioned something about a bubble economy so i will have to look that up. plus it was pretty difficult to get by, as everything and everyone was obvioulsy japanese and, damn our inability to faster evolve, but we are not able to really communicate or function in this alien environment. good times were had but 'preparation' comes to mind. adn 'lack of' follows.
so the decision was made to return home after a very eventful and eye-opening couple of days. top-hats off to chris however, travelling SKILLS.

so now we are back in the safe bossom of the nishimuras. ahhh, nice. this morning (friday) i completed my 'party hats for buddhas' that i had strated to make last night and with beautiful sunshine i placed them atop the Rakhan and documented the idea scene, im considering making it into some kind of film. combining old and new, east and west. in some way. but its yet to be fully thought through. maybe need to experiment with different things. heres a picture.

i thought it was pretty hilarious in person. adn i love that it is no longer procrastination. so its done, its out. thanks to the family for letting me do it, if it weren't for their excellent sense of humour it probably could have been a bit of a disaster. but alas, fun was had. adn sometimes thats all we need.
we left for osaka at about 2 in the afternoon. the sun was really strong and the heat was not somfortable as we walked to the Osaka castle Museum. (http://www.jscs.or.jp/ICNCB/osaka_cast.jpg) i had used my creative juice for the day adn it was just too darn hot to be thinking about photographs so this link should provide you with an idea. or just type in osaka castle to google images. impressive stuff and really good view from the top where it was a bit cooler so the camera came out and i got some japanese skyline shots. not dissimilar to new york. from the air or the ground. similar tree lined streets, granite buildings and road markings. just the signage is different.
the people are pretty crazy too. i got some undercover camera action going on later, but i prefer the out of focus shots so i cant really show you in any detail. but alot of big hair and 'individuals.' this is maybe the best example that ive got of an actual person who is not just a complete moosh. i like these photos, more about composition tone and colour. light travels along way to illuminate us.
the larger images are misbehaving, sorry. oh 'sumi masen' means sorry. before i forget. goodmorning goes something like 'ohiyo, gozoi mass' and i dont understand would be 'wakiri masen'
i got a macro adapter for my nikon lens so now i can take quite close up shots here is an example. the new look mary was more than forthcoming as model. she was at the grooming salon the other day. we saw our first dog hotel today, wow. this culture has some issues it maybe needs to work out.

tomorow i think i would like some rest adn to maybe stay away from the sun. its scaring me slightly. and then to the gallery in the evening possibly to get some decent documentation sorted before the exhibition come down on sunday. then monday we are off to the dizzy heights of tokyo. i maybe shouldnt say that as i do think it will maybe make me a bit dizzy. ive been checking it out on the web and it seems more than i ever thought it would consist of. there are 27 cities within the city of tokyo. and there are actual cities within those cities. how am i supposed to choose which one i want to visit. two nights are all we want to spend there. i think we will be pretty shattered after that adn in need of another reality check.
ok guys im done. thankyou for keeping on reading, its a really good way to remember what ive done. clever computer people who though it up. hope you are all well at home. thankyou for comments. O es mi. x

sumi masen

i forgot to add this in. check out the view i woke upto this morning.

night.x

open 10.59-20.01

the opening times here are silly. we were at a boreders esque place yesterday and it said it was open from 0900-2500. eh? maybe its because of the time difference. or maybe japan is explanation in itself. crazy people. crazy times folks. yesterday we were in nara to see the largest buddha in the world. to be honest with you i struggled to see the difference between this 16 m eter bohemoth and jabba the hutt. but the buddhists (and tourists) love it and so he exists, in the worlds largest wooden building too.
yes all wood.
its awe-inspiring stuff still. and im starting to actually see it now instead of just being overwhelmed. which is useful. nara was beautiful adn so different to kyoto. everything in nara seems built to impress. whereas kyoto is much more subtle and delicate in its beauty a trait i much prefer. Nara would be like the theme park middle america would build if it were to emulate japan. although the city is a bit older than kyoto and was infact the capital before kyoto (howvere this only lasted 75 yrs) the engineering seems more advanced or atleast more structured but i feel the scale and style of these buddhist buildings may reflect the corruption found within the religion adn political structures of the time. greed basicaly and that is not very buddhist at all. but nara the city is much more relaxed than kyoto. and that is lovely.

we found a great little cafe and relaxed there for a long time. chris read 'come home.' which is apparently exacyly how hed like his perfect home to look and i ate a tuna and cheese panini followed by a blt in a burger bun. how disapointed was i when i fouynd out tyhere was no burger in the burgerbun b.l.t. very. but it was really very nice all the same. adn a welcome, familiar taste after 8 days of fish. my joints are still cracking though, so it might be a bit of a wifey's to say taht fish is good for the joints.
then chris tried to phone grace a couple of times but couldnt find his phonecard adn then we jumped on the train home and started discussing our excursion for toworw. we are going down to ise and then on down that coast. i just want to find some nice beaches adn just chill out for a few days without needing to worry or stress about language and times. it should be lovely. weather permitting maybe. so i shall be gone a couple of days and then back saturday or sunday. after which we will take down the exhibition then head upto tokyo on the bullet train. exciting stuff. but for now once again. i am absolutely shatterd. the 38degree dry still heat today, three meals and relaxing evening have finished me off. so to bed i go. hope you are all well. come hell and high water, eh? take it easy guys. i will take lots of photos and let you all know how we get on. peace.x
p.s. sorry about the spelling. usually i'd read through and fix it but im just too tired toinight. night.x
p.p.s presents were very well received. check out koshos dad, he loves the quality scotland forever hat. adn his mum really appreciates the blanket. good work team.

kyohototo.

interesting day today, after the temple morning we went into town to experience the shops. and we found alot of them and a huge amount of people to boot. i can think of quite a few people who would have been very much in their element. i however felt guilty for my early cashsplash for a zip drive (to store all my photos and music so hopefully i will never lose them again...hopefully) and managed to resist an overload of purchases. some amazing clothes and shoes and hats and scarves were not purchased but i know they are there and if i miss them then i can always return.

we were really tired today actually, all of us. i think the last few days took it out of us. we are up early again tomorow and off to visit the nearby city of Nara. guidebook-chris was explaining to me that the largest wooden building in the world, the Tsodei temple is located in the centre of nara. so it will be another awe-insoiring day. we were not at the gallery at all today and were not inspired by the choice of tripods on display so no further progress on more photos, but it is maybe nice to have a little break for a couple of days. might start making my party hats tomorow. should be fun...
hope all is well with you? how is scotland looking? i really want to go explore when i get back. but it will be the grindstone i think. good night folks.x

as i said, i cant get over the temple floors. adn what they represent. so many feet have passed to make them what they are now.
p.s was it the secret wedding today? if it was please let me know how it went adn id love to see some pictures. in actual fact, if anybody wants to send me some pictures i would love to hear from you....hello.
Oyasumi nasai.x

woopwoop.

it is really very hot here today. we rose at what i thought was 11 but in actual fact due to my inability to read cool old wooden clocks when my eyes are half shut it was 10. still an extra hour on our day is always nice. i ate breakfast then went upto the temple to record the sound of me walking round the temple on the wooden decking. i am still in awe of its antique and beauty. the sound of footsteps padding around the surface is amazing and from a fixed point the recording recedes and then escalates as the person walks away adn toward the point of recording. i have an animation to show along with the recording. nice nice. chris and i realised last night just how much actual work we are getting done while we are here. it must be a truly inspiring place. i think anywhere this new and different would have to have a major impact on our perception of both this and our home environments. lovely. anyway, we have spent the last two hours helping to spring clean the temples in preparation for the mass congregation of monks to arrive on tuesday when the tendai-sect will worship at otagi-ji in a rememberance srevice, type thing, for the establishing monk,senkan naigu, who built this temple in 1192, after it was moved from the otagi district (central kyoto) where it was first founded in 792 but washed away when the kamo river flooded in 1192. the exciting news is that we are the first ever foreigners to ever help in the upkeep of the temple and its estate. e.v.e.r. cool, huh? thats alot of responsibility for us. but we did our best and the temples are looking spickandspan...lol. as i said to kosho, they will be done in a different way to how it is usually done, but to the same high standard. (if i could put a cheesy photo of a winking cheeky monkey then i think it would be muchos appropriate right now.) talking of monkeys there are some in the forests round here. we haven't seen any yet but our eyes are peeled. nice one. anyway, wanted to get in from the humid, heat and thought i could let you know the progress. still on a high after many comments and compliments on my work last night. grin.
here is a photo of our opening last night taken from across the very busy street without a tripod, sorry if its blurry im stioll to look through all my photos from yesterday. i took another 300. eek. zip-drive soon me thinks.

catch you later.x

the day the weight lifts.

Guten abends meiner freunden, es ist sehr gut zu haben du gesehen. Ja? give me a german speaker anyday, even just a european. i will cope. but japanese! gollygollygolly. boy is it difficult. but muchos respect for the guys who do manage to get what we are at. it cannot be easy. not easy at all. and kosho. the god of all JApan...hail buddha kosho...is an absolute saint, it is incredibly tiring for him to be a translator. for those of you who know kosho you know he is not entirely comfortable with english language but his achievement so far is unbelievable. respect.
so today we opened, here there and then, a gallerie weissraum exhibition. oh my god what an amazing space. everything is white. it has made me realise that it is not white that i love but its possibility for being anything. and everything. so yesterday, we were up at seven, an hour before our usual rising time, chris had what appeared to be a massive task ahead of him. finding the right soil, collecting enough soil, transporting said soil, building shelves, painting shelves, hanging shelves, mounting photos, etc. the list could go on. in true chrismackie style he managed it all and some. kosho too, had a big challenge ahead having to format the space in a way he felt fit (when the time came however we all sorted this out. but for the sake of takaya it was kosho's responsibility) translate screeds of our english blurb into japanese, and to top it off assemble his work. i had frosties when i woke up, follwed by marmalade on toast and a cup of lipton yellow bag tea. A nice cool shower, a deep breath and then got stuck in. we packed as best we could at otagi-ji, the gallery is far from the temple and we would not be returning until after we had finished...wherever that would leave us. the sun was out adn it was a beautiful drive across the city. the rush hour traffic was receding and we made it to our destination within 45minutes. so many cyclists on the roads, it is really amazing to see. if a little dangerous when walking along the pavement. but they actually have whole parks just for bikes to be left. makes us appreciate just how neolithic britain is in this area, aswell as many others.


when we arrived at weissrauum there was everything to do. takaya was not yet there and wouldnt be until afternoon but the door was opened for us by one of his students who studies with him in his studio above the gallery. kosho also studies here in the years between school and coming to edinburgh. takaya's studio is amazing, it felt so familiar to me and it took me a while to realise how much it reminded me of granny's classroom at graysmill. the smell, laminate flooring, 1970's deco and layout. along with the random stuff lying around ('jack in the box' spring to mind anybody?) it was a really nice place to be. helga weihs was still to take down her show and so we were to help in this before we could begin work ourselves. the whole operation was remarably smooth, everyone sorting themselves out and asking for help/receiving help whenever it was necessary. i think the fact that we have all such a close relationship now really helped in this situation. many bottles of juice were bought from the infamous mr.boss (the drinks machine next to the gallery) and it was sushi again for lunch. salmon rice balls this time, wrapped in seaweed, i had a few other things aswell, but the local scotmid (or lawson's as it is kjnown here kept us well. kosho and i wentr on an epedition to the hundred yen store....wow. wow. and wow. you thought the edinburgh bargain stores had everything in the world. cheap. well the hundred yen store tops it. and everything costs 100 yen. oh yeas, including the luminous shoe laces. but we got what we were looking for and headed back to base to continue. it was an eventful day adn very productive. i got alot of work done. including a collaborative piece with weihs. i call it, 'You draw it, i'll colour it in/p.s Helga doesn't know!)'



i was pretty pleased with it and i think she would be too, if i had actually explained to her what i was upto. oh by the way check out this page, i love it. its my name, but only it says that i have an exhibition in kyoto. sorry, i still can't quite believe it. i need shaken. http://www.geocities.jp/weissraum/new/new.html

i set up a few different ideas before deciding on the right one for the space. my inquisitive nature paid off when i unearthed some amazing black holes which had been boarded over and painted white. luckily nothing stops me when i get a screwdriver in hand. adn i found the most perfect cavity in an amazing corner in a room presumed to just be a white cube with fluoro striplights. and then chris had the genius realisation taht tehre were spotlight tracks on my ceiling adn he would not be needing lighting in the front room so i could borrow the big old spots from the front and use them in my room. bone-us. so i could then start to make a house a home and sorted it out till i felt really happy with it.
this setup very nearly made it as a piece. and it was for about 3 hours and then progress prevailed.

the end product of which is a white room with a dark, wooden-clad passageway in the corner. my strings are over the passage entrance. occupying the space between the room and the inside of the buildings structure. when they are plucked they resonate greatly (plasterboard on wooden walls.) basically it is perfect and i couldnt have hoped for more or better, i am a very pleased and happy camper. here is a photo what do you think?


over the doorway on the right hand door post as you first enter the space there is a single string again bridging the gap between spaces and when plucked sounds very different from the other setup. again a i am happy that it is a successful representation.

apart from these two strings have only the statement on the opposite wall from the door. due to the warm light from the three very old 100w spots and the position of the room within the building i feel it produces a very warm, enveloping environment. one chap has already written in my 'penny for your thoughts?' comment book that he felt like he was inside the soundhole of a guitar and that the presence of the strings made him realise all the sounds within that environment. very simple idea but beautiful to see it being said. success. i liked him he studies philosophy.



it helps that chris and koshos pieces are equally as successful, we are all really happy with how it has turned out. well almost, chris doesnt like his boxes anymore but really likes the rest of it. i dont think id like my strings if i hadnt found that hole. adn i have three 9x6inch prints of me in the environment along with my most recent sketchbook in the cafe room.



i will get some more photos posted once i get time. but for now it is 2.30 and i know mary will be in to wake us up in the morning so i best get to sleep. she is a maltese terrior.

nightnight.x

a little note.

the trains, as you can imagine, get very packed in japan. but messages like these, emblazzened across enormous electronic boards help to keep the journey happy.

a little words.

hello. how are you this evening? well, yesterday was a trully culturally diverse day. we relaxed in the temple for quite some time in the morning as kosho was catching up on some sleep, i dont think he had the same forplanning as chris and i toward the whole jetlag phenomena and now, theree weeks after coming home, is still trying to find his place in time. (i just wanted to say place in time really, although the rest of it is true also.) so we chilled in the sunjshine of the temple, i took some more photos and thought about how i wanted my part in the exhibition to look, really it is a shame almost that i have a whole room as i dont really have the inclination to fill a space. maybe i will try to find something new tomorrow. no conclusions were drawn yesterday morning, however i am rather proud of an animation i made. with water dripping into a bucket. you gotta see it toi believe it folks! after lunch (king prawn in breadcrumb, with leftover beef curry and greek salad. oh yes, there is cultural diversity right there, on a plate...) we headed to the diy store. WOW. chris found this a slightly more stressful experience than myself. it was pretty much a poundstretcher/homebase on the ground floor with habotat through ikea on the next few floors. all thrown in the mix with no English and a 'What Everyone Wants' colourscheme. all hail Alpha, the greatest store of them all.
then kosho's buddhist father suggested for the evening's entertainment. 'sushi' and 'Die Hard' no complaints were heard from me. again, gobsmacked by the dinner. id never eaten somethings head before...and we were all suitably knackered after observing john mclane for 2hrs. the really different thing about japanese cinema is that they offer merchandise for the advertised film after every commercial and they sell the film programme outside the screen after the film. and people buy it. oh adn these guys are incredibly polite. its such a breath of fresh air. i mean they leave the lights off until the end of the credits as it is considered rude not to show appreciation for the film by walking out before everybodies names have been acknowledged. legend. if i can find it i have the best example of this cultures propriety in photographic documentation.
so today was again literally breathtaking. in every sense. we visited the most amazing temple. built on the side of a mountain, it has a stage which hangs over the trees below, it is legend that to jump from the stage of kiyomizu is to throw everything you have into an impossible task. the stage itself is a feat of engineering, no nails were used and each vertical is an entire stripped and cured tree. big trees.
i decided not to take too many photos today so i stole this one of kyoto from kiyomizu from wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiyomizu-dera) where you too can read all about this sacred place. and yes we did drink from the fountain of eternal life.
after kiyomizu we headed back down the mountain through tourist ville and into the Gion district, famous as the residency of the Geisha. this was really the kyoto you see when you look at the architecture books and it is such an amazing contrast to see this ancient wooden town in the middle of a geometric concrete and corrugated iron city.i took lots of photos none of which were in focus. this was intentional, there was lovely light at this point and i couldnt get over the shapes and colours.
this lady was spotted scurrying up an alleyway to empty her bucket of dirty water. and the cyclist didnt see me coming as i was hiding behind a van. cashback.

and this was a dude who i said had really good style. and chris said, 'is that because he is dressed just like polly?' to which i had to reply 'good point. good point!' although just in the fact that good style was being observed. polly doesnt dress like a bloke.


the meal tonight was perfect. we are being completely spoiled. i have no more words to explain or describe my utter gratitude towards our guests. kind, kind, patient people. i shall let chris give an evening description as he was the man with the camera, i decided id had enough for one day. so only took my video camera. whcih unfortunately we cant post video on these sites.
so i shall bid you good night. oh yes, befor ei forget, the culture is so proper even the green men have bowler hats and slacks. nightnight. x

our hosts as they treated us to sushi.

fewer photos yesterday makes for less to show today.

so yesterday was very very hot. especially in the evening. i was knackered by 8.30 adn we still had a 45 minute journey home. we were on the trains yesterday. they really are extremely efficient. which is excellent if you are too. we travelled from aragiyama station to kyoto main station it took us about 30 minutes hbut was really interesting as the train line is raised above the low rooftops of the city. so we got to see just how vast kyoto really is. we hope to hike up mt. otago soon and then we will really be able to view the extent of this vast urban jungle. once we arrived into kyoto station i was amazed at the building it is absolutely huge. with a very po-mo glasss roof and shapes. i will get a photo downloaded and put it up. talking of photos after the 600 that were produced on the first day both chris and i decided that it was necessary to calm down a bit and try to take in what we were really doing. as opposed to just looking for the next nice picture. which i found quite difficult, but alas i like a challenge and therefore only took 16 photos in the entire day. well after my early morning stroll around the temple. lol, koshos phone ring sounds exactyly the same as the start of the mission impossible teme tune.. sory i digress the phone just rang there. its the same length of tone and everything.
so we visited an amazing temple, in english its name is 33 spaces (or 33 screens) it is a 120m casm filled with 1000 lareger than lifesize buddhist figures. it was truly breathtaking adn i felt extremel;y privilaged to be visiting this national heritage site with the grandson of the sculptor who had rextored 800 of the golden figures. unfortunately there was no photography allowed and i couldnt find a photo of them. but trust me. awe-inspiring. they actually used to have an archery competeion on the west veranda of the temple the most difficult of which was a competeion called 'great many arrows' and it involved archers battling it out over a period of 24 hours (all lit by bonfires, which in turn had to be carefully managed so as not to catch the building alight) adn they fired as many arrows as they could along the 120m distance at a single target. the greatest competitoir managed 13000 accurate arrows at a rate of 9 arrows per minute! thats alot of arrows and alo0t of stamina. i thought grandpa might like that story, im sure chris has the name of the temple in japanese but im afraid im rather useless at remembering their names. in one ear and no matter how much i try, out the other.
after this we got some more juice, i topped up my camelbak and we headed upto gallery weissraum on the underground metro. again, extremely clean adn very efficient. and cheap. it was maybe 50 pence to ride. as was the trainride into kyoto station. weissraum is as i should have expected very white. even the probably beautiful wooden floors have been painted white. if i had more time adn was able to really communicate with takaya i would perhaps try to persuade him to let me strip just one of the massive wooden floorboards. i think it would be beautiful. anyway, he is fine with all of chris and i's ideas. it was really a rather weird meeting. as kosho was quite upset at the fact that takaya was saying one thing to chris and i and another, pretty much opposite thing to him. it became very apparent to me that this was a test for takaya's pupil and he does not really mind about chris or i. which is fine because we have no real pressure, but it is a shame as kosho has chosen two very strong minded friends to try to curate and i am not very willing to bend for the sake of bending. a good learning curve for myself to see what i am and am not wanting to do. anyway, takaya fed us sushi the first real sushi ive had, and octopus (oh my god it was tasty, fried like calamari but only sweeter and more flavour) adn some japanese beer, was good and a refreshing choice in the muggy-heat of the evening. after this we wandered back into town to try and find some paperhats, speaking of mission impossible. you should see the japanese take on a department store. wow. so, chris and i decided to race up the most amonut of steps either of us had ever seen. while kosho took the escalator. pretty much the most perfect place i could ever find for my shiny step idea. i might film it and then photoshop it in. nop theres a good idea.
after this we were properly knackered and headed back on the train to aragiyama where koshos dad was waiting for his younger brother and gave us a lift back up the road to the temple.



this is the kyoto station. huge adn huge.


the east veranda of 33-spaces. check out the old wood floors. unfortunatly inside they have had to carpet due to the shear volume of people now visiting the landmark. coincidentally this is also where koshos mum adn dad met. whilke they were both working here.



one of the screens in 33-spaces. quality not quantity...for photos, not screens.





arty pics to finish with. i think i will wander up to the temple now. chris i think is already there. damn the distraction of computers and comunication. good times.x

so i shall relax.

well, after a good nights sleep i was awake very early as mary was adiment about barking at whatever little fluffy house dogs bark at. it was nice though, as no one else was up and i had a shower then grabbed my camera adn headed upto the temple to take some photos and wake up. was extremely peaceful. the sound of water falling down the hill i watched a spider weave its web and then returned to the house to find kosho bleary eyed but awake and sat and ate my frosties! everything as yoiu would expect is in japanese. even the on/off button on the hot water machine is in japanese, so we literally are not sure about doing anything without supervision. i am starting to realise takaya was right and we are just like babies in this extremely foreign land. it is just extremely lucky that we have such patient and understanding hosts. and id much rather it this way than in some hotel where ecerybody is trained to speak to you in your native tongue. this is about as real as you get. this is mary.


she has a wee nessie toy that kosho had brought her back from scotland.

this is the top half part up the hill to the back of the main temple. its where i sat and woke up. the wood that makes up the floors in these temples is incredibly beautiful. its so old and been walked along so many times that it is entirely smooth adn soft to touch. its really extraordinary.

if you click on the photos you will get a larger image.

link to chris.

chris was alot more successful than me tonight wioth his blog so i think hes got some more pictures, find him at,
chrisdoesjapan.blogspot.com
peace+love. x

hiya!

heyhey, how you today? we were in bed by 9.30 last nite, lol, you could say it was quite a long day...but a good sleep was well appreciated at the end of it all. koshos family are lovely, his big sister speaks a little english which is amazing, because otherwise id feel extremely rude not being able to actually communicate with anyone in the family. which is a shame because id love to be able to show my gratitude for their very warm hospitality.
tyoday we were up at eight and out the door, after a sweet (i.e sugary) breakfast and nice cold shower. we are literally staying in the most peaceful and serene district of kyoto, i think it may be a world heritage site, but it is certainly protected in some way. original thatched roofs, which kyoto once used to be famed adn notorious for - koshos temple is the one where you would come to pray that your house does not catch fire! and the traditional saying in kyoto is 'my fire is your fire' as the houses were all made of wood and joining, until a few years back when a small change shop caught fire and wiped out 80% of the city in the worlds second largest fire. the largest ever was in tokyo.



this thatched house is just down from us, there is nobody left who knows how to fix the bamboo roofs so this house along with the other three are the last remaining reminder of the 'old ways.' we saw four temples today. one entirely decorated with gold leaf and floating in the middle of a man made lake....i actually have so much to say and its already 11.15pm and im shattered and we are up early again tomorow for another day on the town and we are meeting takaya to see how he is feeling about our exhibition and to find out what exactly we are allowed to do.
but for now i think i will have to bid you adure. or tadi ama. nite nite. x



p.s this is koshos temple at the moment we are staying in his house, which is the big one just to the left of the middle. but i asked and his family are fine about me sleeping in the actual temple if i would like. it would be pretty amazing i reckon. and i will do it. at some point. speak to you soon. oh p.p.s my phone works in kyoto although no reception in the temple, so if you text me i shall receive it when we go into town.

weissraum update

takaya put our statements and photos up on the website...
http://www.geocities.jp/weissraum/takaya/reponew.htm
x

arrivals and greetings.

the delay was welcome in the end proving to be an opportunity for us to catch up with ourselves adn have a wee rest. although it did mean that we managed to spend a total of 26 hours straight in an airconditioned environment.


then the 12 hour flight. i watched forrest gump, the simpsons and roadhog (or wild hogs even, its rubbish) then the stewardess got touchy because i was angling for a bit of her tasty looking granola cereal...speaking of food we found out that we could use stirling notes in schipol so i got a decent lasagne from sbarro, and fruit and water.
kosho got our 'we are delayed' email adn picked us up on time from osaka. star. his temple is amazing, paper walls, ancient timber and all. though im now so tired, weve been up 37 hours almost non-stop, that im going to leave it till a fresh tomorow to appreciate it fully. hope you had a good day.x

this was the first thing we saw pretty much when we left the airport. its almost a pity we already had somewhere preplanned, seems like it could be a nice place. x

typhooooooooooooon!!!

hey guys, we are currently strandeed in schipol, but we checked out why adn this is what the bbc have to say. but its ok. klm have provided us with a 5 euro phonecard (to anywhere in the world) adn a ten euro meal card. (the soup is 6 euros! a steak is 23 euros. what am i going to do? complain possibly. silly dutch.)



BBC World News



Typhoon Man-Yi hits southern Japan by Kirsty McCabe
Typhoon Man-Yi, which has been heading towards Japan over the last few days made land in the early hours of Friday morning as it hit the southern island of Okinawa. The typhoon sustained winds of around 100 miles per hour (160km/h) as it hit one of the islands larger cities of Naha.

Several people were injured by the strong winds and heavy rain, which left 11% of all Okinawa’s households; more than 60,000 people without power. Hundreds of flights have been grounded, with many people having to evacuate their homes after heavy rain caused flooding.

The Japanese Meteorological Agency is keeping a close eye on the typhoon which is currently tracking northwards towards the southern main island of Kyushu. Heavy rain has already inundated the island, falling at a rate of more than 2 inches (mm) an hour.

Forecasters expect the typhoon to travel further north over the next few days towards Tokyo, although it remains unclear when, and if the typhoon will hit the capital.

promo//

the front adn back of the flyerflyer. after much ado. although its actually blues abn greens.