Month: August 2010

20th Century Recall

Posted on by Hijiri

There are more posts from the Setouchi International Art Festival… it’s gonna take me 2 more weeks or so to write about all I saw… I hope you stay with me, I try to mix in some other posts, too :)

This week, I’m taking you all to the one of the islands in Seto Inland Sea, Megijima (Megi Island / 女木島)!

From the Takamatsu port — right in front of the Liminal Air art I posted last week — you take this ferry…

((If you are familiar with the story of Momotaro, Megijima is where Momotaro went to fight the Onis… also known as Onigashima))

From Takamatsu, it is 200 yen and 20 minutes away.

Calm and gorgeous Seto Inland Sea…

Hello, Megijima!

As you get out of the boat, you can’t help but notice this awesome installation… entitled “20th Century Recall -What is “TODAY” of Asia-” by Hagetaka Funjo.

Consisting of four sails on a grand piano, this installation resembles a ship at anchor. At times, music flows from the work to create a melody that resonates with the sound of the waves.

I didn’t get to listen to the music, but right next to the title card, there was a list of the songs that you could enjoy with the sound of the waves…

It reminded me of pirates…

You can sit here and be a part of the installation…

Very surreal… it was awesome…

Today’s Bridge 8.21.10

Posted on by Hijiri

Took a walk to the Brooklyn Bridge Park on Saturday. (Sunday was such a rainy day…) The Brooklyn Bridge is always stunning. Spent few minutes just watching the view…

Summer is ending, I can feel it. (but humidity still continues to make us all uncomfortable…)

Hope you had a nice weekend! xo Hijiri

Souvenir From Japan -Shibori Eco Bag-

Posted on by Hijiri

I’m going to start a new blog post series called “Souvenir From Japan” :) I bring back lots of stuff each time I visit there and I think it’s fun to share them here! As you know, that country has so much cool and fresh stuff… shopping in Japan is SO awesome. (New York, too, though!)

The first up is my Shibori Eco Bag. This is actually the first thing I bought in this trip. Found at Tokyo’s Tokyo store in Haneda airport. The shop is really cool, filled with lots of cool Japanese latest trends, books and souvenirs.

So this eco bag, it’s really small when nothing is in it.

It says it changes its shapes depending on what you put in it.

Like this :)

It is really light and just the right size to put little stuff when I go out to the grocery store or running errands… it’s also so small that you can put this in your bag and use it when you need it. And the best thing about it is that it looks so cute! This is a score for sure.

Comes in lots of different colors and there was other shibori pattern version as well.

Project for Sea -Light in Takamatsu

Posted on by Hijiri

Another art project by Noboru Tsubaki called “Project for Sea -Light in Takamatsu” (うみあかりプロジェクト).

Under the direction of Noboru Tsubaki, various local groups are working together to create large illuminated sculptures that will be exhibited in different locations in central Takamatsu near the station and port. On the eve of the festival, the sculptures will be unveiled in a special event at the port.

((From the festival evening below — all the illuminated sculptures gathered around the station and the port. I wish I were here for this, but I got in a bit too late. Only this picture below is from the Setouchi International Art Festival website, photo by Osamu Nakamura))

After this evening, each illuminated sculpture has placed all over the Takamatsu city, lot of them are placed in a long arcade area, main shopping area in Takamatsu. As I was walking around, I found many of them, here are some photos of what I saw!

I loved seeing the details that they put into each sculpture.

Some were hung in the arcade ceiling.

Each sculpture was created by the local art schools or groups under the direction of Noboru Tsubaki, I can tell they had so much fun creating! I would have joined if I had the opportunity… I think it’s awesome to get everyone involved for the art festival.