Japan Journal

Japan Journal - February 27, 2009
Mori Arts Center, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo City View + Week’s Activities

At the moment it’s snowing, which is a big surprise. It’s been cold and drizzly the last couple days, but I didn’t think it would get cold enough for snow, yet here it is. I’ve taken some photos out the window, but I don’t think those will look like much. If we get some accumulation on the ground, I’ll definitely go out and snap some photos of Tokyo in the snow.

Last weekend was unfortunately dominated by Jon doing a lot of reading for work. He had a 100-page technical document to sludge through, and hadn’t had time to do it at the office. By late Saturday afternoon he needed a break, so finally we went out to do some sightseeing.

We went to Roppongi Hills, which is a nearby development that includes a high rise with the Grand Hyatt, some residences, upscale shopping and many restaurants. But we were interested in the exhibits at the Mori Arts Center and Mori Art Museum, which are housed in the same building. We were able to get a combination ticket that also included a pass to Tokyo City View, an observation deck on the 52nd floor.

Mary with the spider statue at Roppongi Hills

We started with the solo exhibit of Kwang-Young Chun, a Korean artist, at the Mori Arts Center. We found his work absolutely stunning. We went through the exhibit twice, and even then I was reluctant to leave. Rather than describing it, here are a couple links that will give you an idea of his work.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/06/arts/chun.php

http://flickr.com/photos/curlyjazz/tags/kwangyoungchun/show/

The Mori Art Museum was showing an exhibit of modern art from India by various artists. There was a wide variety of artwork there. Particularly unique was a large video screen that you could stand in front of, and see your shadow projected on to it. Then the shadows of various objects started slowly falling from the top of the screen, and you could make your shadow interact with them. I’ve never seen anything like it before, and can’t imagine how they did it. Here’s a link that shows a few samples of work from the show, but unfortunately has no photos from the interactive video display:

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/10/view/5002/chalo-india-a-new-era-of-indian-art-at-mori-art-museum-tokyo.html

By the time we finished at the museum, it was already dark. We headed to the Tokyo City View, and spent some time photographing Tokyo at night.

View from Tokyo City View at Roppongi Hills. The big orange tower is Tokyo Tower. Our apartment building is at the far left with blue lights outlining the roof, and red words below that.

Then we headed to a Thai restaurant that had been recommended to us, Jasmine. Jon had told me that he had a hard time getting oriented whenever he came out of Roppongi Hills, and this was no exception. We spent the next half hour walking around the cold dark streets trying to figure out where we were. We did some walking in circles I’m afraid, but finally saw a landmark that we recognized, and were able to get back on track. Unfortunately, being lost in Tokyo seems to be a common thing, even for the locals. Most streets aren’t named, so you can imagine how that impacts your ability to get around. One nice thing about getting lost this time is that we happened upon the venue for The Blue Man Group, who’s performing in Tokyo. It’s not too far from our apartment, so we’ve decided that we’ll buy tickets for that in the near future, since we’ve never seen them and have heard good things about them.

A window into a restaurant kitchen (something we saw while wandering around lost).

Aside from that outing, we’ve mainly been concentrating on getting settled in and taking care of business. We finally got the sofa controversy worked out. The apartment owners agreed to disassemble the small single bed in the 3rd bedroom, which we use as an office. The mattress is now stored under the big bed in the master bedroom. They were able to store the frame of the bed for us. That gave us room in the office to put the big uncomfortable sofa that came with the apartment. Then THAT gave us room in the living room for the comfortable sofa from the furniture leasing company. So that’s finally all taken care of, and the furniture is in place. I need to spend a little more time putting stuff away, but then we’ll be officially moved in.

Another detail I got resolved this week is that I was finally able to set up our Vonage device for VoIP (internet) calling. I kept getting error messages at first, but was finally able to get it fixed with some help from the front desk here. We pay a monthly fee and get unlimited international phone calls to various countries, including Japan. The device is installed between our internet connection, our computer, and a phone. The cool thing is that it’s set up with our old home phone number (225-768-1666) from Baton Rouge, though the other extensions are still using the phone number that came with the apartment. What that means is that you can call us at the old number, just like you were calling us in Baton Rouge, and my understanding is that your charges will be no different. And any calls we make are paid for with the monthly fee. In fact, I’m even able to call a Baton Rouge phone number without dialing long distance, just the seven digits. The sound with the system is good, and so far I’m very impressed by the setup. And we can take it with us to Singapore too. So if anyone wants to give it a try, feel free. But please keep in mind that it’s 15 hours later here.

Another mystery that I’ve been trying to solve is the case of the missing ATM cards. We opened a Citibank account soon after we arrived here, and were getting concerned that we never received our ATM cards. We had gotten the Citibank credit card that we applied for without problems. The front desk signed for its delivery by the post office, then handed it to us as we walked in one day. I assumed the same thing would happen with the ATM cards. Finally I asked about it at the front desk, and they said, “Did you check your mail box?” Boy, did I feel dumb! Due to information overload, I totally forgot that we have a mailbox on the 3rd floor. For the most part, mail is delivered there; sometimes the post office will bring a piece up to the reception desk if it needs a signature, but sometimes they just put a notification in your mailbox that you need to arrange to sign for the letter. As it turns out, our notification (all in Japanese) had been sitting in our mailbox for about 10 days. The post office had held the letter waiting for a response from us, then finally sent it back to the bank. So I’ve called the bank and they’re re-sending it. Hopefully we’ll get it this time. We’re ready for the convenience of withdrawing money from the ATM, rather than having to exchange US dollars at the bank.

A final piece of business that we worked on today is the sale of the house in Baton Rouge. The buyers did their inspections and the negotiations have been finalized. Today I sent in the final paperwork. So it seems that everything is set for the closing in mid-March. I’ll miss that house, but I’m glad that we’ve been able to sell it so easily. It looks like all our work to get it spruced up paid off.

In spite of all these details to attend to, I have found some time to meet some people. I’m slowly getting to know a group of women here, and have been invited out to several lunches and coffees. Most of those I’ve met so far have been from the UK or the US, but there is at least one Japanese woman who hangs out with the group too. I’m thrilled that they’ve been including me, and it’s so helpful to get advice from these ladies who have lived in Tokyo for a while and can show me the ropes. I’ve also met some expat “house husbands” here, mainly American men who are the trailing spouses for their wives’ jobs.

Tonight we’ll have an opportunity to meet our neighbors. Our apartment building is hosting “Indonesian Night” in the lobby. There will be a catered Indonesian meal for the residents and the staff. It’ll be interesting to get to know some of the other tenants, since we rarely see anybody else besides the staff. Even though this is a big building, the serviced apartments only occupy a few floors, so I don’t have a good feel for how many people live here.