Tokyo Story

I first visited Daifuku in Osaka for one last dinner together. Daifuku gave me the traditionalOmiyage gift to give to Satoru, even though he has never even met him, because Satoru will be taking care of me in Tokyo...I love it.

And here he is! Satoru!!! This boy took good care of me all weekend.

We spent all day Saturday visiting galleries. I got to see most of my favorite contemporary Japanese painters.

Aida Makoto

Art sometimes acts as a spotlight onto the diseased parts of culture, in this case the terrifying objectification of young girls in Japan. He often depicts girls as food, smiling and giggling as they are being destroyed. . . this is a big painting, and the detail is magnificent; each one of those girls is beautifully drawn..

Tenmyouya Hisashi

Machida Kumi

Yoyogi park.
Yoyogi park was having a hippy flee market... look at her hair! real?

And it's right next to Harajuku station, where all the kids dress up and parade around showing off their kickass fashion.
a couple visual-K guys.
harajuku
Here is Kazu talking to his bird, "Bird".
I jammed with some beat-boxers at Yoyogi park.
And i got to finally see a crystal ball guy...Yoyogi park is the best. Ensembles play through the park, so walking around is like listening to a live album, for free! and there are performers who get to shine, and artists, and sports, and...everything.

This beautiful couple was fighting on the train.
We ate dinner with Nic and Namiko, who are getting married next weekend! Yoshi (far right) met us there. It was so great seeing him again.

We met Kazu at this fishing park next to the station. This place was so interesting. pools were filled with carp, and tiny polls were used to catch them. You pay by the hour, and then weigh your catch at the end for points. Hey, even people in the big city need to fish....

Satoru took me to one of his friend's bar, and there we met some traveler's from Spain. We got along very well, spent most of the time talking about Kukai and Yukio Mishima. They invited me to stay with them at their place in Spain!!!

Finished

recent events

I went to a party at Bellinin's in Saijo. It was filled with beautiful people, as always. Here is the smoking room I painted.


As part of my job I got to help show some American highschool kids around Matsuyama. We were lucky; we got to see the castle in the rain. Matsuyama castle is the best in Japan. I took the boys to Dogo Onsen, the first bathhouse in Japan. We got naked and found the bath filled with a highschool track team. They were excited to see us, and we ended up washing each other's backs. It's Japanese culture.
And I went to Tounaru, the copper mine ruins in Niihama with some friends and their baby. We ate lunch on a Jungle Gym on top of a mountain overlooking the city .

We hiked through the mountains, by the waterfalls and snakes...


We found an old house lost in the woods..
We even saw a monkey! Can you find the monkey?

And here is a scroll I dumpstered from a shrine near my house. It's a fascinating shinto-buddhist hybrid of Fudomyo. And there is the bouquet of flowers some teachers gave me at my farewell dinner, as well as the koyasan painting all packed up to ship to Terri.

commissions

im sorry ive been so absent everyone; been working in my studio, trying to finish these commissions. I've got 4 more to go before i leave japan. What's nice about commissions is that they are ordered, in all meanings of that word. im told what to do. less chaos..I dont have to think about content so much...This person wants her horse in the same sky as the frog. Ok, done, and fun. And i can relive "the feel of the real" sky and real horse and make them come alive...but its also time-consuming work--sanding, glazing, and once i have the colors mixed and oil prepared i have to work nonstop while the oil dries, usually 4 hour sessions. And one painting usually takes between 5 to 10 of those sessions...Commissions are also a huge ego-boost. And i need the money for school. sorry guys. please forgive me.

Green Green Festival

I went to Hiroshima with Daifuku this weekend to participate in the Green Green Music Festival. We rode hs little moped to the great bridge, and then Hitched it across to Fukuyama.

The festival miraculously took place at a Rinzai Zen Temple complex (!) deep in the mysty mountains. we had to take a thirty minute shuttle ride through the forest just to get there. . It rained on and off all morning.All the bands were good, really good, mostly rocksteady ska and old school reggae. There was Spinna B-ILL, a Lenny Kravitz-mixed with Saul Williams artist, this bad ass Japanese african dancer, the handsome Ucoca, really great ska.. I met Rickie-G sitting alone writing in his journal by the meditation hall, pictured at the top of this blog. I descended the stairs behind him and immediately noticed he was white. I thought i was the only one! But he writing in Japanese. I started bothering him..turns out he's half, near perfect english. I had a thousand questions but didn't ask. 'found out he's the headlining musician, performing as the last act at the festival, kind of a big deal in the japanese ska world... I had no idea...It was fun meeting him not knowing who he was though; a seriously lovely man, glowing....

ill give you all a more detailed account of my home stay experience and the music later.

Bike Ride to school

Here are a few scenes from my bike ride to school yesterday.

Tadpoles swim in the rice feilds now. Hurry up and grow! The water is receding.
I pass by a dozen shrines on my way to school..here is one.
Poor baby. what a beautiful form though. This is going to be a painting.
I found a tree in Firefly Park that at first appeared to be shimmering, but turned out to be filled with butterflies, thousands of them, mating and emerging from their cocoons. I took video.
I found a chicken farm by the school. Putrid stench. dirty, sickening, but the light was beautiful.


After school I found some students playing in the river. I joined them.

I worked on this new painting all evening yesterday. It's a new view, with more ground.