Excerpts from a Day in Shinjuku.

Yesterday I set out in the afternoon in search of art shows in the area. I'd been perusing the site Tokyo Art Beat to locate gallery shows and museum exhibitions. I found one in the Shinjuku area that was being put on in conjunction with Golden Week - a craft fair featuring some 200 local artisans and craftsmen. Then the tricky bit began.

See, they're not really big on directions in Japan. So when you click on information for a show on Tokyo Art Beat, you usually get directions along the lines of "3 minutes walk from the JR Ebisu Station on the Yamanote Line." And that's it. No, "take exit 2 and go straight across Naninani dori Street until you reach the 7/11, then turn right..." No nothing! And even if they did provide directions like that, it's not like the Japanese put up street signs or anything. If you're lucky, you might get an oddly placed signpost every 300 meters or so letting you know that you've been going the wrong way on Meiji dori Ave for the past fifteen minutes.

Sometimes, if you go to the venue's website you can look at a little two-inch by two-inch map image that shows you crisscrossing streets with funky arrows and dots and asterisks. But those don't generally do much either.

So, needless to say, it took me an hour and a half of walking in Shinjuku to get to the show, which was only 13 minutes from the JR Shinjuku Station.

But that's totally not at bad thing at all. Not when it's Sunday afternoon at the start of Golden Week in Shinjuku and everyone and their brother is out to see the sights. I had a blast getting lost: finding random shrines cozied up to busy Shinjuku streets and behemothic office buildings dwarfing the plum and cherry trees. Spotting slogans like "Carpe diem" (seize the day) and "Tempus aurum" (time is gold) over the entrances to high tech parking garages. Seeing local pop artists out on the street to promote their albums and club appearances by giving low-budget, do-it-yourself performances for the spectators.

What a city!

Week Three Photos.

Check them out here.

Preparing for Genji.

This week I'll be heading to the Gotoh Art Museum - located outside of Tokyo in Kaminoge - to see their one-week-of-the-year exhibition of the 13th century Tale of Genji scrolls. To that end, I've been reading articles about the Genji monogatari to get myself in the right headspace for them.

Just recently, I read an absolutely beautiful article by Japanese literature scholar Royall Tyler about the relationship between Genji and his beloved wife Murasaki. Throughout, I was struck by Tyler's keen perception of the nuances that color this extraordinary tale, and I wanted to share an excerpt from his conclusion, which takes a long view of the interactions of these two characters and very sympathetically illuminates their follies and tragedy. The text sets a very good tone for my visit, as one the scroll fragments in the Gotoh collection is the painfully beautiful illustration of the Minori Chapter in which Murasaki succumbs to illness and dies.

( Read the excerpt of _I Am I: Genji and Murasaki_ by Royall Tyler here. )