NEWS OF TRAVEL JAPAN

“The Last samurai”, a Hollywood movie, depicted deep interaction of minds between an American captain performed by Tom Cruise and a samurai commander performed by Ken Watanabe. The magnificent old wooden houses in the movie ,where they talked with each other on the first meeting, was the temple houses in Enkyo-ji Temple. I heard that the director of the movie was pleased with the cathedral on visiting there by chance and he instantly decided to use the temple houses in the movie. Actually, Enkyo-ji Temple, which is located in a suburb of Himeji City , Hyogo Prefecture, is a good place where people feel something spiritual. It is in a mountain, surrounded by deep forests and has some temple houses which were built more than one thousand years ago. Those show that great assets were donated in an ancient time. In Japan there are some similar place like Enkyo-ji Temple, Koya-san Temple , Enryaku-ji Temple and Chuson-ji Temple . The other three temples except Enkyo-ji Temple are re...

I went to Naoshima Island with my wife to see many contemporary art exhibits. It was our purpose. Nonetheless, it was an unexpected trip to see many works designed by Tadao Ando. Needless to say, he is one of the most popular designers of architecture on a global level. And to talk about the development of contemporary art on Naoshima, it isn’t enough not to refer to the strong wish of Tadao for not only contemporary art but also the revival of Naoshima Island. To say honestly, I didn’t like some works of Tadao, nor did I pay much attention to his works. I felt that his works were too individual and strong. However now, I think that his philosophy of architecture has a value for young people who hope to do their best in the 21st Century. Thus, the change in my opinion of the Tadao’s works shall be of use as a reference to anybody who likes or dislikes Tadao Ando. The works of Tadao on Naoshima Island The Benesse House Museum is the first work designed by Tadao on Naoshima I...

Familiarity of contemporary art Naoshima Island, Kagawa Prefecture, is popular as an island of contemporary art on a global scale. It is in the Setonaikai Sea with a palm sea-face and sun-light. When my wife and I boarded a ferry boat for Naoshima at Uno port in Okayama prefecture, many foreign travelers were on the same boat. After arriving at Miya-no-ura port on Naoshima Island we instantly found the big red pumpkin exhibit created by Yayoi Kusama. It is familiar with visitors, they had been taking commemorative photographs constantly. After several seconds of driving we entered the fields of the Benesse House. On the shore of the field the big yellow pumpkin exhibit by Yayoi was bright in the backland of the sea and the sky. It was popular with visitors as well. The familiarity of the two big pumpkin exhibits is the main essence of her contemporary art. According to such a view point with the familiarity we could see and appreciate many other out-field exhibits of contem...

Before the Meiji Era there wasn’t any internal-combustion engine by coal or gasoline, naturally there wasn’t a steam locomotive nor an automobile. People had to walk or ride a horse or ride a “kago”, a Japanese moving carriage to carry a person by more than two carriers who carried a bar set the carriage on their shoulder, to take a trip to a distant place. Roads that people moved along for a long distance were called “kaido”, a walking highway. Kaido developed in the early time of the Edo Period because not only were they an economic transfer network developed around Japan but also all samurai lords of clans across Japan and samurai officers serving their lords had to come and go between Tokyo and their home clans. Along a kaido there were many post towns which had a lot of hotels for samurais and normal people in any principle places. The kaido between Tokyo and Osaka was the most useful kaido and it was called the Tokaido kaido. The starting town of the Tokaido kaido was Nihonb...

The 21st Century Museum Of Contemporary Art. Kanazawa is very popular since its opening. On August 13 this summer, on visiting there I saw several hundred visitors with foreign travelers waiting for the opening time of the museum. Many guidebooks on traveling in Kanazawa recommend travelers to visit there. The 21st Century Museum Of Contemporary Art. Kanazawa is one of the popular sight-seeing spots in Kanazawa beyond the category of a museum. The birth of the museum The museum was built in 2004 in the center of Kanazawa , near Kenroku Park . It was founded by the strong thoughts of the then mayor, Mr. Yamade. He thought that he wanted to build not only a new-type of museum different from preexisting museums of appreciating pictures or statues, but also a museum that Kanazawa citizens could enjoy during their daily lives. At first He chose a contemporary art museum. Secondly, he chose a unique design like a UFO vessel. The structure is white and has a large flat circle form, ro...

There is an old story in Japan as follows; “A shinto priest in the Kyushu region (which is a big island in the west next to the Honshu Island of Japan) came to the shore at Takasago in Hyogo Prefecture. The time was in spring, the shore had a beautiful group of Japanese pine trees. He heard the sound of a distant temple bell. An aged married couple came there and they began to sweep and clean around the roots of the pine trees. (The priest wondered why they did this.) The aged man said to him quoting from the prologue of the anthology of Japanese poems of the old and current times, “Kokin-wakasyu”; “the pines in Takasago and pines in Sumiyoshi (in Osaka Prefecture) are called the pines going on living with each other, “aioi-no-matsu”. He told the priest about a folklore that those were married couples even far away from each other, and it explained the eternity and the intimacy between the aged couples. All living things, furthermore, all in nature let their hearts get close to th...

Pearls which shines deeply and mysteriously and are globe-shaped, which are different from other stone jewelry, attract people, especially women. A natural pearl is made by a pearl oyster, but a pearl oyster which produces a pearl is very rare with the probability of one in every thousand pearl oysters. So if the method of the man-made pearl production wasn’t invented in Japan, people who can wear them around their necks would be limited. The man who invented the method of the man-made pearl production and the founder of Mikimoto Campany was Kokichi Mikimoto. Mikimoto Pearl Island is in the Toba Harbor nearby the shore of Toba, we can go there across the bridge between the island and the entrance building on the shore. On the island the statue of Kokichi stands looking in a southerly direction, probably to his home region which he loved . His standing shape holding a long cane in his right hand is gallant and cool with a long gown, a scarf and a hat, but his face is very a...