Leaving Tokyo tomorrow for Sado, where I hope to see the Japanese Crested Ibis, or Toki, Japan's national bird with the wonderful Latin name 'Nipponia nippon'. It has been warm these last few days in Tokyo but it's starting to turn colder and it's expected to snow during the two days I plan to be on Sado. I need to find some gloves...
Yesterday and again today has been filled with shopping for items I need that are available only in Japan. Yesterday I secured two of the high-quality brayers I use in making my monotype-based collages at Bumpodo, one of Japan's oldest and best art supply stores. I wandered around the used book district in Jimbocho and stopped in to the English school I taught at when I first arrived in Tokyo. I was vaguely hoping someone (anyone) I once knew was still there, but it's been too long. I tried to visit the Tokyo Kindai Bijutsu Kan (The National Museum of Modern Art), but on a Monday, it was closed. I did, however, see the Fuji Latex building, an old favorite among architectural oddities. It's built in the shape of a ribbed condom. Fuji Latex, as you may have guessed, is one of Japan's leading makers of condoms.
Along the Imperial Palace moat nearby I noticed some varieties of cherries are starting to bloom. One tree was being visited by a pair of Japanese White-eyes and a thrush of some kind. They appeared to be taking nectar from the base of the blossoms, a behavior I've noted before. In the moat were Tufted Ducks. Earlier, in Shinjuku, I saw a Eurasian Tree Sparrow, a bird I had never seen before.
I visited my old haunt, Yoseido Gallery, in Ginza, hoping to see some work by artist Mikio Tagusari. Turns out that the building the gallery has been in for at least 35 years (when I first found the place) is to be torn down and rebuilt. They are moving to a new location. They promised to send me photos of the inventory they have after they've settled in to their new home. While waiting for the gallery to open, I walked around Mitsukoshi department store, foolishly including a visit to the underground food floor, which, on an empty stomach was a mistake.
Construction everywhere. It's always been that way in Tokyo. Turn around and an entire building is shrouded in scaffolding. Turn around again and a new building is in its place. The pace of change can be disorienting even when you live here. It's amplified by a long absence. Walking to the station yesterday morning, I noticed a crew laying asphalt on a little side street. On another, they had finished and laid chalk lines indicated where street markings were to go. On my way back that evening, the work had been finished, with 止まれ (Stop) neatly painted in dazzling white.
Today will mostly be business. Meeting co-workers that I work with daily but have never met. Meeting former co-workers for lunch and other former co-workers later in the day. Preparing for the trip to Sado tomorrow....
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