The first half of April, we enjoyed spring in Tokyo.
As the weather started to warm up, we saw tons more cherry blossoms bloom, hustled a lot, went out to dance parties, and hung out with friends, and started taking Japanese classes.
Life settled into a bit of a rhythm for us and our days were filled with blossoms, friends, dancing, and good food.
Yushi and Thalia invited us (and Shingo) over to make Takoyaki at their place! It was delicious and great to hangout with these lovely people outside of Hustle.
Our friend Jackie came to Tokyo and we got to have a couple lovely hangouts together! We went to the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden for a picnic to catch the last of the cherry blossoms.
J On April 16th, I entered my first Locking battle in Japan: “Stepping Out!”. It was what the Japanese Lockers described as a “small” battle but had approx. 40 people enter! Which to me is a lot! The music was all classic Locking tracks, and there were good cyphers during the breaks despite the venue being super tiny. I mostly entered just for fun and to meet Japanese Lockers but I ended up getting 2nd place! I left feeling pretty proud of myself!
Here’s a video of my prelim round (I have more footage and I will share it on request! It’s just too much data to put all on WordPress).
On April 18, we set out on a 5-day trip to Seto Inland Sea.
The Seto Inland sea is home to a cluster of islands most well-known as the “contemporary art islands of Japan”. They’re beautiful, peaceful islands where an effort to preserve old housing and revive the islands has resulted in several art installations and galleries throughout the islands.
We visited Naoshima, Teshima, and Inujima. Naoshima is the most famous and definitely the busiest; Inujima was furthest by ferry and therefore so peaceful we felt we had the art-filled island all to ourselves.
We stayed in Tamano, a nearby port town with surprisingly good food, and took the ferry to the islands each day.
Naoshima
We spent our first full day in Naoshima, where we rented bikes and zipped around in the sun. We visited Chichu Art Museum and all the different houses of the Art House project. Many exhibits did not allow photos, though!
Yayoi Kusama’s famous Yellow Pumpkin, one of two unofficial mascots of Naoshima.
We wandered aimlessly whene we first got on our bikes, simply enjoying the feeling of riding bikes again – then we stumbled upon the workshop where these buoy frogs were made! We saw them all over the island.
One of the only areas we could take photos in the Chichu Art Museum. The museum housed only a few pieces of art – the brutalist architecture of the museum itself was a highlight, too.
J One art house in particular really stuck with me. Minamidera housed James Turrell’s work Backside of the Moon: you’re lead into a pitch black room with 15 other people and sat down on a bench. Your eyes eventually adjust and you see a white screen in the distance. The guides invite you stand and explore and you get to slowly experience the realization that the screen isn’t solid, but you can put your body through it. To me it felt like glitching through a wall in a video game. Very neat experience! I loved the use of illusion and perception with light to mess with the audience’s brain.
Inujima
On our second day, we went to the smallest of the three islands, Inujima. The island used to have a copper refinery, which closed in 1919 but is now the space for the Inujima Seirensho Art Museum.
Inujima also had an Art House project. This one played with mirrors in a super fun way!
Photos weren’t allowed in the Inujima Serensho Art Museum, but we really, really enjoyed it. The first artwork you encounter played with mirrors and perception and illusions, and was Wei-Wei’s favourite artwork she’s seen in all of the art islands! You should just experience that one for yourself!
There was more art utilizing illusion that we enjoyed, and we managed to walk around the whole island in a short amount of time. It was basically deserted and it was honestly lovely to enjoy this beautiful place at a slow pace in solitude. So many beautiful places we go while travelling come with the cost of crowds of people, so this was refreshing!
Teshima
Day 3 was the middle-sibling of an island called Teshima. It’s another beautiful place to explore, although it was a little rainy during our bike rides around. Teshima Art Museum has a main exhibit called “Matrix” where you stand in a very striking dome structure and watch water bubble out of holes in the ground. It was very meditative, and reminded Jonny of the joy of racing raindrops on windows as a kid. (Photos weren’t allowed, so here’s a photo from their website lol.)
It was rather rainy… great vibes, though.
Naoshima II
We zipped to Naoshima early morning on Day 4, since we were returning to Tokyo later that afternoon. We visited Bennesse House museum and the Valley Gallery, which we’d missed last time.
Okay, this was so silly but I loved noticing this at Bennesse House Museum. Looks just like a lovely lookout point for the view of the bay, right? Wrong.
Our first day walking around Naoshima, we’d noticed what looked like a framed photograph in the distance across the bay, and thought it was curious, but moved on. But then checking out these Hideo Sugimoto Seascapes, we finally realised that it was a framed photograph in the distance – an easter egg Seascape.
Yayoi Kusama’s work at the Valley Gallery.
And then – you think it’s just a painting of a yellow and black boat in a dock? Wrong. Look out there! There’s a yellow and black boat in the bay, too!
I declare my version of this piece “4 Chattering Men”.
After a night’s rest in Tokyo, we jumped back on the Shinkansen to Kanazawa.
Since we had planned our Seto Inland Sea and Nakasendo trips so close together, we did the math and decided to get a 14-day unlimited Japan Rail pass for all our trips. So between our two bigger trips, we decided to zip to Kanazawa for one night!
Kanazawa
Kanazawa was short and sweet! We stayed for just one night. The town is known for its beautifully preserved Edo-era chaya districts, where geishas used to (and still do!) reside and entertain guests. We also checked out Myouryuji, the “Ninja Temple”, a unique temple with lots of cleverly hidden defenses. We also visited Kenroku-en, one of Japan’s most beautiful “perfect gardens”.
Higashi-chaya by night.
We spotted a geisha in Nishi-chaya purely by chance!
One of the teahouses in Higashi-chaya was actually open to the public, and we had a spontaneous, peaceful matcha right before catching our train back to Tokyo.
Then, we headed back to Tokyo just in time to catch Hustle Break Tokyo’s 10-year anniversary event! Both of us entered the hustle battle, which was a nerve-wracking, out-of-body experience for WW as it was her first “battle” experience! WW got paired with the first friend we made in Japan – Shingo!
For more photos, check out this post.
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