February 1, 2009 by pablo ripolles
The story is simple as can be. She was sitting behind me, but I hadn’t seen her. I was very concentrated expecting to spot the Mount Fuji in any other moment. Suddenly I just realized this kogal was sitting behind me. I kindly asked her whether I could take some pictures, she didn’t speak a word of english but seemed very pleased. Then I proceed among some written text messages as this was the only way she could understand me.
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February 1, 2009 by pablo ripolles
Yes, I have to admit I’m a horrible tourist. I arrived in Kyoto a bit late in the evening, it was cold and rainy… finally I found a place to stay. Next morning I was about to discover the marvels of this historic beautiful city. I really didn’t have a checklist but there was obviously one floating around. In the meantime I had to eat something so after a bit of walking I discover this wonderful restaurant.
That night I received an email from a Japanese friend who offer to show me personally the way to Kamakura. I have to say that Kamakura is also a historic beautiful city in the neighborhood of Tokyo but not as relevant as Kyoto. Well, I couldn’t resist. I immediately change my plans… The next morning I would take the Shinkansen back to Tokyo. Some of my thinkings: the buildings will be here many years to come, the people not; besides, years after my visit I’ll remember any human relation better than any beautiful building. The following are the pictures I took in the way to Kyoto train station.
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February 1, 2009 by pablo ripolles
Time to take the Shinkansen, also known as bullet-train, and visit Kyoto. This was one of the earliest ideas that appear to me when I started to think about coming to Japan. After a day of recovering the time had came… I have to admit I was a bit lazy about this movement though. I did it anyway and here you can see the related pictures.
Conclusion #1, the Shinkansen is extremely clean.
Conclusion #2, the Shinkansen is extremely fast.
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January 29, 2009 by pablo ripolles
The first full day at Komagome’s place I really needed to do nothing, I was overwhelmed… I stayed at home the whole day, it was cold and rainy so that wasn’t that bad after all. This was the appropriate moment to update this blog and by the afternoon we enjoyed a wonderful dinner with the help of Miu.
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January 29, 2009 by pablo ripolles
On January 20th our work for the exhibition had ended and we had to check out the hotel, a new adventure was about to begin. This was the day I moved my luggage to Alvaro’s & Monica’s place. The live in a cozy little apartment in the neighborhood of Komagome. Before meeting Alvaro, I spend the morning in Akihabara buying a couple of things and visiting ICC (by the Opera Palace) which is indeed very impressive! Not many pictures I took that journey.
It is interesting to observe the differences in the metro/train “world” such as the following illustrates.
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January 23, 2009 by pablo ripolles
Monday 19th was the first day we had completely free. By noon I met Hiroko Myokam who kindly was willing to show me the geekest face of Akihabara which is a special area of Tokyo very popular among the geeks, but also among many new media artists (ain’t they geeks?). In this area there are many big department stores essentially dedicated to the electric and electronic devices ready to be mass consumed. These are some casual pictures I took during my walk with Myokam sen.
However, apart from the big department stores above mentioned, it is not difficult to find a semi-hidden network of low celling narrow tunnels distributed among different levels of the big buildings that conform a block. Sometimes these tunnels go from underground floors up to a third or even fourth floor. They are very labyrinthian indeed! Well, as you can see, these tunnels are full of little shops where they sell quite low level electronic components.
Actually, wandering the streets of Akihabara can be very fascinating as it is easy to spot some otaku walking by or maids promoting cosplay restaurants.
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January 22, 2009 by pablo ripolles
A private inauguration occurred on January 16th, the public opening happened on January 17th. Almost 1000 people visited the hibiya-patio the first day as well as the second day.
The private inauguration was not more than a formal mutual acknowledgement of the exhibition that was about to be opened, but of course with delicious sushi!
The opening day started as sunny as it could be. The manifestations of fascination and excitement on behave of the audience occurred performance after performance, not only the first day but the second day too. What a wonderful experience!
The performances driven by Theo, Loek and me continued the second day. Many people I met during those two days, amazing!
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January 22, 2009 by pablo ripolles
Although during the days we spend setting up the beast we had almost no free time, we still had to eat and walk between the hotel and the tent. These are casual pictures I took in the different quotidian situations we experienced.
A van in Japan can be really small and compact but still a van.
He spoke very little English and she was very natural as if I were not there taking the picture…
A mobile coffe shop very cozy indeed…
This Chinese restaurant was very popular, you could eat really good!
Many contrasts and differences, some very dramatic, some very subtle but all make this country very exotic and fascinating…
And thanks to Loek! this illustrates the interaction I had with him…
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January 22, 2009 by pablo ripolles
During the following four days, we spend mainly all our time in setting up the beasts. There were many more fossils than in Madrid plus the two alive ones we had in Madrid: Animaris Ordis and Animaris Modularius. One of the coziest parts of the exhibition was an intimate reproduction of Theo’s Delft old studio.
The firsts days while working in the tent it was really cold and it was amazing how the staff were using warming patches. These warming patches were a kind of sticker that once opened and sticked on one of your inner layers of cloth it would make you warm.
Once the beasts were almost finished we were introduced to the staff that would be informing the visitors about Theo’s work for the coming months. They were quite curious about many details as well as fascinated, it was an anticipation of the reactions we were about to observe.
The staff were supplied with a production limited fleece which had Theo’s name stamped on it, this was a signal of how a big event this was going to be.
Explaining and understanding the working details of Animaris Sabulosa is not at all so easy…
Theo spend some time explaining the working details and evolution ideas behind each and every one of the fossil beasts.
Finally some time for autographs…
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January 21, 2009 by pablo ripolles
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