Earth Day

Sunday was earth day here in Japan, and I guess america as well. Of course, I didn't know this until I stumbled upon the celebration in Yoyogi park. But that comes later.

Sunday morning, Tyisha and I met Yukari and a friend of Tyisha's, Ben, at Roppongi station.
Roppongi area is a very down tow, kinn upscale shopping, art and whatever you want to find kind of area. I'd only ever really been there at night before. basically at night there's the cheap and sketchy area for poor people like me, and then the really nice expensive people where models and lots of rich foreigners like to hang out. That's the thing about Roppongi. I know of no other place in Tokyo that has so many foriegners, even more so than Sophia! Seriously, when I'm there I see more foriegners than Japanese people! Of course, a lot fo the foriegners in this area probably actually live and work in Japan.

In any case, our group was meeting at Roppongi so we could check out the Parisian Artist's exhibit at the rather new National Art Center, Tokyo. The main reason I wanted to go is because I thought it was a Chaggall exhibit and Yukari loves chaggall and I wanted to learn more about him. But it was more on a lot of different artists, including Picasso and some other big names. I liked the first half of the exhibit and then it got into some post modern stuff which I don't know much about and find a lot harder to appreciate unless I can get some info on the piece. Unfortunatly, everything was in Japanese and french so it was hard for me to get much information.


After that we grabbed lunch at an all you can eat Indian restaurant. I am still digesting all the Nan (sp?) bread I ate while I was there...it was soooo delicous and the staff was really polite. PLus the restaurant played bollywood films and I just adore that!

For dessert we were going to go to coldstone but the line was around the building. Apparently coldstone is pretty new and hopin here. At least it wasnt a 3 hour wait like when I tried to go to krispy kreme.


After that We headed for harajuku. On sunday's people gather on a bridge near the station and display whatever they like. Many people dress up in the, now, somewhat famous "harajuku style" from gothic lolita looks to cosplay. There are also random entertainers and some people sell art work. I'm thinking next sunday I'll go and sketch people for 300 yen a pop. How's that for an Arubaito(part time job)?

In any case...these were my favorites:


This guy was hilarious. All he did was stand there with that sign and kind of swagger his knees and hips. At one point he looked at me and did the slimiest wink grin thing I've ever seen, but it was more funny and scary. I beleive he was advertising a circus of some sort. I did take a flyer but I can't read most of it.


This group of Elvis impersonators were also pretty entertaining. They mostly kind of turned on some loud music and did all the classic elvis moves. I watched them pose with a child. They seemed pretty friendly...I should have gotten a picture with them.


This last group was actually furthur inside yoyogi park. they were practicing fake combat. It was pretty neat but I can tell they probably havnt had much real martial arts training based on their footwork, bent wrists, and other little giveaways. Then again, I dont know much about the types of weapons they were "using" but I can't imagine any sort of fighting style looking so loose. still, they were obviously really into it.



After that we wandered furthur into the park and stumbled upon the earthday celebration. Seriously, it was hippie town. What I love about Japan is the intense niche groups almost anything you can think of can gather...from gospel music, to lolita style, to hippidom. I really enjoyed wandering through this little festival although I was disapointed at how many fliers there were everywhere (an awful waste of trees for people who claim to care so much about earth). The best performance here was by a band and belly dancer. Very nice. Made me think of Jessie.


In any case...
It was a very full and fun day.
More pictures in the new photo album: Earth Day!

In other news:
I will have a post about kyudo up shortly, Im just very tired these days...

Much Love!