Rice and Ramen

Last weekend I went to a Japanese festival for the first time in a while, the Kanamara Matsuri. Also known as the Festival of the Steel Phallus. Also also known, more colloquially, as "The Penis Festival." The Kanamara Matsuri is held annually on the first Sunday of April. I actually almost went last year, but Easter was the same day so I elected to go to church at an Episcopal church here in Tokyo, Saint Alban's, instead. This year, with Easter falling so late in the month, there was no such conflict and so together with Troy, who  had gone last year , I headed down to Kawasaki to see what was...up... But before I really dig into the festival itself, I think some context is necessary. The Kanamara Matsuri tends to be lumped into the "wow look at Japan, it's so weird!" mindset. A quick Google search for "Kanamara festival" brings up articles titled "Kanamara Penis Festival Exposed" (some YouTube channel called Only in Japan) or "...

A few weeks ago I got the best news: A museum was reopening in Tokyo. (OK, yes, I probably have gotten better news than that in my life, but this was still pretty good.) The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT)  had been closed for three years in order to renovate the building. And since I only moved to Tokyo just under two years ago, I had not yet gone! I promise, for me this was quite exhilarating. So this past Saturday I took myself all the way out to Kiba Park, where the museum is, on the other side of the city from my apartment. And after a full two hours in its current exhibit, "Weavers of Worlds: A Century of Flux in Japanese Modern/Contemporary Art," I just wandered around taking pictures of some of its better architectural features. Some architecture details: The museum was designed by Takahiko Yangisawa, who also worked on several other notable buildings, such as the MOA Museum in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture (1981); New National Theatre, Tokyo (1997); and To...