The Most Deserving of all the Cliches to be True
Japan - the most magical, the most deserving of all the the cliches to be true, land of cleanliness - and politeness - and helpfulness - and beauty! Ugh - the unending beauty - natural splendor and manmade through craft, care, and, pride. The beauty in everything. The beauty of ritual and tradition. It is a summation of everything Los Angeles is not. I swear, the air just fucking smells better there.
I just spent 10 glorious days there and she was perfect in every way. In an attempt to prolong this trip and, more importantly, calm the slow-burning depression of being back in the mundanity, let me share my favorite moments.
art
My top art moment was the Masahisa Fukase Retrospective (1961-1991) at the Tokyo Photographic Museum. I’m a long-time fan of Fukase through online platforms and books, without having seen them in real life. The chronologically organized exhibition showcased Fukase’s most memorable career series, and was a wonder to experience. I highly recommend becoming versed in Fukase’s works - they’re cheeky and unnerving, with unexpected underpinnings of love.
Wandering through galleries in Roppongi, I felt enlivened by the sunny city day and vacation induced euphoria. In my bright mood, I was drawn to these color scratched drawings by the Swiss artist David Weiss at Taro Nasu gallery, and the glowing, minimal works of Kisho Mwkaiyama at Yutaka Kikutake Gallery. My soul was happy and found its mirrors in the works I discovered - works with brightness that shine through.
I feel so lucky to have seen the Mori Art Museum’s 20th anniversary exhibition, “WORLD CLASSROOM: Contemporary Art through School Subjects.” This was hands down the best institutional exhibition I have ever been to. The curatorial angle allowed for myriad works to be shown in a thematically coherent and accesible way, on-top of the fact that every. single. work. was fascinating, thought-provoking, beautiful, interesting, and challenging. The theme calls to the mission of the Mori Museum as a place for education, stating the show “is an attempt for us to encounter a world we have never seen or known from a wide variety of perspectives, using the subjects we learn at school as a gateway to contemporary art.” SUCH an excellent unifier for welcoming international audiences - we’ve all been subject to these subjects. I was genuinely intrigued by each work and it’s one of the only times I’ve read every single placard without reaching brain-dead status. A few pieces have stayed with me - incessantly poking the back of my brain. Yoneda Tomoko visited the archives of famous figures, and photographed their works through their own glasses, layering point of views: the figure, the artist, and the viewer. See below “Le Corbusier’s Glasses - Viewing his Paris Lecture notes, L’Habitation Moderne”. Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook’s “The Class,” a video installation showing her recorded lecture on the topic of Death to a class of corpses was yes, morbid, but also, slightly hilarious. Especially so when she calls for responses to questions like, “what is death?” and patiently accommodates the classes lack of answers, asking if they “need more time to answer?” And Miyajima Tatsuo fully absorbing, meditative digital work ‘Innumerable Life | Buddha’ composed of a grid of red-faced timers, counting down from 9 at different speeds, is something I desperately just want to spend more time in front of.
drinks
Behind a non-descript wood-paneled door, in the elusive and supremely intimidating Gion district of Kyoto, lies the menu-less Finlandia Bar Gion. The bartender (a Japan native who revealed his favorite spirit is.. tequila!) served me an incredible Corpse Reviver #2 with a Japanese spirited twist: Yaso 151 Fir Tree Gin and, also by Yaso, Protoype #3 Absinthe. Apparently, Japan is getting into the Absinthe game and starting to distill their own versions of this spirit. The absinthe thread continued at Bar Tram - the ‘original absinthe bar of Tokyo.’ A deep dive into Bar Tram’s website shows they’re guided by THE bible, “The Savoy Cocktail Book” and exhibit the typical Japanese attention to craft and detail. The atmosphere was hidden, local, smoking-room only, and, was the nightcap on my trip, serving me the last and my favorite cocktail of our trip.
Other notable drinking dens included the world-ranked SG Club, Orchard Bar, Bar Trench (sister of Bar Tram), and of course, the iconic New York Bar. Oh - and, not pictured, the many canned Suntory Highballs discreetly consumed on late-night city street wanders.
One last shoutout to SG Club for pouring us a tasting of their SG brand Sochu. We were keen on the IMO variety distilled from sweet potatoes.
food
Confession - I ate a lot of 7Eleven sandwiches. Japan has amazing food, food that people line up for hours for. Hours that I as a person with limited time in a country, frankly don’t always want to spend waiting. But we did have incredible food, and I’d recommend all of these (wait times, if applicable, are noted!):
Ginza Bairin (tokyo) the longest running Tonkatsu restaurant in the Ginza neighborhood, the founder is the creator of both the original Tonkatsu sauce and the Katsu-Sando. During a war-time rice shortage, Bairin started serving it’s Tonkatsu on bread - viola! wait time: 90 minutes
Yabu Soba Ueno (tokyo) open since 1892, they have incredible cold soba dipping noodles and beautiful tempura in walking distance from Ueno Park, home to the Tokyo National Museum. It’s a lovely respite from the surrounding chaotic streets packed with tourists, locals, and lots of arcades.
Pizza Studio Tamaki (tokyo) a respite from noodles and ramen, this. pizza. was. amazing. Known for their salted-bottom crust, this was some of the best pizza I’ve had anywhere alongside a shockingly good glass of house-made sangria.
IPPUDO RAMEN (tokyo) ordered at a table-top iPad, this Tonkatsumen (pork-broth) was our favorite ramen just behind the citrusy, chicken broth bowls at Afuri. Confession: both of these now have LA outposts, which makes me feel slightly like a bad cliche diner, but also, let’s spread the love and be happy for their deserved international expansion.
GONTARO (kyoto) Udon & Soba noodle specialist in walking distance of Kinkaku-Ji, well-portioned thick, chewy udon noodles are served in traditional tatami dining overlooking a gorgeous little rock courtyard.
Gyu-Katsu Kyoto (kyoto) Wagyu Tonktatsu delivered to you rare, but served with a table-top grill so it can be finished to your preference. Dip in the curry mmmmm. wait time: 40 minutes
I missed out on getting Okinawa and Kakigori, and a good sushi experience (a slightly hungover, Omakase lunch is not recommended). But I’ll take any reason to go back soon.
touristy things
We did not take the road less traveled. We stayed on the straight and narrow journey of the typical tourist when it came to visiting historical sights - sling bags, shoulder-strap cameras, and Trader Joes snack packs in all. But ahhh - they’re well deserved cliches! Kyoto was our central ‘historical’ sight destination, aside from a few hours spent wandering the Tokyo National Museum and a meander down the Golden Gai district. In Kyoto we visited Kinkaku-ji (the golden temple), Fushimi Inari Taishi (the over-photographed Shinto shrine with a path of 1000 red gates), and Kiyomizu-dera (Buddhist temple with a suicide stage - google it). I can admit defeat, and say 1,399,000 people have written better content about these sights. Seek them out for history and guidance. But I can say these are all worth fighting the crowds to see in person. Photos above by the mega-talented Tanner Nemith.