Foundation Louis Vuitton Exhibition

Building in Paris by Frank Gehry
Exhibition venue : Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo
October 2015 - January 2016

This exhibition took my breath away. Completely. I was totally in awe. The project itself is super nice. The exhibition tell a story about the design process, an experiment on planning programs, making form, reaching for something different. It is also incredible to see how far nowadays technology can bring us and how far more it can possibly take us to.

* iPhone6 snapshot

Allpress Espresso

I think this is quite a famous roastery for all the monocle subscriber or coffee geek.

Anyway, it is a roastery established in New Zealand and go worldwide to Australia, England, and of course, Japan.

Allpress Espresso

Tokyo Roastery and Cafe

Located nearby the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Kiyosumi Shirakawa station on Hanzomon line. I go there quite often these days because it is in my neighborhood. So nice to have such a nice coffee in walking distance from home. I am in love with flat white and some bread in the morning!

Not only they brew great coffee, but their breads, sandwiches, and plates are also amazing.

Pacific Drive-In

Late spring, early summer, we headed to a seashore not so far from Tokyo. Well, when I say not so far in this case, it took us about 2 hrs with normal train. It isn't far enough to have shinkansen connects to the capitol.

Our destination is the cafe & restaurant called, Pacific Drive-In. Locate just beside the beach, facing the ocean in the Sagami Bay, not really the Pacific ocean. Nice place, nice view, long qued, and the food is not bad either.

iPhone 5S

Tamozawa Imperial Villa

In the middle of April, early spring, the weather has gone totally strange here in Japan. We encountered snow storm in Saitama. I wasn't there but my friends were and the temperature dropped quite a lot as well in Tokyo.

I bought a JR Kanto pass, used it for one-day snowboard trip in Gala Yuzawa and another day to Nikko. Shinkansen from Tokyo station to Ochanomizu, then change to Nikko line. It was raining and unexpectedly freaking cold. We have no certain plan so I just checked out the jepanguide website to see where should we go. I chose this imperial villa because I always have interest in these kind of buildings and it was definitely a worthily visit.

Just a brief, Tamozawa Imperial Villa is a combination of Edo and Meiji period architecture, some part of the residence were moved from Tokyo in 1899. Before that, the building was under Tokugawa family and later became a summer villa for the imperial family. But after the WWII, it was neglected and just been restored and opened to public in 2000.

: OLYMPUS35DC x KODAK PORTRA400 :

Hiroshi Senju Museum

I first known Hiroshi Senju when I was in Naoshima last autumn. There is one of the art house that called, Ishibashi, where his painting was exhibited along the well-renovated traditional house. Hiroshi Senju is a Japanese painter. His famous works are the series of 'Waterfalls'. They were stunning.

Hiroshi Senju Museum is located in Karuizawa, Nagano prefecture. The town itself is famous for its number of summerhouse. It is a summer getaway for the rich Japanese, as for what I've heard. It took less than 1hr and a half to get there (from Tokyo station). The museum was designed by Ryue Nishizawa which is another reason why I really wanted to visit it so bad.

'Senju asked me to create and open, luminous space where people would observe his works, relax and spend time in contemplation. The museum, which gently hugs the natural slope of the site, has lighting controlled by deep eaves, silver screens, and UV cut glass while allowing in the greenery. The open space was designed to unite Karuizawa's nature and Senju's art. I wanted to create a union of park and space that felt as inviting as a private living room.' , Ryue Nishizawa, the architect.

: OLYMPUS35DC x KODAK PORTRA400
and a snapshot of an interior which I took a quick shot while the automatic door hadn't closed yet.