Feb 24, 2008
Fountains pens are one of those little luxuries which I particularly enjoy. Feeling the smooth flow of ink across the page is a very pleasurable experience, that despite advances in writing technology over the past 100 years, has still not been replaced. I still remember being terribly proud when my teacher at primary school judged my penmanship good enough to graduate from the humble pencil to a fountain pen. I wonder if children in New Zealand still enjoy this? Or do they go straight from pencil to myspace?
Last weekend we were going book shopping in Yaesu, near Tokyo Station when we stumbled upon the Pilot Pen Museum. There are so many little museums scattered around Tokyo that it can be fun to see what finds when out for a wander. The Pilot Pen Station is a Museum and Cafe with a neat display of writing implements - both produced by Pilot as well as outlining the development of writing instruments through out the ages.
There is a cafe on the first floor, non-smoking through-out. It looked pretty standard for a Japanese cafe and we didn’t try what they had on offer. The museum itself is on the second floor - up a staircase which quite ingeniously traces the history of the Pilot Corporation up each of the steps. One of the highlights of the museum was their collection of maki-e fountain pens. I had seen these before in department stores around Tokyo but didn’t know too much about them. They are made using a special lacquer coating process and then have very beautiful individual designs drawn on them. Very Japanese and beautiful to look at.
The museum is open Monday to Friday from 9:30am to 5pm and Saturdays 11am to 5pm, closed Sunday and National Holidays. Admission is free and they also accept Pilot brand fountain pens and the more exclusive Namiki brand pens for repairs. The museum is easy to get to - one minute from the Ginza Line Kyobashi Station (if coming from Shibuya), 3 minutes from the Takaracho Station on the Asakusa Line (if coming from Ueno / Asakusa) and 8 minutes walk from the Yaesu Exit of JR Tokyo station.
Having visited the Pilot Pen Station museum I had a bit of a poke around on the internet to see what I could find. Pilot themselves don’t have much of an English website. But I found an interesting interview over at the perennial purveyors of pulsating missives - pingmag - with The God of Fountain Pens. As well as that, I found an informative page about the pen museum at Tokyo Fountain Pen Scene (complete with map). The person responsible for that site also sells fountain pens on ebay - here is his page. He seems to have a good selection of pens for sale. (I have no relation with what he is selling btw).
Finally Pentrace East has quite an indepth guide to fountain pen culture in Tokyo. I didn’t realise there was so much to do related to fountain pens in Tokyo - that page has recommendations for a couple of days of pen related sightseeing in the capital alone!
Feb 14, 2007
Another video I thought I would share for you. This time it is a documentary piece about British artist Stephen Wiltshire. The video shows him drawing Tokyo from memory whilst at the Mori Gallery in Roppongi.
The video is interesting both for Wiltshire’s prodigious feat of memory - the entire drawing was done from memory after a half hour flight over Tokyo, and also for the uncanny fashion with which he captures the alien landscape of Tokyo, the mass confusion of buildings and humanity interspersed with the odd remnant of nature.
Also it brought back strong memories of the two years we lived in Tokyo. Tokyo in many ways is a machine that draws one in like a magical beast. After a while one forgets that there are mountains and forests in Japan, that there are rice fields and bear tracks in the snow.
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Stephen Wiltshire Draws Tokyo
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From The Stephen Wiltshire Gallery Website:
Stephen Wiltshire was born in London to West Indian parents on 24th April, 1974. His mother, Geneva Wiltshire had come from St Lucia and his father, Colvin, from Barbados. Colvin was killed in a motorcycle accident when Stephen was three years of age. His sister, Annette, is two years older than her brother. He lives with his mother in West London.
As a child, Stephen was mute and did not relate to other human beings. Aged three, he was diagnosed as autistic. He had no language, uncontrolled tantrums and lived entirely in his own world.
At the age of five, Stephen was sent to Queensmill School in London, a school for children with special needs, where it was noticed that the only pastime he enjoyed was drawing. It soon became apparent he communicated with the world through the language of drawing; first animals, then London buses, and finally buildings. These drawings show a masterful perspective, a whimsical line and reveal a natural innate artistry.
Dec 1, 2006
They are the back bone of cricket in Japan, and if you are vegetarian they offer choice and variety rarely found in other ethnic food on these pacific isles. Where would we be without our friends from the sub-continent?
Mantra is a restaurant proudly boasting the best the sub-continent has to offer. Located near Omiya Station , (close to Tokyo on the Keihin-Tohoku, Shonan-Shinjuku as well as numerous other lines) this restaurant brings a taste of the Himalayas to both visitors to Tokyo and locals alike - at very reasonable prices.
We were lucky just after returning from our overseas jaunt to visit Mantra while we were on our way back to Akita (the friends we stayed with, and who kindly took us to the restaurant have just finished designing Mantra’s new website). We had had Pakistani food in Kashgar quite some months before, so we were really hanging out to get our chompers around some tasty curry and naan. And they didn’t let us down.
My pick of their menu would have to be the Palak Paneer, a mouth-watering spinach based curry just waiting to be scooped up with their delicious garlic naan (I recently had a similar dish here in Tsukuba, but unfortunately it wasnt quite up to the same standards). For the more knowledgeable patrons out there, they are also quite chuffed when you ask them to prepare something a little more esoteric.
The atmosphere is pretty laid back with some cool Buddhist statues on display. The owner is from Nepal, and the chef’s hail from India.
So if you are looking for a change of pace, and are in the Omiya area (some cool parks around there too, if you want to escape the concrete jungle) then head on down to Mantra for some great Indian and Nepali fusion and enjoy. I heartily recommend it!
May 22, 2005
http://www.fujixerox.co.jp/company/social/4_11.html
It is not surprising that a company which specialises in reproduction should bring have its own gallery that specialises in printmaking.
I was lucky to have some free time last week so I thought I would check the gallery out. Currently showing is an exhibition from the collection of works by the American artist Louise Nevelson (1899-1988). I didn’t enjoy the exhibition very much though - I found it horribly minimalist, very muted tones and forms without a great deal of light or love. Of course Nevelson is more well known for her sculpture. These works were definitely a product of the 1970’s and they haven’t aged well. We need jouissance.
The Art Space by Fuji Xerox is located in Akasaka and is a short walk from TammeikeSanno station. There is a map here (in Japanese). The gallery itself is located on the second floor (take the elevators to the right as you come in) and is open from 10 am through to 5:30 pm weekdays. Admission is free.
The next exhibition scheduled is Max Ernst. It opens on the 27th of July and runs through till early September.
