樹霊 by Taro Okamoto

樹霊 by Taro Okamoto

Taro Okamoto museum, Kawasaki

The artwork is designed by Taro Okamoto. It's displaying at his museum. There are a cafe adjacent to the pond.

the summer solstice

source: Google

Google changed their logo with summer solstice last June 22.

The logo was designed by Takashi Murakami. I knew him for the first time when he collaborated on Louis Vuitton.

By the way, the logo contains the word, kaikai kiki (カイカイキキ), that is his company's name.

Kiva

source: kiva.org

I made two loans. It's my 58th kiva loans. I hope to their succeed.

AEON

AEON is a major retailing group in Japan. There is following news about AEON.
Aeon plans to expand its network of shipping mall in Asia outside Japan to about 50 by fiscal 2013, double the current figure.
source: http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/tnks/Nni20110614D14JFA14

I looked over their background.
Firstly, I checked the shopping center industry in Japan. According to Japan Council of Shopping Centers (JCSC), the market size is about 27,000 billion yen and annual SC total sales have been remained since 2001.

In addition, the number of newly-opened shopping center has been decreasing since 2007.

Then, I looked over about AEON’s financial data. I don’t think their business is growing for last five years.

Besides, I checked their sales each segments: GMS and other retail stores, Service and others, Specialty Store, and SC development. Their segment ratio have been changing, I know AEON is focusing on service segment.

In conclusion, SC market in Japan is not growing and SC had already been opened at good location. Then AEON has been changing their operations from GMS to Service in Japan. And now AEON is more focus on Asian markets to expand their business.

Annas Stenar by Thomas Sandell

Annas Stenar, Thomas Sandell

Roppongi Hills, Tokyo

Arch by Andrea Branzi

Arch, Andrea Branzi

Roppongi Hills, Tokyo

This artwork looks like a room. There are not wall so it's open. But I had a impression such as a private space.

I Can't Give You Anything But Love by Shigeru Uchida

I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Shigeru Uchida

Roppongi Hills, Tokyo

The artwork has a title it's a same as a famous jazz tune. I wonder designer has personal feeling for the song.

sKape by Karim Rashid

sKape, Karim Rashid

Roppongi Hills, Tokyo

I looked over about Karim Rashid. He is famous for product designer and I knew some his products.

Chair disappears in the rain by Tokujin Yoshioka

Chair disappears in the rain, Tokujin Yoshioka

Roppongi Hills, Tokyo

It's interesting that this one is an artwork too. The chair is made of glass and it disappears when it's rainy. I want to see the artwork in a rainy day.

Ripples by Toyo Ito

Ripples (波紋), Toyo Ito (伊東豊雄)

Roppongi Hills, Tokyo

The artwork is designed by Toyo Ito who is a famous architect. Personally I like this work. it fits with surrounding.

Park Bench by Jasper Morrison

Park Bench, Jasper Morrison

Roppongi Hills, Tokyo

The artwork is a chair but not just an ordinary chair. It's very long. When I saw the artwork, I can imagine some people siting down on this chair, it would be very comical.

Where did this big stone come from? Where does this river flow into? Where am I going to? by Katsuhiko Hibino

Where did this big stone come from?

Where does this river flow into?

Where am I going to?, Katsuhiko Hibino

Roppongi Hills, Tokyo

This artwork has a very long title. There are some artworks along the street named Keyakizaka-Dori. This artwork is one of those. They are located at both side of the street. If you want to see all artworks, you need to ride on a shuttle.

Taro Okamoto museum of art

Taro Okamoto museum of art, Kawasaki, Kanagawa

I introduced the artworks of Taro Okamoto on this blog.
 - glory
 - sun

I got information about the Taro Okamoto museum of art. I've been dying to go there ever since I knew about the his museum. Finally, I was able to go there last month.

The museum is located in Ikuta ryokuchi park at Kawasaki city. The park is surrounded by small woods aside from it's a green park, it consists several gardens such as iris, rose, and plum garden. It has also some facilities such as a museum of art, museum of old Japanese farm house, and museum of science including planetarium.

By the way, I met strange people in the Ikuta park. Look at below picture.
He was wearing tall stilts. When he rested, I asked him why are you wearing tall stilts. He said, it's for health.

The next of odd people were wearing strange makeup and clothing.

Rose by Isa Genzken

Rose, Isa Genzken

Roppingi Hills, Tokyo

Rose was designed by Isa Genzken. This artwork is placed as symbol of love and beauty at Roppongi Hills.

By the way, the work is 8 meters high. You will know how big it is when you see people under the work of art.

Maman by Louise Bourgeois

Maman, Luise Bourgeois

Roppongi Hills, Tokyo

Maman is a sculpture by Louise Bourgeois. I tried to check about this work. It is interesting to note that Maman is found in various places around the world.

According to wiki, Maman are in the following places:

  - Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri

  - National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario

  - State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

  - Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain

  - Mori Art Museum, Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan

  - Samsung Museum of Modern Art, Seoul, South Korea

  - Pappajohn Sculpture Park, Des Moines, Iowa

By the way, I saw another Maman picture durling looked over on the web. My picture had poor composition... I want to know how to take a good picture.

Harmful rumor

Japanese food has been hit by a harmful rumor, because of the nuclear accident last March 11. Many countries impose an import limit on Japanese food.

I think the Japanese government should create a professional research team that can work with people from other countries. And the team works together to provide appropriate information about this problem.

The reason why I thought of that idea is because if it's only the Japanese government that would provide appropriate information about the issue, other people would probably not believe. But, if the Japanese government would work with people from other countries or they call the third party, there would be more reliability on the information that would be given to the public.

The researched data is also important for other countries which also have a number of nuclear plants.

From the land of memory by Takenobu Igarashi

From the land of memory, Takenobu Igarashi(五十嵐威暢)

Tokyo Midtown, Minato, Tokyo

you can see more of his artworks on the following site.

http://www.igarashistudio.com/en

To the sea of premonition by Takenobu Igarashi

To the sea of premonition, Takenobu Igarashi(五十嵐威暢)

Tokyo Midtown, Minato, Tokyo

NE. Silver, Gold to Platinum by Hisashi Momose

NE. Silver, Gold to Platinum, Hisashi Momose(百瀬 寿)

Tokyo Midtown, Minato, Tokyo

The artwork is made of Japanese paper and platinum leaf. These materials made a beautiful gradation.