The Weekend Review

This weekend was an activity blitz for me and everyone else- we had one of our once-monthly national holidays on Monday (one of the nice things about Japan), so people took off for regions afar. I would have as well, but I had a car rental to attend to, so I made the most of my time off by going to nearby Niigata and checking out the sights. Events happened as follows-

Saturday:

The doorbell interrupted my late, towel-clad breakfast. I threw on a robe and answered the door to find three Jehovah's witnesses. I can't say I was terribly pleased that I had been dragged out from under my warm kotatsu to be proselytized in a language at yet which I am hardly proficient, so I told them that I had been a Theology student in college (a generous misrepresentation, to say the least, but I only know "shingaku," or "theology," and not the words to add the proper softness such as "minor" or "dilettante"), and that I was not interested in their special English language Bible study magazine. I was pretty polite, but still couldn't help but wonder whether they couldn't find anything better to do. I also have to wonder about their success rate- Japan is a very secular country that doesn't lend itself easily to the adaptation of Christianity (the whole "upside down kingdom" bit is much more radical in a country with a rigid social hierarchy than in the chaotic West), to say nothing of the Japanese Jehovah's witnesses' take on blood.


After failing to get saved, I went down to Niigata-shi to look at the Bandaijima Museum of Contemporary Art. It was chiefly devoted to one artist, who, in terms of modeling form, well... I'm sure he tried very hard. Apparently all his models were clothed in an inky mist, pierced only by the periodic effulgent body part. It wasn't a bad museum, but it was smaller than I would have liked, and the stronger work was all by different artists towards the end. It is, however, in the Toki Messe Convention Center, so I also went up to the free observation deck to have a look. Here are the pics-








This view provides a pretty good idea of Niigata-shi in terms of size, as well as Niigata-ken's climate and general environment. The observation deck is a sweet new deal, complete with a swank coffee bar and big plushy couches. Worth a visit, if ever you are in Niigata.

Sunday-

I took a 6-hour round-trip train ride to iron out 15 minutes of negotiations and paperwork for my rental car, which I will retrieve from the same location next week. Such is life. I decided to console myself by going to another art museum, this one the Niigata-shi Bijutsukan (page in Japanese). The collection features a very small number of very big names- Picasso, Redon, and Boccioni were all represented, but only with one piece a piece. The museum would have been an interesting but brief diversion were it not for an art show by the Niigata-ken artists council, which proved to be quite interesting. It held a colorful array of styles, everything from severe but well-rendered still life to paintings with whimsical and unidentifiable subjects, if indeed subjects they had. As the only foreigner at the event, I was also something of a celebrity, with the president of the council coming over (woman with short, spiky, fluorescent red hair- aged 50) and explaining everything at length to me in rather good English. Overall, a good event.

Monday-

Spent reading The Good Earth (which I highly recommend) and cleaning my apartment. I've also managed to acquire some acrylic paints (no mean feat here), and am trying to think of painting ideas.

For now, that's about the size of it. I'm off to plan a lesson for my 3rd graders, and have some lunch.