Vendredi 20 Octobre

Aujourd'hui, c'est la saint Adeline en France.
Au Japon bien-sûr personne n'est au courant mais j'ai quand même passé une très bonne journée à l'université.
Dans mon atelier, nous sommes trois, les trois doctorants de première année dans la section peinture à l'huile. Hisako, une de deux autres étudiants, est venu voir l'avancement de mes projets.

Je continue à peindre mon pégase et je prépare mon prochain dessin.
Un de mes professeurs (Mr. SUWA Atsushi) m'a prêté un crane de cheval et j'ai fabriqué une corne de licorne en plâtre. Je commencerai le dessin dans une semaine je pense.

"Twenty-four Eyes" cinema studio

I had the chance to visit the "Twenty four Eyes" studio, created after the success of the movie Twenty four Eyes. I was the first time i visited a studio, it was very beautiful and the explanation of the guide helped us to understand more about the history of the japanese cinema and more about the place itself.
We tried an ice-cream made of soy sauce, it was delicious!

Shodoshima, the Contemporary Art island

Shodoshima is a island with a lot of contemporary Art.

It is a great place for Art lovers.

Ritsurin Kouen in Takamatsu

The Ritsurin Kouen is one of the most beautiful garden I ever saw in Japan, and it is huge! (Around 750 000m2)

There is a lot of ponds and hills, very beautiful trees and some pavillons in which you can drink tea and eat japanese sweets (wagashi).

The north part is in a japanese style, and the south one is more like western style gardens. I recommend this place if you want to relax yourself while admits the beauty of the garden, and enjoy a delicious refreshment.

Handmade udon

In Takamatsu we made Udon, which is a japanese meal who looks like large pasta.
We mix all the ingredients at first with hands, and then by walking upon with our feet. It was a fun experience.
Then we ate the udon with some other japanese food, like tempuras, shrimps and nimono. It was delicious! The udon are very quick to prepare, just a few minutes and it is fine.
We received some udon and I ate it with my friends when I came back home. Everybody was happy to try handmade udon!

Lunch in Ginza

I tried for the first time the japanese wine, it was very good. But the best part of the meal was the rice. It was absolutely delicious, almost transparent. The sashimi, the tempura and the different okazu were perfect too.

Shrine Fukutoku

In Tokyo we visited a small shrine (jinja) in Ginza, at about 10minutes from the Nihonbashi bridge I was mentioning in the previous article. We learn about the way to make a prayer in a japanese shrine and about this shrine history. The guide explained us that a long time ago, during the Edo period, the shogun Tokugawa spotted a new sprout, on the bark of the sawtooth oak gate, and the shrine became also called the "Mebuki Inari" (sprouting shrine). It is a very beautiful place in the middle of Tokyo, and I like the contrast with the buildings around.