Last day in Tokyo

What a great day, I've been all over the place, up and down escalators, on and off of trains, in and out of stations and I haven't got lost once....well, not exactly.

This is the Japan Folk Crafts Museum, situated in a pretty suburb, with roads lined with dogwood trees in full bloom. It was my first port of call this morning and was fascinating. What a superb building. 

Unfortunately photography wasn't allowed so I can't show you any of the beautiful contents, but you can see some of the amazing collection on their web site.

After that I headed back to Shibusa for lunch. This was my place of choice today, encouraged in by that lady on the doorstep.

And this is what I ate, meat, fish and vegetables with noodles. It was very good, mighty filling and I burned my tongue.

Next I headed off to the International School, where I met up with Steve Tootell. I did a demo for his class and then gave a throwing lesson. It was really enjoyable and very satisfying, they were a lovely bunch of kids.

Steve had arranged with another teacher for us to have a jam in the school music studio, so we recorded a somewhat shabbily played demo, which was great fun and a nice thing to have as a momento. Here's Steve mixing the track down.

Then Steve and I headed out for dinner in one of his favourite eateries. It was great to sit and chat about life and pottery and mutual friends. Here are some more food pictures

This was a kind of whitebait on a bed of puree radish, served cold.

Followed by these little nuts that were a bit like sweet chestnuts. This was freshly cooked in front of us on hot charcoal.

Next was this chicken, with a herb that is unique to Japan, I don't remember its name.

Then chicken with plum sauce and more of said herb.

Next up, mushrooms stuffed with pork

Then green pepper with melted cheese, wrapped in bacon

all washed down with copious amounts of lager and a sour lemon and sake drink.

We said our farewells and went our separate ways. It was very pleasant indeed, I've been so well looked after here.

Full of good food and drink, I climbed aboard my train and proceeded to doze off. When I awoke I was much further along the line than I was supposed to be, so I then had to travel half way back again. It was good to get back to the hotel for the last time and kick my boots off from my tired feet.

Tomorrow Koi, the gallery owner is going to collect me in the morning and we'll head off by road to Mashiko and the next leg of my adventure. He's been so kind to me and organised my schedule on this trip when I really hadn't a clue. Mashiko is a town of many potters, it will be fascinating. I'm not sure if I'll have internet access when I get there, but if I do, I'll let you know what's going on. If not, I'll be back soon with words and pictures. Thank you very much for all of your comments and words of encouragement on my recent posts, they are much appreciated. Time for bed for me now, goodnight all.

Back

 Evening all. Here I am, wide awake again in the middle of the night. I'm really not coping well with this jet lag and the change of my time clock. I feel exhausted during the late afternoon, need to doze in the early evening, then I'm wide awake until the early hours, making the mornings a real struggle. I've had a couple of migraines since getting here. No doubt I'll get in to the whole groove of this place, just in time to go home.

I surprised myself today, by making it to town and back without getting lost. It's all very confusing, but the people here clearly sense that I'm completely out of my depth and have been very happy to help me. Standing looking puzzled, trying to read my guide book this morning, a kindly woman stopped and showed me how the ticket machines work at the station and pointed me in the right direction. More about today in a bit, but first of all, here are some more pictures from yesterday.

The chap on the left is the director of the Tamba Pottery Museum. He bought one of my lidded jars. It's been interesting, because lots of people have asked me what my jars are used for. I hadn't really thought of that before, they're just jars that you can put stuff in.

The lady in the middle of this picture is Atsuko Matano. I was thrilled to meet her. She is an incredible designer and artist, with whom I've connected in the virtual world, so to meet her in person has been a real highlight of this trip. How the internet has changed the world is incredible.

This is Mr Hirayama's beautiful family. His children are so sweet. I think they thought my westerner's big nose was rather amusing. They were a real delight bless them, the littlest one kept holding my hand. I'm sure I will see them all again some day.

Yesterday evening I was taken out to dinner by these lovely folk. The lady runs the pottery workshop next door to the gallery and the chap is one of her students.

We went to a restaurant that specialized in cooking eel. It was absolutely delicious. The fish are boiled in a stock made from soy sauce and sake, to which chopped onions and spices were added

More eels - really tasty. I had raw eel earlier in the day too. It's not a fish I would think of eating back at home, but I will do now.

Afterwards they took me to this beautiful temple and a speedy sightseeing car journey round the centre of Tokyo. It was amazing, they were such sweet people, I hope our paths cross again. It was a short and intense meeting and I felt quite emotional saying goodbye.

A lot of the food here is a mystery to me, I'm not quite sure what I'm eating sometimes, but all of it has been really good. The many noodle bars have these display cabinets outside, with plastic(?) versions of the dishes on offer.

This was food for sale in a huge food hall that I visited today in a department store, lots of fish and prawns and salad stuff.

Everything is packaged so beautifully

Melons with bows

And fish tanks with these poor blighters awaiting their fate.

I ate in this noodle bar today, sorry about the blurred picture

This is what I had, I think it was pork and miso. It was delicious, onions, chilli, garlic, beansprouts, tasty tasty.

The only way to eat noodles is to slurp them, so I had to lose my English inhibitions and suck it up. I'm not very good with chopsticks, but I'll keep practicing.

Check out all the people waiting to cross the road on the far side. It was busy busy busy in town. This place couldn't be more different from my life in my little shed in Devon. It was weird being all on my own so far from home.

The rail system here seems very efficient.

I was the only Westerner in my carriage. A lot of folks here wear masks like the guy sitting here on the left of this picture. This is apparently because of the high pollen count, certainly I can hear a lot of sneezing throughout the night through the thin walls of this hotel.

 It was with a big smile that I stepped off the train and headed back, with the realization that I'd managed to do it all on my own without getting lost. You're probably bored of me going on about it, but it's a big deal for me because I lack a lot of confidence when it comes to doing this stuff in the big wide world. My life is one of single track lanes with grass growing down the middle, which is very safe and comfortable. I rarely travel more than ten miles from my workshop. I stopped in the supermarket on the way back and stocked up with teabags and milk and sugar and have spent a quiet evening in, drinking good old English style tea - nice.

A lot more train travelling to do tomorrow. I'm going to head out early and visit the Japanese Folk Art Museum, which will be fascinating no doubt. After that I'm going to another part of the city to meet up with Steve Tootell, who is a potter and teacher from England. He teaches at the International School here and I'm going to do a demo for his pupils in the afternoon, after which we'll head out for food and sake, before I try and find my way back here for my final night's sleep in Tokyo. If I don't get lost, I'll be back to tell you all about it. Time to try and get some sleep now if I can, goodnight all.

Back later

Hello all. I'm settling in here now and shortly I'm going to attempt to get myself by train in to the centre of Tokyo - it's possible that you may never hear from me again. Here are a few pictures from yesterday.

I missed the cherry blossom by a week, there are still blooms on the trees, but they're going over now, still beautiful though.

This is my new potter friend Motoyasu Hirayama, with whom I share this exhibition.

This was lunch yesterday, sushi and green tea.

I decided that I'll try everything while I'm here, so yesterday was my first taste of  salmon eggs and raw squid! It was surprisingly good.

Oops, just had a call from the hotel saying they want to get in to clean my room, I'd better get moving and I'll be back later......................I hope!

Konnichiwa

Good morning everybody, thank you for your comments on my last post. The sun is shining in Tokyo this morning after a night of torrential rain. This is the view from my hotel window. I haven't taken any pictures at the gallery yet, I'll do that today and post them later. It was a busy day yesterday, with a steady stream of visitors to the gallery. It's been good to meet Motoyasu Hirayama, the potter from Tamba with whom I'm sharing this exhibition - he makes some great pots. His family are lovely, three little children who I think are finding my western features amusing - they're all smiles and the little boy wants to hold my hand all the time.

The jet lag is a killer. The journey really took it out of me and I ended my first full day with a nasty migraine, but I feel much better for a good sleep and hopefully will start to settle in to this time zone.

I managed to tackle the Tokyo train system ok and haven't got lost yet, but I'm sure I will before my time here is done. Tomorrow will be the big test, when I head in to the city on my own. I feel quite lonely here, although everybody has been very kind to me, but it's very different from my days alone in my little workshop, I'm a fish out of water. 

I'll be back later with some pictures from the gallery, bye for now.

On the way

Well the journey's underway. My good friend Frank drove me to Bristol Airport at 5 am. I'm now waiting in Amsterdam for my connection to Tokyo. It's been fairly straightforward so far, just a short and comfortable flight. The next stretch is going to be the long one. When I get off the plane in Tokyo, I have to take an hour and a half train journey to my destination. It's all a bit daunting for a country boy who only went on the London tube alone for the first time last summer, but it's time i grew up a bit, so I relish the challenge. I'll be staying for five nights in Tokyo, then a couple of nights somewhere yet to be decided, then the last two nights in Kyoto. I'm hoping to visit Mashiko to visit Ken Matsuzaki. It's strange to be all on my own. Off  to find a cup of 'normal' tea before I leave the continent, bye for now.

Here goes

It's 4.30 am, my alarm just went off and I'm about to embark on my journey to Tokyo. I'm apprehensive, this is way out of my comfort zone. The journey is going to take me about thirty hours. I'll be exhausted by the time of my private view at the gallery and the most demanding exhibition of my career. Here's a link to the catalogue. I'm sure that it is going to be an amazing and mind blowing experience. I don't know if I'll have internet access, but if I do, I'll try and post a blog or two. Thank you to everybody who has helped me get to this stage. Big wide world, here I come - eek.

On it

Today has been another long day, but another really good one. I managed to continue with a positive head and sustained yesterday's momentum in the workshop. I'm in bed again writing this. I just got home from band practice and I'm pooped, so I'll keep this brief.

I decorated lots of bowls today. This one is small, the sort of thing you might eat cereal from

and this one, much larger - fruit bowl size

I had a whole load of pots out of the kiln today. Some worked better than others and some gave me ideas as to how I can do things better next time, but by and large, I was pleased with what came out, which was a good range of scale, form, colour and decorative approach.

The orange slip on this pot is made from clay from the field beside the workshop...

as are the spots on this one. I like the colours of this pot a lot.

I handled the big jugs today

and made these smaller jars in the foreground, half the size of the ones I made yesterday that are in the background. I'm going to make a few bigger ones of these tomorrow maybe.

I feel like I'm 'on it' for the first time in ages, which is really exciting. It makes me feel alive again. That said, I won't be alive for much longer if I don't get some sleep, so I'm signing out. Goodnight all, have a great start to the week.

Saturday 16th

 Hello everyone and a happy Saturday to you. The sun shone here today and the birds sang, it was good.

It's been a long, hard day today, I started work early and finished very late. For the first time in months, the feeling of excitement about making pots seems to have started to come back. I'd forgotten what this feels like, I like it, I like it a lot. I haven't seen the workshop as busy as this for ages.

I had to decorate a lot of bowls today. I would guess that this one is about 9" wide, maybe a little more, here's the inside...

and this is the outside.

I've enjoyed using the comb on these, I like the rhythm of the pattern on this bowl.

There are bowls everywhere in the workshop at the moment, all different types and sizes. Hopefully I'll get some of each through successfully, it'll give me a good range of scale and form.

more bowls

and more.

As well as making pots to send to Japan, I'm also making pots for an exhibition in Berwick at the end of March. These tapered jugs are 7 lb and the big fat ones, 11.5 lbs.

I made more 3 lb jars and lids today. I'm going to make some smaller ones tomorrow for Tokyo and maybe a couple of quite large ones for the Berwick show.

Plates, teapots, mugs, cups and beakers still to go, so more long days ahead.

Well, not much of a blog post, but I'm dead beat and I'm writing this in bed and dozing off because I'm exhausted. I am however, very excited, as the slip is starting to flow again in my veins. I'll sleep well, tired, fulfilled and happy, hurrah.

Goodnight all