Blog - Manbonsai in Nihonbashi
Manbonsai in Nihonbashi
Yesterday we headed to the Nihonbashi area, our main destination being Paradise Yamamoto's manbonsai exhibition at Takashimaya.
We walked from Tokyo station, and on our way we found really a lot of new QP tags, most of a type we hadn't seen before, cut with round corners and no yellow frame. It was a lot of fun to look at all power boxes and find these stuck everywhere!
We then first went to Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi where we had some great gelatto at Gelateria Canoviano. I had espresso and gianduja, quite typical choices of mine as I love chocolate and coffee flavors, and they were both delicious!
Then it was time for some manbonsai appreciation, so we headed to Nihonbashi Takashimaya. It's an old department store with an interesting architecture, and it has old large elevators still operated by elevator girls.
We took a ride to the 8th floor, at one end of which was the event space where were exhibited a bunch of people's collections and hobbies. There were turtle sculptures made of onion peel only, collections of Expo 70 goods, vintage medicament packaging, shogi pieces made of all materials imaginable, etc.
Paradise's manbonsai collection was fantastic. Over 50 pieces were on display. Many were quite funny too. I especially liked ones with UFOs and aliens, Kitarō, Kim Jong Il, rokurokubi (long-necked lady, a traditional Japanese monster), a man cutting a tree, and Paradise himself. Too bad photos weren't allowed, as I'd have loved using my camera's macro mode there.
Then we stopped at a Espressamente Illy café around the corner. The ambiance didn't really fit the neighborhood, with a lounge-y interior and playing new wave music.
Later we headed to Shibuya and I found this space invader nearby 109.
Left: no flash, right: flash
Larger sizes and more photos at Flickr
Paradise Yamamoto's manbonsai exhibition is going on until tomorrow Tuesday May 6.
Find all details here on my agenda.
Posted on May 5, 2008 at 17:25 | Tweet
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