Fishmonger

We are back at Tenno, the Town of Mirrors in the bay of Hiroshima. Fish is delicious in that area, needless to say, but this fishmonger is a bit, hmmm, I don't know. Untidy? It looks a bit like a dump, and it's not like we are in a particularly poor part of Japan, not at all. Just too much laisser-aller, IMHO.

It is Saturday evening and only a few prawns are left on melted ice. Plus one unidentified flat fish. Fair enough. I didn't want to get too close and be a paparazzi, the fishmonger lady was still in the "shop" and I'm a bit shy, so I could only take a few quick shots, l'air de rien.

I think the bottle on the right is an energy drink. 

The 70s in Japan - Exhibition at Hiroshima MOCA - Part I

Marie's Suitcase is a little bit sad to leave the Waitpinga farm and its sheep and its grapefruit, but let's hope that the future roads travelled will bring us good things. We'll stay in Japan for a little while.

During my last stay in Hiroshima I saw a fantastic exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, about art in Japan during the 70s. I wanted to show you some of the pieces exhibited. The pictures are taken from the catalog of the exhibition, and for most of them, because my command of Japanese is close to non-existent, all I did was enjoy the art for what it looks like, without knowing too much about the context. The few paragraphs below are taken from the leaflet handed out at the entrance of the museum.

-  'From 1968 to the early 1970s, Japan passed through a heated period, with intensification of student activism, Expo '70 fever, and other events.

A movement arose in which creators in various fields such as design, drama, and music adventurously interacted with each other and questioned radically what art should be.

Creators endeavored to doubt existing expressions and to seek the essential, while there arose anti-Expo movements against Expo '70 and resistance to organisations that were perceived as authoritarian (= mostly the USA <--- me).

Distinctive, avant-garde books and magazines such as The Design Review and Film Quarterly Magazine were created by groups of designers, photographers and writers in unison. Further, various magazines such as the woman's magazine An-an and the town magazine Pia were published, sensitively capturing the new era and the trends of the streets. By the late 1970s, the mood of the times changed dramatically and painting was reinstated, as if making a fresh start from its origins.

Focusing on youth culture, magazines such as Popeye and Brutus were published one after another, and the magazine covers were adorned with light, easy and cozy illustrations. The period was coloured by the brilliance of what is called the "Saison Culture" today, including designs and posters that emanated from PARCO and SEIBU department stores, and the Seibu Museum of art.'  -

Atomic bomb and the 26 saints + 1 newcomer

This is a giant add promoting the Seibu Department store. Samurais performing the act of Seppuku on kamikaze airplanes?? On the yellow stripes it says "whahahahahaha" and "Hiahahahahaa". 

Oooookkkayyy  :-o

Expo 70 shaping up. The next three panels show some of the designs for pavillions and their walls.

Yes, this one too :-)) 

Jun Ropé. A clothes brand? Hmm... yes, that would actually make sense.

The 70s saw the birth of the Capsule Apartments. I'm not sure if the Nagakin Capsule Tower was designed especially for Expo' 70, but it did inspire the now popular Capsule Hotels. Think how nice it would be to live in 5m2. And not just for one night. Living there for real. You can cook and not leave your bed. You'll have to get up to take a shower, though. Nothing's perfect.

And I am ending the first part with this visual poem, no need for words, everything is there in only one page.

I hope this has eased our way back to Japan, there will be more of the 70s....

The Last Supper

Well it was actually the Last Breakfast but I thought The Last Supper would sound better as a title.

It's the P's last day at the farm and everybody is sad. Or just very sleepy?

This was the best breakfast ever, which cheered us up a bit. Toasted bread (in leftover five spice roast turkey wings fat? I can't remember), tomato, lettuce, cucumber, basil, (maybe garlic, did we?), homemade cheese, coffee.

But... I have another sad news. I thought this day would never dawn, but it did. I'm out of Aussie pictures!! Oh nooooo.... sad. What are we going to do now? I'll have to drag Marie's Suitcase around Japan for a while. Let's see. Anyway... these have been three great months of blogging, thank you for all the fantastic comments, you are all very very genki people, thank you.

I am an Honorary South Australian Country Woman

This has already been blogged at P&P, but I am so proud of being a member of the Country Women of South Australia Association, the spoon definitely goes into Marie's Suitcase. Using it to eat brioche when I travel.

All the way down

-  After giving a lecture on the solar system, William James, the American psychologist and philosopher, was approached by an elderly lady. 'We don't live on a ball rotating around the sun', she said, firmly. 'We live on a crust of earth on the back of a giant turtle.' James was a kindly man. 'If your theory is correct, madam, what does this turtle stand on?' he asked patiently. 'The first turtle stands on the back of a second, far larger turtle, of course!' she snorted. 'But what does this second turtle stand on?' pressed the philosopher. 'It's no use, Mr. James', crowed the old lady triumphantly, 'it's turtles all the way down!'.  -

I found this paragraph in my usual source of quotes (have to keep it secret otherwise P&P is ruined). I find the punchline very funny. What I like much less is the way of depicting the philosopher as the patient gentleman who possesses Truth and the old lady as an ignorant and arrogant Cow. For all I know, we are living in the left nostril of a giant turtle.

Eeedie's Man

When one fine morning at the breakfast table Eeedie declared "I need to go to Woolworths to buy underwear for my man" I thought huh? After one week at the farm is there someone I haven't made the acquaintance of?

Ah, Ok, THAT man. Yes, winter is starting down there, one or two panties might come in handy.

And this is probably Eeedie's man's special stool, crafted by her when she was at art school. Outch.

Swee'Pea and her friends visit the animals of Urimbirra

Urimbirra is a wildlife park not far from Waitpinga with all sorts of wild Aussie creatures, the main attraction being kangaroos and... you'll see.

What do you want, Sweatie? See, I don't have anything in my hands or my pockets. Oh they would nibble on clothes too. Anything will do.

Isn't he the absolute cutest? I fell in love with his expression (after a scary approach, I have to admit). And Marie, those op shop sunglasses make you look like a fly. Yes I know, it's very trendy around that area (no not really).

Another favourite, the koala of course:

A very dense fur but sooooooo soft and smooth, very addictive to pet. And it leaves your hands coated with a subtle layer of oily substance. Because of eating oily leaves? I can't remember what the lady said.

Koalas are sweet things but not nearly dangerous enough for the three ladies. What they needed was a shameless display of bravery. By handling snakes, for instance. Well, some were a little more brave than others.

I don't know how many people can claim they ever had a snake sliding down their back. Eeedie can!

Have we talked about this tree before?

There were more adventures in the park, including parrot attacks, but unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries, leaving me with a sum of two useless cameras. Such a pity.

Vegemite

A blog about Australia without Vegemite is like.... I don't know, but the things one finds when googling Vegemite! This was quite sweet though, good on you little Tom Morton from Woodgate Court Ferny Hills.

Vegemite

BY TOM MORTON

AGE 12

On my lunch was vegemite,
a very brown and awful site.
I swapped it with Jake,
who gave me a cake.
But my brother Sam,
he had some ham.
So the cake he got,
and ate the lot.
I swapped with “switch”,
and got a sandwich.
I took a bite,
“Oh My God.”
VEGEMITE!

Giving it a spin

(Irish spinning wheel - around 1900 - Library of Congress Collection - from Wikipedia)

Back to the sheep farm. I was wondering... can we emulate that photograph? I mean, this is a sheep farm after all. Let's see...

We got the wool, we got the spinning wheel, and we got... the graceful spinning lady!

She seems to know what she's doing. But I'm easy to impress :-)) 

And we have much, much more. A bonfire, a few glasses of wine, a caravan palace, and tchitt-tchaaatt of course. What a great evening it was.

(photo by Henny)