A sort of day off. Next week we have another exhibition, this time in Kyoto. There are four of us showing: Heather and myself, obviously, Carl Boland, and an American artist named Matthew Fasone. Sueko Boland is going to document the show and has done much of the hard work ‘on the ground’.

I knew Carl from our time teaching together in HE, and Matthew was someone that Carl knew and suggested would be a good addition to “the collective”. We saw his work online, loved it, and since he came on board has been an influential and integral part of the team. He has done a huge amount of work (with Sueko) liaising with the gallery director and sorting out all the PR materials (which obviously have to be bi-lingual), and has been instrumental in sourcing frames for Heather and myself.

He lives in Osaka, and we had agreed to meet him this morning for the first time. We all hit it off from the get-go and had an absolutely brilliant day of sightseeing, eating, and non-stop talking.

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I find it interesting that in Japan the power cables are all airborne:

Flyover running over Dotonbori River:

Medieval barn (1500s) in front of the Osaka Museum of History:

Crossing over the road we came to our principal destination: Osaka Castle.  It’s not an original, but has been burnt down at least twice. This concrete recreation dates from the 1930s. But note the original massive stones—one stone split in two!—that make up part of the outer wall:

Heather and Matthew:

Kendo Hall:

Japanese-style open-air cafe:

Is it baking hot and humid? Feeling tired? Dehydrated? What you need is a salty lichee beverage! It’s actually delicious, unlike some of the Japanese sweet/sour combinations (e.g. the dried sour plums):

…and back to the crowds: