Yokohama Triennale 2017

The Yokohama Triennial is Japan’s largest contemporary art event, held in Yokohama, the city’s Yokohama Museum of Art, the Red Brick Warehouse and surrounding neighborhoods.

Internationally known, it is this year the  sixth edition of the Yokohama Triennale will take place between August 04 and November  05 2017, with the theme “Islands, Constellations & Galapagos”.Art Bin performance

2017 also marks the 150th anniversary of Taisei Hokan or the restoration of the Emperor political authority and  the end of Japan’s isolationist policy, which led to Yokohama being the first port to open up to the west and International Art.

This year, a total of 40 artists from all over the world will exhibit, such as: Ai Weiwei, Joko Avianto, Aoyama Satoru,  Maurizio Cattelan, Alex Hartley…

Tickets for the event cost JPY1.500 in advance or 1.800 on the day, which also entitled you to ride the free shuttle bus between the venues.

More infos: Yokohama Triennale 2017

Tokyo’s High-Tech Cemetery

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Tokyo is an extremely overcrowded place, the land is expensive and a grave site for a funeral urn can cost up to USD100,000 in Tokyo.
But the architect Kiyoshi Takeyama and the Toyota Group’s electronic division have found a clever solution: the Shinjuku Rurikoin Byakurengedo. A multi-story charnel house located in the heart of the famous Tokyo shopping district, Shinjuku with its bars, neon billboards, hostess clubs, salarymen crowds, love hotels, shiny skyscrapers, packed crossings – and now a temple and cemetery.Shinjuku Rurikoin Byakurengedo
It uses advanced automated warehouse technology  to store and allow access to the remains of the deceased. The family of the deceased has access to an “electronic tombstone” with ID card. A door opens automatically to reveal an ersatz gravestone with the name and photograph of the deceased person.

We will not ask you if this system tempts you in case you leave this world …but you can just visit and pray.

http://www.byakurengedo.net/ (Japanese only)

With the Yamabushi from Yamagata

In the ancient province of Dewa, there are three sacred mountains that the Japanese pilgrims –Yamabushi (山伏)- have been pacing for centuries.
The yamabushi are traveling monks, traveling from village to village, following the pilgrimage paths leading them to their retreat in the mountains. They are both feared and respected for the magical powers acquired through their asceticism. Their role in the development of Buddhism in the countryside was extremely important because they conveyed a simplified form of it, diminished by the official clergy but had the merit of touching the daily concerns of people.
To honor the gods, they indulge in rituals of purification and bring novices to the mountain.

Daishobo, a pilgrim lodge in the foothills of the three sacred mountains of Dewa Sanzan is launching Yamabushido, a mountain training program for non-Japanese and international visitors this summer.

For more information please visit: http://yamabushi.jp/

Hanabi – Summer in Japan, the season of fireworks!

Summertime in Japan is the season to go out with friends and to enjoy fireworks that take place throughout the country during July and August. Called Hanabi Taikai (花火大会) fireworks last approximately one hour and if you want to have the chance to attend them with a clear view, you have to reserve your place in advance.
Here is a the top 3 of the best fireworks festival in the country.

– The Sumida River Fireworks Festival
Date: July 29, 2017 from 7:05 pm to 8:30 pm
Location: Along the Sumida River in the vicinity of Asakusa Station, Tokyo

– Fukuroi Enshuu no Hanabi
Date: August 11, 2017 from 7 pm to 9 pm
Location: On the banks of the Haranoya River between JR Fukuroi and Aino stations, Fukuroi town, Shizuoka prefecture

– Miyajima Fireworks
Date: 26 August 2017 from 19.40 to 20.40
Location: The shores of Miyajima Island, Hiroshima Prefecture

Contact us for the full list this summer fireworks festival.

Heading to Fuji Rock Festival 2017

The Fuji Rock Festival, Japan’s biggest outdoor music festivals is held every year in the mountains of northern Japan at Naeba Ski Resort on the last weekend in July (July 28 – 30). Every summer this gigantic musical event whose success never fails despite the emergence of many competing festivals in Japan attracts 150,000 people […]

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