We woke late and lounged around. I could really get used to this. I realised I hadn’t thought about work at all for at least three days. That’s gotta be a good thing. Other good things are coffee and pastries and we also sampled both of those items.
We followed that up with a little light shopping including a visit to the massive vintage store Big Time Vintage Clothing. We stumbled on a massive Muji store – one of those homeward and clothing stores that Japan does so well. They even had an Uber minimalist cafe with delicious lunch. We ate maximally.
In the afternoon we visited the compact but lovely Kyoto Museum of Modern Art. They had an exhibition on featuring the design and furniture of Shiro Kuramata. A Tokyo legend famous for furniture and interior design, and for his work with fashion big wheel Izzy Mayake. It was an excellent exhibition and I only got into trouble once for trying to take a photo in a no-photo zone. Stupid gaijin. I compounded this by tripping over one of the plinths in the gallery. The attendants nearly had a seizure. Stupid gaijin.
It was getting late so we ducked back to our apartment for a little light refreshment – we had a big decision to make. Do we eat some delicious dinner in a yet to be selected restaurant – or do we smash down some convenience store fast food and rock? Obviously we decided to rock.
The venue was a “live house” called Submarine that our new pal Jin from Spice Chamber had told us about. He invited us to go along and we couldn’t resist. The space was basically a small underground concrete box with a tiny separate bar. Jin seemed to be some sort of local music guru. Everyone knew him and he was very sweet to us – hugging us and introducing us to a bunch of people. I was wearing a t-shirt featuring Melbourne band Pinch Points and amazingly two people came up to me separately to rave about them – and they weren’t faking it – I could tell. Anyway the bands on the lineup that night were great – all on the post punk end of the spectrum. The beer was cold and the drummer from Arcadian Starship is now a good friend! This is my idea of a good time – just a perfect day.
Pain au chocolate from 2/7 Bakery Kyoto. The best.
Just a snippet of the Hawaiian shirt selection at Big Time Vintage Clothing Kyoto.
A sophisticated lunch for sophisticated people at Muji Cafe.
I only travel on escalators that match my shoes. Bal department store Kyoto.
Shiro Kuramata Furniture and Design Exhibition. Museum of Modern Art Kyoto.
Glass chair. Shiro Kuramata Furniture and Design Exhibition. Museum of Modern Art Kyoto
Cheeky arvo beer. Spring Valley Craft Brewery Kyoto.
“Jocko”at Submarine Live House Kyoto. Kinda like a wonky version of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
“ Don’t Be Kids” not following their own advice. Submarine Live House Kyoto.
More from “Don’t Be Kids”. You can’t quite see it in this pic but the bass player on the left wore his bass lower than any other bass player I have ever seen. Lower than his knees – silly and hilarious.
“Calme Addiction” a two piece – drums and guitar – awesome and fricken loud.
“Anisakis” – no smiling. Very serious boys all in black from Tokyo. Note the animal skull tied around the lead singer’s neck.
Some polite advice from Japan Tourism about how to behave if you’re a tourist. The Australian version would probably simply say “Hey tourists! Don’t be dickheads”
flyeelookee 