20141005. Typhoon visitor.

I finally caught up to blogger 21st century. Nothing to brag about but at least now, I can write my blog on trains or waiting rooms because all this road/track tripping is making it hard to sit at the laptop to update my trip. So...
The opening of my show in kagiya bldg in Hamamatsu went well. If you are familiar with Hamamatsu, then I think you get it... If you are not, let me tell you. It was a quiet evening with friends and soon to be friends. Family members I won't have a chance to see, conversation of secret spots and surf safaris to far away places and eccentric local loco artists and collectors. One thing I take away from this experience of Hamamatsu is, this is a small town of nice slow pace and extreme nerds life style with shops and restaurants. Japan is a culture that champions high technique and heart. its some thing I have known in my heart but couldn't really express in words until now.
We spent the evening in Naru, a hand made soba restaurant, run by Gori San, an ex NYC adventurer, hip hop soba master. All night long, the soba shop played classic late 80s to 90s beats. Super chill vibes and super great creative washoku and of choose, soba.
The next day was spent meeting anyone who came by to check out the art show, 4 floors up in a recycled old building housing artists and creatives of all types. The temperatures in Hamamatsu was hot and humid... Felt like the Singapore heat was following me, reminding me of a distant past in tropics, Okinawa. This trip has been a prelude to a trip I know has been long time coming.. But first...
In Tokyo for the week. Working on projects, having  meetings and making future plans for okayama bus painting project with Kapital Denim and hopefully another trip in the near future for another exhibition and painting.
This past week saw the birthday of my wife, Asako. To celebrate, my mother who flew in from NY who just so happened to be in Tokyo and her pops, who drove in from 4 hours away in the mountains of nagano, had a very fine Japanese lunch talking about Nagano and future plans. after our lunch, we all parted with warm hearts, a beautiful memory and a new appreciation of family. I guess one never stops becoming the child and the other the parents but somewhere in age, we all get closer, parents get warmer and children get wiser. At least for me, it felt like this. We walked away feeling time slipping and memories and  perspectives broadening. Never before have I felt a sense of fatherly responsibility for my son and a new determination to spend quality time and hopefully travel time. I believe one can learn alot about ones self by putting themselves in unfamiliar situations. Learn a lot more about their traveling companion as well.