Friday, March 07, 2008

21 Museums Down, GRUTT Pass Expired



Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.
東京都現代美術館
〒135-0022 東京都江東区三好4-1-1

Out in the east of Tokyo is the Museum of Contemporary Art. They had a temporary exhibit which I wasn't interested in. But their permanent gallery was top notch. Many aspects of contemporary art can be seen here. As far as contemporary art in Tokyo, I would rank this second to the Mori Art Tower.

Highlight: A wall of 9 technicolored Monroes. Something about Andy Warhol. So much modern art is stuff that "even a child could do", but when there are amazing stories behind the pieces, thats what lures me. To look at a piece, and know that thousands have looked at it before, all their lives being affected somehow, no matter how unimportant, I think that is fascinating.



This gate was inverted underneath. The "water" cast a blueish tint on the room below, giving a vary calm ambiance.




Miraikan, The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation.
2-41, Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo, 135-0064 Japan
TEL: +81-3-3570-9151

A magic place on the man-made Odaiba landfill. The 4 floors are dedicated to all sorts of modern science. Space exploration, DNA, robots, etc. I challenge you to go there and not come away with some new knowledge of what we can do with modern science. Make sure you arrive early, there are lots of shows and events that you need to keep an eye out for.

Highlight: I'll give the lowlight, just to mix things up a bit. There was this 45 minute planetarium show. Sounds pretty good. During my volunteering at the California Academy of Sciences, I would watch the star show just about every day. Informative and beautiful. But this one was different. It talked about the origins of planets and life and what not. Sorry fundamental Christian and Flying Spaghetti Monster people, it's strictly science here. But anyways, the guy narrating sounded like Eckhart Tolle on barbiturates. And the visuals consisted of line drawings most of the time. This is the same system that does those Pink Floyd laser light shows... they could have done a little better.



All sorts of robots are on display. This one's wheels could also grab things and navigate rugged terrain.



A model magnetic levitation train is on display.



There's a ton of random things to see here.



Take a break on these lounge chairs...



And stare at the massive digital globe. I displays all sorts of real time imagery. The me from almost 16 years ago, staring at Acid Warp on my 386 DOS computer is very pleased with the future.





There was a section about the ethical treatment of animals for medical research. Children were encouraged to write their comments. Purple is against animal testing.



大切っていうか

大事  パンテェ~

どぶねずみ と パンテェ の 友


It is rather (friendly) important than

(serious) important. Panty~

A ditchmouse and panty's friend.


Who
isn't a friend of panty?

Green is for it.



Even if animal testing is minimized, there is no way to discover and establish something without animal testing.

Such being the case, I believe that we must not delay in developing.


24years old man


Homie is kinda harsh. We need to hook up this 24 year old dude with some panties.

(Thanks Mika for help with the translations)


Oh, and by the way...







RiSuPia.

Map on the webpage.

Hmmm, only one photo.



No photos allowed in here, so please check out the website. Then go here! It's freaking tight. That's right...

Freaking tight.

It's kinda expensive if I remember, like 700 yen or so, but it was free on the GRUTT pass, so whatever. You get a palm pilot looking thing to wear around your neck. Wave it over the blue lights that you find, and your digital "friend" will grow as you learn. Yeah, there are magic blue lights all over the place. It's all math and optics stuff pretty much. The building is actually a showcase for Panasonic, but surprisingly this exhibit was devoid of product placement. Lots of eye candy, and not a lot of people during the week. Actually, I was the only one there. It's a theme with these interactive exhibits, I'll be the only one with like 10 museum girls working there.

1 comment:

kao said...

I recommend you a museum is called Hara museam in Shinagawa.