Paul is on an Air Canada flight back to Montreal as I write. My eyes have been tearful more than once these past few days. “This is going to be like an operation,” Paul has a way of saying things that reveal both the pain and the humour of a situation. We have hardly been apart for over two weeks. We accept that as hard as it is to live separated for the next few months, it is also a gift. The gift of change. The gift of something new. Japan is a country where even one stalk of celery […]

While at home in Montreal, the new word is polar vortex, here in Tokyo it is another sunny day. Paul warms up for a run and the day begins. We both prepare mentally for the approaching physical divide. He returns home on Thursday. It has been a really good idea for us to come here together, to discover together, what will be my world for the next 5 months. “I’m happy to be pushing your boat off on this trip” he told me yesterday, “….just hope you have oars!” Yes, a strange mix of sadness and excitement for me right […]

Get lost as often as necessary. Find the surprise at the end of the tunnel, one step at a time, one photo at a time.   View Fuji-san from a train. View Fuji-san from afar.  Things still to do: finish reading The Pillow Book, by Sei Shonagon and start reading, The Tale of Gengi, by Murasaki Shikibu, books by two Japanese women writers of the 10th century who knew each other. Buy some Tosa Gampi paper in Tosa District of Kochi Prefecture. Make paper in Kochi. Find a place to study Japanese. Find a piano somewhere that I can play. […]

And when the sun comes out, everyone sings! But the crows own the skies over Tokyo and the watering holes in the parks. They have an entire symphony of sounds.      

We met Yuko and Michael for the first time, at the gate of Senso-ji Temple. Friends of friends, Yuko, from here and  Michael originally from Saskatchewan live in Tokyo.  Going to the temple is a ritual at the heart of Japanese culture and it was full to bursting with visitors, both the curious and the serious. The Asakusa market is right beside the temple and it is a wonder in itself, full of tiny shops selling whatever you could possibly need and not need. I bought some of those socks with a separation for the big toe – great for […]

It took us absolutely forever to find this tiny restaurant in Shinjuku. We were meeting an artist that had been on a residency with Paul in Banff several years ago, Yoshiagi Kiahatsu. We were not able to locate the restaurant in Google maps before leaving. The addressing system is completely different in Tokyo. Nothing is numbered according to the street, in fact, only main roads seem to have names. Each area in the city is named and broken down into districts or chomes which are then broken down into individual buildings which are numbered according to the year they were […]

Looking down, looking up, looking out: everyday remedies for vertigo in Tokyo….. Everyday at noon, a young man brings this garden onto the sidewalk. Then late afternoon, brings them all back into the gallery again.   these tiny doorstep gardens are everywhere. Go up Tokyo Tower and look out into this city that shows no end and swim in the immensity! I live here – the reddish building to the left of the huge round one (actually there are two red buildings, I’m in the one hidden behind).

I live beside this. Thankfully, I don’t have to look at it from my window, but it and the two residential towers in front of it, one of which I am living in definitely lay impressive shadows below. I was told that there are two reasons why the Quebec government chooses to lodge their artists in this area, the first being, an idea of physical safety and the second being the presence of all the foreign embassies, bringing a cultural diversity to the area  and with that more English and easier communication. Otherwise, the presence of artists -nul , unless […]

From the rooftop of the building where I live -on the second day, a perfect view of Mount Fuji.