I did not have a gallery guide and hoped to pick one up at the museum but it was closed. The Mori Art Center was close so I went there to see if I could pick up a gallery guide there, but it was closed as well. I went into an art book store to copy down the addresses of a couple galleries from the back of an art magazine and went looking.

Three galleries had ground floor storefront windows and the rest were on upper floors. These galleries were in the Roppongi Hills district. In this district all but one gallery was located in the same building but on different floors. While watching a video installation in the Taro Nasu gallery, I thought, “I’m here on a Fulbright Grant researching art in Japan and I’m in an art gallery in Tokyo, what do I have to loose by talking to the receptionist?” One of my research projects is to interview gallery directors and artists so I thought, “What a great time to start.”

I left my card at four different galleries after speaking with the receptionist at each gallery. They were reasonably nice but I don’t expect much until a relationship is started. I will follow up with email requests for interviews. Everyone seem excited about participation in interviews in the future. Today turned out to be quite productive since I got four new leads and I saw the prince drive by.

We eventually headed towards Shinjuku to transfer to the subway on our way to Roppongi Hills and the Mori Tower. The Mori Tower is a grand piece of contemporary architecture. It leaves a large footprint of earthly bound shops and other money making locals, but the high reaches of its glass spires leave one struck. At the top of the tower is an art museum and a sky view of the whole city. The elevator ride up to the 52nd floor only takes a few seconds popping the ears of all the occupants along the way.

The Mori Art Museum had an exhibition on Le Corbusier, an modern architect who had major influence all over the world. Not only did he practice architecture but he also kept up his practice as a painter and sculptor throughout his life. Le Corbusier sought to make modern architecture human and designed with he goal of constructing human-orientated environments in densely populated urban cities. He feared the metric system because he thought that it would make measurements unrelated to the human body. His early principles of architecture included the use of pilots, rooftop terraces, free floor plans, horizontal strip windows and free facades. All of these were made possible because of modern construction materials and techniques. Towards the end of his life he moved away from large urban planning and built a small hut house for him and his wife, Yvonne. he lived out his life there swimming out to sea at age 77 never to return.

After the art exhibit we walked around the sky view. Buildings in Japan are not excessively tall because of the threat of earthquakes but ate still tall nonetheless. The contemporary glass construction of the Mori Tower allows one to feel almost suspended over Tokyo and the rest of the world. As I sat on a bench I wondered if the glass would hold if I ran into it full barrel. I assumed it would but the thought “What if it didn’t?” sent shivers throughout my body.