Today, I had pretty minimal plans. I only had one museum and a single anime collab to check out, surely I would be back early and could catch up on blogging! Surely!

If only, I had left at a reasonable time in the first place...

It all began when I was heading to the Yamatane Museum of Art in Shibuya to see the Nihonga Pilgrimage 2025 special exhibition. But when I started walking over from Omote-Sando Station, I realized another museum was vaguely in a similar direction.

So I headed to Nezu Museum instead. The building itself has a nice aesthetic and I actually found it nice that the exhibits were small. Each exhibit was only one or two small rooms, so it never got to the point where I felt like it was dragging on to see everything. The main exhibit showing today was "Yakishime Ceramics: Feel the Clay". Yakishime ceramics are unglazed and fired at high temperatures. Since I couldn't take photos in the exhibit, my memory is failing me on giving more fun facts but overall I found it cool and interesting as I went through.

One thing I saw that I was taken aback by at first was a blue-ish vase-shaped piece that I thought was super similar to the celadon vase repaired in the first episode of "The Unknown Master of Restoration", an NHK show about [Mayuyama Koji] and his son repairing priceless art in Japan. It used to be on YouTube (a low quality archive exists) but I'd recommend watching the series if you can find somewhere it is available! It's very interesting!

One of the other galleries had some ancient Chinese bronze pieces. Some of it was almost 3500 years old!! That's pretty crazy that it's still intact and looking usuable!

Since gallery photos weren't allowed, here's old man Nezu himself, the namesake of the museum

I almost left after viewing the exhibits but realized there was a door to a garden area which turned out to be pretty massive! It was a bit busy but not particularly crazy or anything. If you've already paid for the musuem, it's definitely worth hanging out in the garden for a bit.

After perusing the garden for a bit, I finally decided to head to my actual intended destination and after a bit of a stroll I arrived at the Yamatane Museum of Art. I feel like I'm not the biggest fan of nihonga art, because a lot of what I had been exposed to before were more like portraits, which I'm not the biggest fan of in any style? The Nihonga Pilgrimage exhibit was about places that the artists or others treated as sacred spots, so it was all landscapes. Because of that I thought I might like it better and should give it a chance, and I think it definitely paid off.

Camellia Petals Scattering by Hayami Gyoshū

Unfortunately, this museum also didn't allow photos for any pieces other than the one above, but I did actually make sure to keep track of which art I liked the most. To be fair, Camellia Petals Scattering is a designated as an important cultural property by the government of Japan, so I guess it's generous that were even allowed to photograph that!

My two favorite pieces were End of the Year by Higashiyama Kaii and Itsuku Island by Kobayashi Kokei (definitely follow the first link to check it out).

I basically felt like Higashiyama Kaii was a genius while I was there viewing his works. I had also thought that his paintings seemed like they would be much more recent than they are (e.g. 2010s instead of 1960s-1980s). I'm not sure if it's because they feel 'flat' or something but did feel like they felt newer than other art from similar dates on display. Here's another example that was on display that I felt seemed more modern than it actually was.

Regarding Itsuku Island, I thought this was amazing as well. The scene appears foggy and it almost feels like if you look longer and squint a little, you might actually be able to peer through the mist. It kind of traps you in place waiting to see if you can see more. Unfortunately, I can't find a single high quality photo online so if you want to see what it looks like, take a look at this post by the official museum account (enjoy all 20 pixels!). I guess having a scarcity online really would help to drive people into the museum itself? There weren't even postcards of this one in the gift shop!

Next, I wanted to head to Shibuya to check out the Lycoris Recoil pop up store. By the time I actually got to Shibuya, I was actually pretty hungry so decided to look around for some food. After a while, I ended up in the 13th floor restaurant area of the Shibuya Scramble Square building. I almost chose to eat at an okonomiyaki place but it had one of those policies where everyone that goes has to order a drink which I probably would have done but leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Then, I uncharacteristically decided to look the place up on Google Maps and it had a relatively low score too! Bullet dodged, but I was still hungry!!

Luckily, there was an udon place also on the same floor that looked pretty good! I think being seated as a single person also helped me out since the bar area for individuals and pairs was right at the window facing Shibuya Scramble, so I had a great view for my late lunch

I ordered a curry udon, and didn't expect such a massive bowl to show up!

I felt pretty tired after eating such a large meal but I carried on nonetheless. The mission I am on to hoard anime merch is not one that just anyone can endure, so I must. After a bit of confusion, I properly made it to the Tsutaya collaboration space right at the scramble to peruse various IP merchandise. There was a huge Lycoris Recoil area near the registers with the main promotional artwork, shown below.

Originally from https://lycoris-recoil.com/popup/shibuya/

I ended up picking up a clear file of the main design and a few small things from the Fate franchise. While I was at the shop, I also came face-to-face with the famous, lifesize FUWAMOCO statues!!

My apologies for not taking photos from similar angles or levels of closeness

After all of the excitement that spending money entails, I decided to take a quick look around the main scramble area before heading home. Some promotional graphic at Shibuya 109 caught my eye so I went in. 109 is like a women's fashion destination, especially for various subcultues (not going into it, not an expert lol).

From the Shibuya 109 blog

It turns out that the promotional image I had seen and that had drawn me in (see above) was for "Yamikawa Week", an event to celebrate the Yamikawa aesthetic. I somehow missed the history display but did take a photo in the third floor photo spot.

There was also an event going on where if you spent x amount at participating stores in the building, you would be able to get a free sticker or keychain. Unfortunately, I don't personally need any women's fashion items so if I do want a keychain or something, I guess I'll have to get it off of Mercari or something. I was tempted to stop at a pancake place and have some fluffy pancakes because of more marketing but I was too full unfortunately.

This marketing would work on anyone!

By the time I wrapped up looking around, it was already pretty close to 5:30 so I was terrified about the trains getting packed. Luckily, when I entered Shibuya station via the underground entrance conveniently inside of Shibuya 109 and made it to my train, it was partly empty. However, once I switched trains it did get super packed. I only needed to ride a couple stops at that point though so it wasn't too bad!