The next stop was the Shimokitazawa area in western Tokyo. This is where the ink painting artist had his studio, where I was taking lessons, and also happened to be the location of a concert I wanted to see.
When I was looking for a place to stay there on booking.com, there wasn't much available, or it was really expensive, so I found an apartment-hotel near Sasazuka station, about a 20 minute walk away.
Saturday, June 27, I took the train from Osaka to Tokyo and made my way to the accommdation. It turned out to be a private apartment, like a Japanese version of AirBnB. It was in the middle of a residential area so I kind of felt like a local.
The first evening I walked around the trendy, artsy Shimokitazawa area, with its cool cafes and vintage shops.
Sunday, June 28, from 10am to 2pm, I had the first ink painting lesson. The artist is Shukou He exhibits his work and seems well known. I had studied with him last year as well, which I had found using VAWAA (Vacation With An Artist), and he remembered me. I think I was the first VAWAA student to come a second time.
We quickly reviewed the basics, and he said that I seemed to remember a lot, which I was relieved to hear. We went on to do some more difficult versions of what I had done last year.
That evening was the concert. Its a bit of a story: last year when I was in Fukuoka I saw a street performer and thought she was really good, so I followed her on Instagram. I posted about it in the blog last year. She goes by the name JUN and is based in Sapporo.
Anyway, through Instagram I found out she was having a concert in Shimokitazawa around this time. I tried to buy a ticket online but it wouldn't ship overseas, so I sent her an email. She responded saying she could reserve a ticket for me, but in the meantime I bought a ticket and had it set to my friend Kanako in Tokyo.
The concert was in a very small venue. I showed up a bit before the doors opened, and saw some people waiting. I asked if the line was for the concert and they said "Oh you must be the guy from Canada". JUN has a very solid fan base and many of them know each other, so I guess the word got around.
We entered the venue, and JUN greeted me at the door. She's very friendly, and I think it was the first time someone from as far as Canada had come to a concert.
The concert was amazing, in such an intimate venue full of devoted fans. She had a couple of back-up guitarists who were also very good.
After the concert JUN approached me to thank me for coming, and she took a picture.
Monday and Tuesday I had the painting lessons. We continued working on paintings that used different kinds of brush strokes, and more complicated scenes.
After the lessons I just explored Shimokitazawa some more.
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