Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
It’s January 1st or “oshogatsu”. Thanksgiving, Christmas and even birthdays have nothing on this day for Japanese families. My photos are of food, but know that the annual feast that’s cooked mainly by my mother but also my aunt and uncle, is for a family get together. We don’t have a shrine to visit as many do in Japan, so we have a special meal that we don’t forget for the rest of the year.
Like any special day, whatever it may be, one would hope it wouldn’t take a date on a calendar to make it come back. I know life can’t be Disneyland everyday, but once a year isn’t often enough. Twice would be nicer, right? Then you have to think: work is maybe 5 days a week, for almost every week and a special day is just one day. It doesn’t make much sense. Hopefully we’ll all figure out how to make this happen one day soon and value things that are really important.
Hope you enjoy the photos. Happy New Year. There are additional photos at the end in the set.
This isn’t a Top Ten list like “Best Concert, Best Movie, or Best Toy”. It’s a list that’s as important and there are highlights in them all, but by no means is it a Top Ten of anything. They’re just important as everything else – family, friends, and so on. Maybe I’ll try and turn out a list that’s more like that…
We painted the mural on the wall. That alone was an 11 hour project.
Zen Garage – The year started off great with the Zen Garage art opening just a few days before the new year. Yet, the actual New Year’s Day kicked off with the Oshogatsu program at JANM. It was motor vehicles including the Giant Robot Scion Car I designed but also custom motorcycles and the now vintage David Choe Scion. Thanks to Len Higa and Shinya Kimura for jumping on board. The year began with a GR show in a museum – it’s a great start with you get to do a project with friends, new friends, and a place like JANM. Collaboration can be more fun than doing something alone.
It’s great when artists install their own work.
James Jean Art Show – Aside from it being one of the greater or even greatest art shows of the year, it also indelibly marked the night that the earthquake struck Japan. I recall, it was at the after party, the twitter messages were beginning. An 8.9 quake? The thought of a giant quake was one thing, yes there would be lives lost and yes a lot of damage, but less than an hour later, the Tsunami hit the shores and that’s when the things got real, it became internet news for days straight.