I Like Buildings.

It's Saturday! And the first day of Golden Week! (A week where a whole bunch of national holidays fall at the same time to give most of the week off.)

.... And I'm at work... We've got school on Saturday so that parents and the PTA can wander round and observe classes this afternoon. But lessons finished early at 2.30, so I'm just killing time.

If you are into Exciting Pictures of Great Buildings, like I am, check this website of cool buildings in Hyogo that I've just spent a good hour on, called 'Architecture and Street'. They've got sections for most areas in Japan, but info on Osaka and Tokyo is easy to find anywhere, so it's the detailed information on Hyogo that makes this special. I never realised Hyogo had so many wonderfully designed buildings! I know that Tadao Ando, one of Japan's most famous architects, is from Osaka, and so around Osaka, Kobe and the rest of Hyogo there are loads of his buildings. I definately want to check out a few of them before I leave. A friend of mine from round here who's got great taste - she introduced me to the books of Yoshimoto Banana (including an amazing special edition collabo with Yoshitomo Nara) and recommends me cool movies like かもめ食堂, loves Tadao Ando buildings, lent me a great magazine about design with a piece on design unit Graf's crazy little cylindrical room thing down in Okayama that I want to go to, so whever she tells me about something I'm all ears - was telling me about this place, the 'Wood Palace' up in Northern Hyogo, in Kami, a museum about wood in the middle of the forest, designed to look like a massive tree stump and sit well in the surroundings. That's the kind of place I should definately check, as coming to Japan as a tourist, you see Tokyo and Kyoto, Osaka and maybe Kobe, but who gets to check a Tadao Ando designed museum hours from a big city designed to blend in with the surrounding forest? (And within driving distance.) Sounds cool and definately going on my ever expanding of things to do in the ever decreasing time I have left.

Just rambling now to fill time. Only half an hour more til Golden Week begins for me... and I can get back to listening to this: