About The Artist Shiota Chiharu is an artist born in 1972 in Osaka Prefecture. She currently has her exhibitions featured all over the world.

Today, I went to the Mori Art Museum to look at the works of Shiota Chiharu in her exhibition, The Soul Trembles. The many artworks help us take a closer look into her mind and her experience in the “presence of absence” throughout her career.

These are the artworks that have been strrewn across the entire room. Yards of string are attached and strung to create a web like creation. The artwork on the right is called Uncertain Journey. It includes boats covered in bright red strings. The artwork on the left is called In Silence, which was created out of memory when Shiota Chiharu’s house burned down when she was a child. According to Shiota Chiharu, “The black expresses the vast expanse of this deep universe, while the red expresses the red threads that connect one person to another as well as the color of blood.” These pieces of art have deep meaning. It conveys the connection and the relationship of the universe. When I walked into this artwork of strings, it somehow felt dark and scary.

(Left) Shiota Chiharu, Accumulation – Searching for the Destination. This photograph is licensed under “Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial-NotDerivitive Works 4.0 International.

This other main works on the show is made up of about 430 suitcases. Shiota Chiharu came up with this work when she found a newspaper in a suitcase in Berlin. The suitcases are meant to represent the movement as lives of strangers. In this work, some suitcases are shaking.

This weekend was non-stop walking, sweating, and eating. I traveled to Nikko and got to see a waterfall and go to a shrine. The weather there was a bit cooler than the weather in Tokyo and it was good to take a break from the heat. At the waterfall, there was a walkway leading to the far edge of a cliff where we could see the waterfall from a distance. I truly appreciate nature and getting to see a huge waterfall and greenery was nice. I even got a hint of the rainbow.

The food I ate was… interesting. Some of it was actually very good and I enjoyed it. I had two types of ice cream and shaved ice. Particularly the melon shaved ice. I also got mochi on a stick, which is somewhat similar to the rice cakes in Korea. At the hotel, the food was very Japanese. The food I ate was unfamiliar to me and some of it tasted weird. I was scared of eating some of the food because it looked raw or gross.

I think I am a bit homesick because I get headaches a lot here and I can’t sleep at night. When I can’t sleep, sometimes I go to the lobby and look outside to see the nature and hear the chirping of birds. It’s very peaceful and nobody disturbs me. I think being in the hotel and also just being in Japan has created a tolerance to the heat for me.

Yesterday I went to Asakusa where there are little shops with very cultural items and snacks. I got a melon ice cream and bread with banana filling. When I was looking around, everyone was very welcoming and nice. I personally don’t know any Japanese so it’s a bit hard trying to be polite in a way Japanese speakers would understand. However, they store owners were friendly and I enjoyed looking around at items in the shops. I have never seen some stuff that people were selling so it was interesting.

I also went to Skytree and looked down at the city. Unfortunately it was a little foggy so the view of the city wasn’t as clear as I expected. The shopping area was very cool because there were lots of clothes, shoes, accessories, and toys I wouldn’t be able to find in Korea. I am not good at self control when it comes to shopping so I didn’t actually shop, but I only took a look.

The city is peaceful and quiet. I don’t mean that there isn’t noises from cars and all, but the city is relatively safe. In Seoul, there would always, no matter what time of day it is, be noise from the streets. Cars would be honking at each other and there is constantly a lot of traffic and accidents caused by reckless driving. Here in Japan, I wouldn’t mind going for a walk outside because I’m not as scared of being by myself late at night and it’s a lot more tranquil. I enjoy how a big city like Tokyo can be unproblematic.

“Cause we can stay at home and watch the sunset.

But I can’t help from asking are you bored yet.

And if you’re feeling lonely you should tell me.

Before this ends up as another memory.”

This part of the song is trying to convey that him and his significant other is going through some issues in their relationship and that the other person might not be happy. So he wants to fix the issue and have communication in their relationship before it’s too late and the problem can’t be fixed.

I like this song because it displays problems that people actually go through in a relationship and it’s cool how the singer, Dyllan Minnette, gives his perspective on this issue and shows how much he would care.

I also really like the tune and the instrumental in this song. It’s not a sad song and it’s not really energetic either. But it’s a song that would get stuck in my head and the voice is very calm and smooth.

In our class at the TUJ Summer Program, I interviewed a Japanese student named Maniro. She is in 11th grade and is from Japan. She lives in Tokyo and has lived in Tokyo her whole life. However, she lives in the country side of Tokyo instead of in the city. She lives in Tokyo with her parents and her older sister. Her older sister goes to a university in hopes of becoming an elementary teacher.

Maniro goes to an international school with Japanese and Canadian learning programs. She enjoys the Canadian program better due to the fact that she likes the attitude that the Canadian teachers convey better than her Japanese teachers attitudes. After Maniro graduates high school, she wants to go to a school in Canada. During her summers, her homework was to visit universities and take notes about the campus. Through her travels, she finds that she favors two schools in Canada. She is hoping to get a scholarship to the school she wants to go to.

Maniro’s interests include basketball and American culture. She has been playing basketball since she was in second grade. Her parents don’t care about American culture, but she enjoys it. Maniro likes living in Tokyo. Her favorite thing about living in Japan is cherry blossoms. Near her home, there is a long road with cherry blossom trees planted along the sides. During the spring, the cherry blossoms bloom and looks pretty.

I have arrived from Korea to Tokyo on the 31st of July, 2019. I am currently with the TUJ for a summer program and they have made plans for traveling and learning about the rich culture and language in Japan. The day after I arrived in Japan, which is today, I have noticed that the transportation system is similar to Korea. I am from Korea, so I can distinguish some similarities. I have noticed that a lot of people take the bus and subway to get to their destination. Some people ride bikes and some even like to walk in this scorching summer heat. The weather in Tokyo during the summer is very, very hot and humid. Once I took a step outside, I instantly felt like syrup. Usually, when people are walking in the heat, they have fans to cool off a little. Noticing this, I have done the same thing and it honestly feels better to have a fan when walking. 

I have also noticed that traffic goes in the opposite direction. In Korea, people drive on the right lane where in Japan people drive on the left side of the road. Road rage in Korea is real while in Tokyo, there’s not that much traffic and honking and accidents. Whenever I go to Seoul, the major city and capital of South Korea, there are always people honking at other cars and accidents happening from reckless driving. Fortunately, it is not the same in Tokyo. I personally haven’t been down to the subway in Tokyo, but it seems smaller compared to Korea. In Korea, the subway is a MAJOR transport system and gets people to work everyday and gets people to tourist destinations. It’s probably the same here in Tokyo.