roadtrip!

last friday was a national holiday in honor of the autumnal equinox. instead of celebrating the day when the sun crosses the celestial equator and the length of day and night are equal, we decided to make it an art day. carrie, liz and i piled in the car and headed to niigata city. first on the agenda was "jintai plastomic - mysteries of the human body", a traveling exhibit that uses actual bodies to present anatomy as art. there are individual organs on display, some whole and some dissected, including livers, hearts, penises, brains, intestines, etc. then there are intact bodies with varying degrees of organs stripped away to reveal the human body as an incredibly complicated system that we really know so little about.

some of the bodies are presented in cross-sliced sections and some are artistically posed and displayed so the audience can get a 360 degree view.






























































there were also fetuses and a body that you could touch. i fingered the inside of the stomach, heart, blood vessels, sinews, flaps of muscle. i even held a brain. the event wasn't disturbing, as i thought it might be. although the bodies retained some characteristics that reminded you they were human, like chin stubble and fingernails, the bodies were presented in a responsible, enlightening manner. the event was absolutely packed and all the posted explanations were only in japanese which was a source of some frustration. i kept asking people to read the kanji and i was able to discern quite a bit that way. another good thing to come from my stay in the hospital; i know a whole bunch of anatomy words. if you want to see some more pictures click here.


after that we were off to see a local friend's work at a handmade furniture exhibition. the woods and craftsmanship were amazing. unfortunately i could save for decades and not be able to afford any of my favorite pieces. i wasn't offended by the prices though. one look at the works and you knew how much time, energy and care was put into constructing the piece. it was truly art.


then we whiled away the afternoon shopping. we'd planned on heading home that evening but the rumor of a dance party convinced us it was a good idea to buy something to wear to the club and resign ourselves to sleeping in the car. we primped in some parking lot...

then we hit an izakaya for dinner and one of those all you can drink deals. carrie, liz and i with a friend who lives in niigata, katsushi.

surprisingly, we ran into a bunch of other jets there. us with justine.

the party was packed and i could noticably tell we were in the city, as a lot of the people were interested in talking with us, a departure from our small town. after arriving home the next day, i promptly went into a coma.