Japan day 10: Reppongi Hills City Models and Takashi Murakami

In the morning we went to see the Mori Building City Models and VR. There were scale models of Tokyo and New York city. The models were made out of styrofoam and paper. They told us that they update the models twice a year to include new buildings and clean it. The model shows most of Tokyo, but there are still parts they're working on and they hope to construct other cities as well. They also have 3D simulations of cities that allow people to experiment with for construction purposes.

It's incredible the amount of detail and effort they make to create the models, using images of the buildings on the outside of the buildings. Looking at the model really helped me visualise where each province is located in Tokyo. 

We also went to see Takashi Murakami's 'The 500 Arhats' exhibition. The exibition featured a 100 metre long painting with the arhats, the 500 enlightened followers of Buddha. His work is inspired by 'otaku' culture with his character based paintings. 

I really enjoyed this creature with the tree growing from it's head. I think it's a goat creature. I read that it was inspired by Princess Mononoke, one of my favourite Studio Ghiblie movies. I love the was he did it's eyes with the long lashes and the tree is gorgeous. Murakami's use of colour in his work is wonderfully vibrant.