Masahiro Sawada Memorial Museum of Art It is a museum that collects representative works of Masahiro Sawada, a recipient of the Order of Culture from Atami, and exhibits works of art that span all fields such as paintings, inks, ceramics, prints, and calligraphy, as well as many wood carvings. It is popular that if you hold hands under the stained glass "Hiten" on the ceiling of the entrance, you will be happy forever. The "flying sky" reflected in the red granite floor is also beautiful, and you can enjoy the stained glass both overhead and underfoot. ●Masahiro Sawada(1894~1988) Real name, Torayoshi. Recipient of the Order of Culture, Honorary Citizen of Atami City. Growing up on the seaside of Atami, he aspired to become a sculptor at the age of 19 and studied under Yamamoto Zuun, a younger brother of Koun Takamura. Until his death at the age of 93, he created many wood carvings, paintings, ceramics, prints, calligraphy, and other works of art in a variety of artistic fields. His works, which are powerful, full of life and poetry, speak a lot of romance to people's hearts. Address: 〒413-0032 Shizuoka Prefecture Atami City Ume Plum Sono-cho 9-46 (next to Atami Ume Plum Garden) Phone number: 0557-81-9211 Access: From JR Atami Station, take a bus bound for Ainohara for about 15 minutes → get off at the Sawada Memorial Museum of Art. Business hours/9:00~16:30 Closed on Mondays (open on public holidays) Price: Adults 380 yen (250 yen for groups), junior high and high school students 250 yen (120 yen for groups), elementary school students and younger free Parking lot / 10 cars (free) * Parking is not possible during the Ume Plum Festival

Went to Shinjuku Station the other day and took of photo of the giant metal sculpture while I was there. I've only passed it a few times since it was erected during the pandemic, but my curiosity finally got the best of me, and I had some extra time anyways so I snapped a quick shot of it. I did a little research on it and it was apparently made by the famous arist Tomokazu Matsuyama and the theme of theme for lack of a better word is to greet visitors with surprise and bewilderment. It's pretty interesting and looks different from every angle as well. If you look at the right side of the photo (it's kind of cut off) you can see it holding a flower with its arm outstretched. The name of it is Hanao-san, and while I'm not sure of the origin behind the name it has certainly piqued my interest...