Nobody in the family seemed the least bit interested in waking up and taking the dogs for a walk, so I combined work and play, walking to Kamiooka to order some dogfood at 10% off sale, and found a great raincoat for Nobu 70% off.
On the way we stopped by friend Kotetsu's home. Kotetsu is a Japanese kaiken and has a very beautiful nature and interesting pattern together with a really strong wiry body, and we meet him almost every morning in the park (or did when i could get up so early, recently I've been sleeping late).
Kotetsu's Mum, Sadako Endo, is an artist, and I had promised to go to her group exhibition, but couldn't make it, so I wanted to apologize and promise to go to her next solo exhibition. She invited us all in for coffee and showed me some of her works, which blew me away: really thoughtful and provocative pictures, full of emotion and insight, with allusions to other great works of art and a strong social message. She brought down a pair of giant canvases from her atelier, inspired by the Fukushima accident and an incident here in Japan where a mother abandoned her children and they died taped up in their apartment: very moving, with bird's nest motifs, moon in eclipse, gold streaks and Goya allusions. I felt very moved by her power, and the warm depth of her empathy. I would like to spend more time contemplating her pictures.
Nobu was really interested in the upstairs room and kept disappearing, so we had to keep calling him back - it seems Kotetsu's mum keeps birds too, so that was what sparked his interest. I could hear the birds singing and warbling from the sitting room. She showed me the resting body of one parrakeet, just passed away the previous evening, its soul obviously still very much here in its home as it slowly took farewell to cross the rainbow bridge. Rest in peace. Meanwhile Claire was getting her teeth into Kotetsu's pig's trotter, so Nobu and Claire were gifted with one each to take home. I thought horse tendons were the ultimate, but Claire is happily gnawing in the kitchen here as I blog, and the trotter doesn't seem to be getting any smaller....:)
Kotetsu's Mum, Sadako Endo, is an artist, and I had promised to go to her group exhibition, but couldn't make it, so I wanted to apologize and promise to go to her next solo exhibition. She invited us all in for coffee and showed me some of her works, which blew me away: really thoughtful and provocative pictures, full of emotion and insight, with allusions to other great works of art and a strong social message. She brought down a pair of giant canvases from her atelier, inspired by the Fukushima accident and an incident here in Japan where a mother abandoned her children and they died taped up in their apartment: very moving, with bird's nest motifs, moon in eclipse, gold streaks and Goya allusions. I felt very moved by her power, and the warm depth of her empathy. I would like to spend more time contemplating her pictures.
Nobu was really interested in the upstairs room and kept disappearing, so we had to keep calling him back - it seems Kotetsu's mum keeps birds too, so that was what sparked his interest. I could hear the birds singing and warbling from the sitting room. She showed me the resting body of one parrakeet, just passed away the previous evening, its soul obviously still very much here in its home as it slowly took farewell to cross the rainbow bridge. Rest in peace. 
Tosh had some exercise too, running for Nobu to chase, and since there were no small dogs around we opened the gates to the smaller dog runs and dashed round and round through the three areas, exploring the bushes and coveys.
The hotel has a wonderful shower area at the entrance to wash the dog's feet, and there are plenty of towels to dry off the paws and wipe down the tiles to leave it clean for the next family. Then you drop the wet dirty towels in the plastic bin. It's so well organized, and Claire, having gone first, waited patiently for Nobu, who is never too keen on getting his paws wet.
