60% In 7 Japan Prefectures Still Showing Up At The Office

Above, office workers walk past the sculpture of Maman in Roppongi Hills, Photo by Armand Vaquer.

There should be no surprise why there's an upsurge in coronavirus cases in Japan since it has been reported that 60% are still showing up for work, despite a nationwide state of emergency.

The Japan Times reported:

About 60 percent of employees in Tokyo and six other prefectures still commute to offices despite the state of emergency declared to curb the coronavirus pandemic, a think tank survey showed Friday. 

The online survey by Persol Research and Consulting Co., covering some 25,000 workers nationwide, also showed that the nationwide telecommuting rate had roughly doubled to 27.9 percent by the middle of the month from 13.2 percent in March. 

On April 10, 58.5 percent of regular workers in the seven-prefecture zone said they were still going to the office, showing just how far the nation still has to go to attain the government's target of a 70 percent reduction to slow the virus's spread. 

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared the state of emergency for Tokyo, Osaka and five other prefectures on April 7 and expanded it to the entire country on Thursday. 

From April 10 to 13, 38.8 percent of permanent employees in the seven prefectures telecommuted, with the rate hitting 49.1 percent in Tokyo. But only 13.8 percent teleworked outside those areas, the study showed.

To read more, go here. 

Tokyo's Best Public Art Sculptures

Above, "Maman" in Roppongi Hills. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Everyone loves art, right? Well, maybe almost everyone.

Some, while traveling, make it a point to visit as many art galleries as they can. But some art works are free to the public and Tokyo has several to enjoy.

Time Out Tokyo has a list of the best pubic art sculptures in the city.

They begin with:

For art lovers, Tokyo is one of the top destinations in Asia with countless museums, alternative art galleries and exhibitions. But that doesn’t mean you need to pay a premium to see some of the best art in the city – heck, to see these masterpieces, you don’t even have to go indoors. Here’s our list of some of the best outdoor art around town.

Our favorite King of the Monsters, Godzilla, is listed.

Here's what they have to say about the Big G:

Those less fussed about fine art and more in the mood for tracking down the king of monsters should first make their way to Kabukicho, where a significantly tall Godzilla head towers over the Toho Cinemas movie complex. For more Godzilla goodness, head to Hibiya Chanter Square, where a 1.2m-tall Godzilla has been protecting the area since 1994. 

Above, Godzilla peers over a building in Shinjuku. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

To read more, go here. 

Giant Spider Gets Wool Sweater

Above, Maman without the sweater. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

At the Roppongi Hills complex, there's a giant spider sculpture called "Maman".

Now through May 27, Maman will be sporting a colorful sweater.

According to The Japan News (Yomiuri Shimbun):

Colorful knitted wool has been wrapped around the enormous bronze spider sculpture in the Roppongi Hills complex in Minato Ward, Tokyo, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the opening of the popular complex. 

The 10-meter high spider, dubbed “Maman,” is the work of French-American sculptor Louise Bourgeois. American textile artist Magda Sayeg covered Maman’s eight legs with almost 600 pieces of knitting, taking 11 days to complete the project.

To see the knitting and to read more, go here. 

Seeing Tokyo Affordably In One Day

Above, the Maman sculpture in Roppongi Hills. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

If one is planning to visit Japan anytime soon, but they are limited in time or budget, Japan Info has an article on seeing the city in one day. And, it won't cost an arm and a leg to do to. Well, maybe your feet as it involves walking.

They begin with:

At the mention of Tokyo (東京), I am sure everyone has the idea that it is a costly place to visit. However, this is not 100 percent true. Just recently, my friend and I spent a day traveling around Tokyo area in, what I would say, an economical way. So how did we do that? We did all our activities purely by walking. Curious and want to learn more about our itinerary? Read on and challenge yourself to do the same!

To read more, go here. 

Roppongi Hills To Offer Tax-Exemption and Visitor Services

Above, visitors walk past the "Maman" spider statue in Roppongi Hills. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

One of the nicest places I've visited in Tokyo in recent years is the Roppongi Hills complex.

There are many shops and restaurants for anyone's browsing and eating pleasure. Soon, there will be something more at Roppingi Hills to entice visitors to go there.

According to Japan Today:

TOKYO —Mori Building, a leading urban developer, has announced that Roppongi Hills will become the first facility in Tokyo to house both a one-stop tax-exemption counter for all purchases within the complex and a tourist information office staffed with full-time bilingual concierges, both targeted at foreign visitors to Japan, beginning March 14. 

The tourist information office, which already is operating, was registered in December as a Category 2 facility under the Tourist Information Center (TIC) program led by the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO).

To read more, go here. 

Tokyo's Best Outdoor Art

Above, "Maman" at Roppongi Hills. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

If you're an art lover and a Japanophile, you can see both at the same time as Tokyo has outdoor art that you can see. And, they're free to see.

According to Time Out Tokyo:

Tokyo is filled with museums, alternative art galleries and exhibitions. But that doesn’t mean you need to pay to see some of the best art in the city – heck, to see these pieces, you don’t even have to go indoors. Here’s our list of some of the best outdoor art around town.

To see the list (which also includes the Big G), go here. 

Tokyo's 7 Stupidest Public Art Pieces

Above, "Maman" in Roppongi Hills made the list. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Oh-oh! RocketNews24 may (or may not) stir up a hornets' nest with a new post.

Their post is what they (or, at least the writer of the piece) consider to be "Tokyo's 7 Stupidest Public Art Pieces."

I saw one of them two months ago (has it really been that long ago already?) while I was in Roppongi Hills. Actually, I rather like it!

They begin the article with:

Any city with aspirations to be a vibrant international metropolis should invest in interesting, challenging and useful public art, and Tokyo has certainly done so. There are some absolutely amazing artworks scattered around our fair city, but there are also some complete abominations lurking as well. 

While acknowledging that art is subjective and one person’s favorite piece is another person’s piece of crap, here are what I consider the seven stupidest public artworks in Tokyo.

To see what they are, go here.

The Giant Spider of Roppongi Hills

Above, "Maman" in all her glory at Roppongi Hills. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Last month, I posted a blog about the lunch meeting I had with the crew of Japan Travel in Roppongi Hills.

We went to a sushi restaurant in the Mori Tower. While walking to the Tower, we passed by a giant spider sculpture that stands in the plaza in front of the building.

If you've wondered who made it, what does it symbolize and why is it there, well, here's the answers.

According to a 2005 article in the Japan Times:

That’s “Maman,” a massive sculpture that looms over the plaza in front of Mori Tower at Roppongi Hills. It is the work of Louise Bourgeois, a French-born artist who has lived in New York since 1938 and is now in her 90s. Maman means “mother” in French, and the artist designed the sculpture as an “ode” to her own mother. My heart went out to Madame Bourgeois when I heard that. I’m a mom myself and wouldn’t be thrilled to know my kid thought of me as something huge, menacing and vaguely creepy. 

But Louise Bourgeois has a more positive view of spiders. “My best friend was my mother and she was deliberate, clever, patient, soothing, reasonable, dainty, subtle, indispensable, neat and useful” as a spider, the artist once wrote. “She could also defend herself, and me.” 

“Maman” was designed in 1999 and cast in 2003. It’s made of bronze except for the white marble eggs suspended under her belly. The sculpture stands 10 meters tall and weighs 11,000 kg. That’s got to make it the mother lode of mother odes.

It was Minoru Mori himself, the developer of Roppongi Hills, who brought “Maman” to Tokyo. On a trip to London in 2000, Mr. Mori spotted an earlier casting of the sculpture at the opening of the Tate Modern and realized it was just what he was looking for.

“We had a very interesting set of challenges in trying to find a sculpture for the plaza in front of Mori Tower,” Fumio Nanjo, deputy director of the Mori Art Museum, told me. “We wanted something memorable that people would want to take pictures of. At the same time, it had to be something recognizable and easy to describe so it could serve as a meeting spot, like Hachiko in Shibuya. But the sculpture couldn’t be very heavy because the plaza is suspended, not build on solid ground. And it couldn’t impede the flow of pedestrians across the plaza.”

Above, another view of "Maman" in the plaza in front of Mori Tower. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

To read the full article, go here.