Miscellaneous photos from Tokyo

Here are my remaining photos from Tokyo, the ones that didn’t fit into large enough thematic groups to post separately.

This is the National Art Center, the building that housed both the Giacometti and half of the Sunshower exhibits. Later from the Tokyo City View we could see that this curvy glass-lined shape is only the front facade: the back side of the building, where all the exhibits are held, is a more conventional rectangular box. From here we walked to the Suntory Museum, which held a small curated set of Japanese arts and crafts with family-friendly exhibit design, including an amusing 16th century scroll depicting the story of Gon-no-kami, a mouse who marries a human woman. Near the Suntory we had a very nice set lunch at Artisan de la Truffe.

It is only by accident that we encountered the Seven Lucky Gods and firefighting frog at the Jūban Inari Shrine. We had been to the Mori Museum in Roppongi Hills for the other half of Sunshower, and were trying to return home to our hotel in Kagurazaka. I think the easiest (if perhaps not fastest) route would have been to take the Toei-Oedo line from Roppongi to Iidabashi, with a lot of stops but not much walking or even any transfers. But for some reason the navigation software we tried refused to show us that route, instead directing us to walk a kilometer or so to a farther station in Azabu-Jūban, past this shrine.

This array of vacuum tubes is part of a Univac 120. It’s part of an impressive collection of old calculating devices at the Museum of Science on the Tokyo University of Science campus. Jin Akiyama’s Math Experience Plaza is downstairs, accessed by an exterior stair in front of the entrance to the Museum. Unfortunately I couldn’t take photos there but it has a big collection of mathematical models of concepts including descent curves, hyperboloid gears, polyhedral dissections, and space-filling polyhedra.

As usual, follow the link at the top of the post for the rest of the photos.

(G+)