At the start of this year’s stay I suggested to Lisa and Jackie that we plan a visit to the relatively new Atelier des Lumières, since I thought we would all enjoy the current shows, Van Gogh, the starry night, and Japan Dreams, images of the floating world. I had visited similar shows last year with Andy, and we both enjoyed them; the teamLab Borderless show, which we liked even better, closed last September, though a version is permanently installed in Tokyo. Atelier des Lumières was booked through the following weekend but I was able to get us tickets for Monday. Since we move rather slowly in the morning I prudently selected 11:30 rather than 9:30 am.
We all enjoyed both shows, as evidenced by the fact that we watched them through twice! The music was terrific for both shows but the Van Gogh show suffered from an annoying mismatch between the emotional charge of the musical selections and the emotional tone of the visuals. I also felt that the Van Gogh visuals often weren’t as crisp as they should have been. Recommended for all ages, nevertheless.
We had invited Zhizhong to join us that evening after work for Japanese takeout. As the shadows of evening deepened so did the conversation, eventually covering the challenges and rewards of work, parenting, real estate and filial piety. I wish I could say we solved all the riddles we tussled with, but at any rate we left few stones unturned!
