Art or Rubbish 2023
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When: THU OCT 26 to WED NOV 8 , 2023.
Duration: 14 days / 13 nights, from Tokyo to Tokyo.
Minimum 4 people Maximum 8 people.
Fee: $ A 6000 includes choice accommodation (twin share*), dinners and most breakfasts,
and admission to the attractions, plus additional public transport cost.
There are Triple R Melbourne discount available.
Final itinerary announced SEP 1 2023
The tour starts from Tokyo and finishes in Tokyo. *Single supplement about $ A 500 where available.
Not included: JR Rail pass, lunch, drinks, souvenirs, international airfare to Japan and transfers to the airports.
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Pre tour (WED Oct 25 )
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Tour leaders arrive TUE night the 24th and some peeps arrives WED night.
Today we can give you various simple options and maps and plans to visit places in Tokyo
that we don't cover on the tour. Accom optional extra.
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Day 1 (THU Oct 26 ) Art Roppongi and Okamoto in Aoyama
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Tour starts around 10am after breakfast when we are assembled.
We will do the Roppongi Art Lobrow Quintangle * bigger than the Triangle ,some Taro and Ando art
and design hidden in plain view, and visit the house and workspace of Taro Okamoto.
Its an arty strolling day, with a dinner at a great favourite Japanese restaurant in Akasaka.
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Day 2 (FRI Oct 27) First chew on Chuo line
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After breakfast in the hotel, will do a bit of Shibuya for Sat madness, maybe even Shimo K if we have time
and later in the afternoon we will move to a pre-war ryokan where bakelite meets wifi,
in the suburbs in the heart of the Chuo Line.
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Day 3 (SAT Oct 28 ) Chuo
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Traditional breakfast in the ryokan, then we will have a further chew on the Chuo line,
Maybe an architectural walk featuring Fujimori stuff and a visit to the large public art space in Tachikawa are on the menu.
Pre dinner drinks will be at the local Mom n Pop / Jap Thai bar with 20,000 vinyl albums, yes they take requests !
Dinner will be probably be in a little back alley haunt we like, one-off/ new / old / whichever looks most appealing.
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Day 4 (SUN Oct 29 ) Last chew on the Chuo
Today it's party time and after a bit of some more arty strolling (everything is art on the Chuo),
maybe Kitamura sculpture and our favourite park, then
we will head to our favorite modern annual street festival, with music, food and local flavour.
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Day 5 (MON Oct 30 ) Kanazawa
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After traditional ryokan breakfast, we train it to Kanzawa by bullet train, and there is much to see here,
various arty strolls and maybe a ninja temple or a gramophone museum and our fave vinyl store in Japan,
and some old Edo architecture and some groovy drinking streets
you might like to visit after dinner if you are in the mood and feeling thirsty.
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Day 6 (TUE Oct 31) Kanazawa
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Maybe a visit to our secret intergalactic Lobrow Space hideout, and some out of town nonsense.
Expect the unexpected !
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Day 7 (WED Nov 1) Kanazawa
Lets wrap it up in KZ with some Contemporary art, maybe Zen museum,
excellent local market, lots on offer, and we will choose the best....
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Day 8 (THU Nov 2) Osaka
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Following breakfast , we will travel by Thunderbird over the mountains, a truly great ride, to Osaka.
Lunch on the go, then drop the bags and head to the ultimate arty rubbish moment at the world’s largest garbage incinerator,
and its sister sewage treatment plant. Its art, not shit, and it's agreed to be a major highlight of the Art or Rubbish tour.
To cap it all, after checking in and a short rest, we will take in a secret steampunk Submarine bar for a drink ,
then a great local Japanese izakaya where everyone is welcome.
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Day 9 (FRI Nov 3 ) Osaka
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Its CULTURE DAY ! (literally, its Culture Day in Japan)
We will train it, trammit, stroll it, check out parks, a very old shrine, and check out the Expo 70 site
with Okamoto's Tower of the Sun, where retro futurist kitsch is king.
Maybe have an earthquake experience, and maybe dinner will be Japanese in a gawdy former old
school brothel in the red light area.
That's the plan at this stage, but it's culture day so anything could happen !
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Day 10 (SAT Nov 4) Osaka / Kobe
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Today we will do a day trip for art exploration to check out the world’s largest 18m tall Gigantor.
Then on to observe a 22m tall fish, Fish Dance, created by Frank O Gehry, supervised by a fellow architect, Tadao Ando.
There are a few other pieces around here. Lunch in the Kobe port area and the Kobe port earthquake memorial park
which preserves the damaged area as it was. Then we head to the Yokoo Tadanoori museum,
then down to the Prefectural Museum of Art, the building of which was designed by Tadao Ando.
There is a dedicated room /gallery displaying miniature of Ando’s works.
Outside of the museum stands the giant “Sun sister” by Yanobe Kenji, which kind of completes the Big Kobe Day.
After watching the sun going down with the Sun Sister, we head back home to Osaka for another cool dinner spot.
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Day 11 (SUN Nov 5) Seto Bound
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Today we head to the Seto sea for the Art Islands, and first stop ? A ferry out head to Naoshima.
After exploring the smaller of two ports and the art for an hour or so,
we head to the world famous renowned Bennesse House area , inc Chi Chu Museum , Li Ufan, heaps of art installations,
the Bennesse museum, amazing views and a stroll back to the bus which we then take to the big port,
where you can bathe in the segregated psychedelic bath-house, or just stroll around ....
before ferrying back to Uno on the mainland for Japanese dinner.
Accom will be a quaint traditional guest house run by our super friend Yuki..
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Day 12 (MON Nov 6) Art island Teshima
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Today we ferry to Teshima, the island of garbage turned to art, yet another Art or Rubbish location.
There are electric bikes on offer to ride around the island to see all the art installations;
and some of those who haven't been to the Teshima Museum can do that also.
Then we reconvene for a leisurely stroll around the main port, with gold toilet and sensational fishy snacks, Yum.
Then back for dinner and maybe a drink at a tiny old time bar with Morricone film music and monster posters
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Day 13 (TUE Nov 7 ) Inujima Day Trip
We ferry over to Inujima, to complete the Lobrow Art Or Rubbish Seto Sea Trio Semi-ennale, and ferry back in the afternoon,
for some well earned rest and recreation. Scrabble anyone ? Local dinner, we’re locals not yokels tonight.
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Day 12 (WED Nov 8 ) Seto area back to Tokyo via Seto Ohashi
We can leave early morning by ferry and then maybe travel across (well, underneath. actually) the Seto Ohashi bridge,
the longest single span bridge in the world, and one of the best across-the-water train rides.
Or we might just pootle back to Okayama at our leisure...
We then hop a bullet train , and head back to Tokyo
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Post Tour (THU Nov 9) ) Tokyo here we are again
Today if you are sticking around we can give you various simple options and maps and plans
to visit places in Tokyo that we don't cover on the tour.
We may even have a day trip today to a mountain about an hour outside of Tokyo for
views, monkeys, sweets , trick art, and other stuff.
Accom : Optional extra.
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One of the post AoR tour activities we recommend is to take part in the "Kumano my House" tour.
"Kumano" starts immediately following the AoR and takes you to the UNESCO world heritage listed old pilgrimage path,
wonderful onsen hot spas and the best tuna you can have. And a bit more art and rubbish (and the ruin).
You can take the "Kumano" option before the AoR tour too.
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