An Adult Delinquent

Posted on May 1, 2007 by Ulara Nakagawa

The Mori Art Museum at RoppongiAn area of Tokyo very famous for its high concentration of nightlife and popularity among the foreign population. Hills, is showing a Humour in Contemporary Art Exhibit which runs only until May 6th and is worth a visit if you need a good snicker. (No, not the chocolate bar. That's called a Snickers.)

So my visit was worthwhile, but also daunting, as it reminded me just how 'out-of-it' I am when it comes to Japanese idiosyncrasies. As I entered the exhibit area, a uniformed employee shot out in front of me from some unknown corner, stopping me in my tracks. She did so with the intensity of someone trying to stop 'the' bomb from detonating. The lady asked me to please put the bottle of water that I was drinking out of back into my purse, or leave it in her care until I was on my way out. At least that was what I could make out from her robotic lecture. I must have assumed correctly, because when I put the bottle away, she gave a quick bow and left me alone.

About three quarters of the way through the show there was a photographer in particular, Will Rogan, whose shots were so amazing I whipped out my little paper notebook to jot his name down. Moving on, I noticed another uniformed museum lady deftly but very conspicuously following me. My first instinct was that she had seen my bottle of water poking out of my bag. So I quickly pushed it back in all the way, hoping she would dart away like the last one. But she kept on my track. Finally, she came up right beside me, thrusting forth a tiny plastic lead pencil. Again, I could not discern exactly what she was saying but was able to piece together the words to form some sort of understanding: 'notepad', 'pen', 'pencil' and 'you can return this to the front desk on your way out'. As I nodded, dumbly taking the pencil from her hand, she slipped away.

Clearly still a culture amateur and a museum delinquent, I still wonder what the heck is going on. Pen? Pencil? What difference does it make? But strangely, I don't care enough to investigate. At least I didn't get detention.