Tokyo: Whiskey Magnate Museum Moves Into New Digs
For relaxing times, make it Suntory time. Bill Murray was forced to repeat this line over and over in the movie "Lost in Translation," so you'll have to forgive us for having it stuck in our noggins. Now art aficionados can make it Suntory time during daylight hours in Tokyo with the new home of the Suntory Museum of Art.
Scenesters who know the museum's home district of Roppongi as nightclub central might be surprised to see kimonos and lacquered plates in the new modernist building, whose architect Kengo Kuma told Bloomberg News he wanted to create an "urban living room" for the artifacts. According to this week's Newsweek, it's part of a city revitalization plan called Tokyo Midtown patterned after New York City (there's even a Dean and Deluca) and hoping to draw more cultural attractions into Tokyo's city center.
Developers turned down chain stores and international names in favor of encouraging small business owners to move in to the bamboo-and-washi-paper-decorated stores, while a nearby apartment complex entices would-be shoppers to pursue their retail passions full time. So let's raise a glass to Suntory and the Tokyo Midtown project.
[Photo: Yamaguchi.net]
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