Went out again today, this time with the camera and memory stick! Walked into town, and it's really not far at all. Went through the main shopping street, past some of the historic churches, through a huge plaza with lovely buildings, then over the river to where the museums are clustered.
The anime/manga exhibition at the Museum of Applied Arts was a disappointment - there were some old manga, from as early as the late 19th century, but there seemed to be no attempt to draw any continuity between them and the woodblock prints that were also on show. Fairly random cases full of Hello Kitty products, anime models, Nintendo DS games (playable) and a corner full of original and translated manga made it feel like it was thrown together to cater to a fad. The bit I was most looking forward to, what I thought was comment by current fine artists on manga (and particularly the way it's interpreted as being descended from woodblock prints) turned out to be nothing of the sort - there was one room off to the side with pictures "reinterpreting" or vandalising famous prints and cartoony figures that were meant to be some kind of subversive "threatening cute". I really didn't think much of it. The installation (large white tent with random things including faces of anime characters painted on the inside) and video projection (Japanese actor pretending to be a drunk Bin Laden hiding out in Japan) were even more disappointing.
Z accidentally went to the Film Museum, which also had a partner exhibit - after the Museum of Applied Arts G and I decided we didn't want to see any more. The Film exhibit didn't sound too bad though, I might go another time. But overall not very exciting.
We wandered around and ended up in a kebab shop again, they seem to be the staple places open late - and crucially open on Sundays when absolutely everything is closed.
Did get some photos of the area around the flat and the middle of town, although I'm sure there's more to see. Will get them up soon.
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