Street Art

If you haven't had a chance, please read the previous entry. :)

This one goes out to my dawg Blanco.

So Nagoya is the third largest metropolitan area in Japan (behind Tokyo and Osaka.) It is, however, the richest metropolitan area in Japan. Apparently when you tell people in Tokyo you're from Nagoya they'll automatically assume you're snobby until proven otherwise. Case in point: I went to a bakery in Ikeshita the other day that made Fauchon look like a supermarket bakery.

But there's gotta be some underground culture here, right?

I haven't done much clubbing so I can't say for sure, but I've seen a number of recording studios around, so there's definitely a local music scene somewhere. Maybe it's all in the "no gaijin" clubs.

That being said, the public art -- and especially the street art -- in Nagoya is AWESOME. What, you may ask, is street art? It's an artistic installation that's been created without the permission of authorities. So...graffiti that's legitimate art. The coolest pieces I've seen have been under overpasses while I was in a car, so I couldn't get a shot. But here are a few examples:



Street art or graffiti? I have no idea. They were just sitting out by a bus stop a couple of blocks from my house. They're still there. I'm just going to go ahead and assume that it's [i]not[/i] trash because the thought of someone making chairs for those dinky bus stops makes me happy.



This is in Osu, a shopping arcade. There's another one that says "Never Say Die!" that's totally awesome. I'll try to get a picture of it next time.



Not street art per se but a totally awesome mural nonetheless. This mural points the way to Osu.