Hagi Digs

My friend who put me up for 3 weeks in his home in Hagi just sent me some pictures. He thought it was funny that as he would rise in the morning to make his cup of tea, I would be getting back from a long night of drinking. Then as he would lay down to take his afternoon nap, thats when I would wake from my gentle slumber and prepare for another wild night.


This is Juko Nakamura aka "The Artist". He is the best-known maker of these medium sized traditonal Japanese figurines that are put on display during a traditional Japanese wedding. They sell for about $200 bucks a piece, and he makes dozens per day. He busts his ass during the Fall and Winter making hundreds of these things, and after he sells them off he can relax during the spring and summer months. During his time off he also paints. One of his works was shown in the Louvre during a special exhibition, but he wants to have his own museum featuring his own works, and those of other artists he admires.

This is Juko's apprentice, Mio. She's from Osaka.





This is the bedroom where I slept. This is was Juko's basement where he kept all of his paintings when he did not have any open exhibitions going on in some part of Japan. I slept next to a replica of Duchamp's Fountain.



You should've seen Juko's face twitch when I innocently pointed towards the "Fountain" after he asked me if I knew where the bathroom was in his house.

I thank Juko for his incomparable hospitality. The first night I slept here, the mosquitos gorged themselves on my blood, and I had to buy one of those machines that creates a mosquito forcefield with a radius of about 25 feet. I have no idea how it works, but on the second night when I plugged it into the wall and switched it on, I slept as soundly as a ladybug in an amber paperweight.