The Rain Room at the Nizayama Forest Art Museum

There is an old hydro-electric station up towards the mountains about a 15 minute drive from where I live. There are three buildings on the compound that have been converted into a tea room, an exhibition hall and an art gallery. There is also a small tower you can climb to get a great view of Nyuzen as it spills out to the Japan sea.

The largest building is the gallery, where local artists use the huge warehouse space to display work that wouldn't fit a conventional sized display room. I found out about it through friends here in Nyuzen and first visited it when one of the students in my English converstation class had an show there.

When Mike was here we decided to check out the latest exhibition. I had seen an ad for it on TV and thought I'd show him that we're cultured out here in the boonies of Japan. I think he was impressed.

Check out the link:

遠藤利克展 Trieb-振動 (Rain Room)

It's called 遠藤利克展 Trieb-振動 (Rain Room) and you can actually walk through the rain! They have rubber boots and umbrellas for those who require them, but we were allowed to walk through in just our flip flops and play in the rain!

For me, the sound was what was most impressive. Water is my favorite sound. Trickling water, gushing water, the sound of bubbles, or that splooshing sound you get when you enter water -hand, head or whole body.

There was also a small tank set up in the loft of the warehouse. At first it just looks like a big ugly tank of water with a plastic pipe at the bottom pumping H20 into it. But then you notice something very strange...you can see the water flowing up to the top of the tank, making ripples at the surface...but there are no bubbles!! The illusion is that the top is open (you can't actually see into the top of the tank from a standing position), but actually there is a piece of glass on top which prevents the water from bubbling up, so instead it creates a rippling effect at the 'surface' which is directed inward. Very cool.


Check it out if you've got the time, then go for tea/coffee and cake in the tea room!

I would post photos, but we weren't allowed to take any while we were there, so you have to scroll down the linked page and take a look for yourself. There is also a map of how to get there and a photo gallery of past exhibits.