This Week in Tokyo – 19 May 2020

In this week’s ‘This Week in Tokyo’ we take a deep dive into the Maction Planet Archives, and beyond, and highlight Japan content to enjoy during self-isolation – for art lovers, rugby nuts, entrepreneurs, music fans and people persons!

For the Art Lover

Mac, our Founder and Lead Guide, has been writing about art since we launched Maction Planet – here on the blog and also for Tokyo Art Beat. The featured image for this post comes from one of our first detailed pieces, a review of the exhibition of works of Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966), drawing primarily from the Collection of The Fondation Marguerite et Aimé Maeght held at the National Art Centre in Nogizaka in 2017.

Other notable exhibition reviews include:

• Lee Ufan: Dialogue at SCAI The Bathhouse (2020)
• Sakura, Sakura, Sakura 2020 – Flower Viewing at the Museum! at the Yamatane Museum of Art (2020)
• ‘René Lalique – Modernity and Elegance’ at the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum (2020)
• Kagewani at Roppongi Art Night (2018)
• The 24th Sesshu International Art Society Exhibition at the National Art Centre (2017)

Many issues of ‘This Week in Tokyo’ also showcase street art, statues and exhibitions from all other the city. For click here for more art-related content, click here.

For the Rugby Nut

In 2019 Japan hosted the Rugby World Cup. Mac attended 14 matches during the tournament and made extensive vlogs showcasing his experience at every game as well as other experiences, such as bumping into South African scrum-half Faf de Klerk at the Shibuya Crossing and attending the ONE Team Japan National Rugby Team Parade through Marunouchi. Some of these videos have received over 100,000 views! We’ve assembled all of them into this handy playlist for you to enjoy so, err… enjoy!

For the Entrepreneur

Mac launched Maction Planet three years ago. Thanks to the support of our incredible tour guests it has grown faster than we expected and are humbled by the position we are in now as Tokyo’s top-ranked independent tour company. You can find out more about this journey, and advice on how to build a business based on quality and passion, in Mac’s appearance on the Small Business Japan Podcast. Mac dishes out plenty of choice tidbits during the interview conducted by Joshua M. Smith. You can find out more about the Small Business Japan Podcast appearance here.

For the Music Fan

Maction Planet is one of few tour companies in the world with its own radio station! Why do we have one? Because we were founded with a mission to share Tokyo and Japanese culture with the world. The primary outlet is, of course, our Bespoke Japan Tours, but there are many others, including our Apparel line, this blog, our YouTube channel and Maction Planet Radio. There are over 60 episodes of our flagship radio show Tokyo ON. Early episodes were co-hosted by Mac and Maction Planet Resident DJ Royce Leong. Royce is now the showrunner, with Mac presenting some solo episodes once in a while, such as the latest episode,‘Tokyo ON #062: Tour de Tokyo II – Big Yamanote 6′.  Tokyo ON typically features six songs linked by a common theme, such as a festival, a particular artist or a location. Around the tunes we scale the dizzy heights of Chatmandu, talking about Tokyo happenings, culture, history and the artists.

If you prefer a stream of pure music then we have you covered. Head to Maction Planet Radio and look for ‘Tokyo ON In The Mix’. We have mixes to welcome you to Tokyo, to instil some Summertime Magic, to get you going with some Future Bounce and more.

Those who also enjoy reading about music should check out our sister site, tokyophonic.com, which features artist interviews, album reviews and other music and lifestyle-focused content.

For the People Person

Love reading about people and their journeys to get where they are? Mac regularly interviews Tokyo’s shining lights, people with connections to the World’s Greatest Metropolis and former guests. Check out ‘Mac on Tokyo‘ on the blog for chats with:

• Former Tokyo Yakult Swallows Pitcher Tony Barnette and his wife Hilary Barnette (photo above)
• Superstar Comic book artists Yanick Paquette, Livio Ramondelli, Andrew Griffth and Matt Frank
• World-famous calligrapher Shun Wang
• ‘Only in Tokyo’ mysteries author Jonelle Patrick

…and many more! Read all the Mac on Tokyo interviews here!

Maction Planet runs bespoke Private Tours and Experiences in Tokyo, and beyond. To book yours or to purchase a gift card, contact us at info@mactionplanet.com

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