Location: Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo

It was pretty early in the morning (for me) when I took the ten minute walk from the closest train station to the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. I had a few destinations in mind that day, but first I had to get a little current culture credit in.

 The museum is on a nice, large parcel of land and has a few outdoor installations.

 I don't know what is up with this, but I'd hate to be a giant tripping over the buildings across the street, as I'm sure these rods could easily put an eye out.

 There's a building with a pile of junk inside, carefully arranged. From the window you can see a high heel, but there are also records and TVs and clothes and books and... everything else people dispose of these days. Yes, there is a man in a suit standing on the other side.

 The building has a funky design. You can see the window from which I shot the previous picture. You can also go inside the opposite end to take a look from a different view.

Note that this building is called Bloomberg Pavilion, and may disappear by the end of October. The exhibitions inside seem to have changed frequently, and the one I saw was by Fumiko Kobayashi.

 There is some kind of watchtower-looking sculpture on the opposite corner of the museum.

 Looking more like a poorly-designed piece of playground equipment, it twists around itself offering places to explore and hide.

 Visitors can ascend the stairs to look out at the nearby park, or perhaps shoot a water gun at a passerby. Unfortunately this is only possible during certain points in the day.

If only one of the staircases had been a slide instead...

Inside the museum are exhibitions that tend to change pretty often. When I was there, one work involved walking onto a padded, raised area, curtained off as its own large dark room, where you could lie on your back and stare at a projected video. If I hadn't had caffeine before going to the museum, I probably could have taken a nap. I recall someone lightly snoring off to one side at one point. There's a fashion exhibit currently showing until Monday (October 8, 2012).

Fans of contemporary art living nearby might be interested in multiple visits to see new exhibitions. I guess that goes without saying.

The museum is located a bit out of the way, and at least a 10 minute walk from the nearest subway/train station. The easiest route is to take the Hanzomon subway line to Kiyosumi-shirakawa Station, walk east for a while, then walk south along Mitsume Street to the museum. It's open Tuesday through Sunday 10-6 and a few Mondays. The whole place closes several times during the year, including four multi-week periods to switch out exhibitions (October 9-26, 2012, for example). Be sure to check the website for up-to-date closures! Admission is 500 yen for the permanent exhibition, with extra charges for temporary exhibitions.