Karen Guthrie's blogs

18/7/06
After four days of non-stop rain, there seems to be a hiatus in the downpour. Nina and I wander up and down the steep roads which connect the few houses of Toge – no pun intended – together. Still suspicious of the weather, we wear oversized rubber boots and waterproof jackets, and take with us a transparent plastic envelope in which we carry an A4 of translated sentences like “This is a typical English house”. In my jacket pocket I carry a Lilliput Lane model house which I periodically pull out and hold up against the backdrop of the traditional houses to explain what we’re trying to do. It’s a bit like that scene from Father Ted with the cows faraway and near.

Onsen nonsense
The 7 Samurai boys have photographed themselves – from behind – in the onsen (hot baths). Perhaps Nina, Aiko and I need to do the partner picture.

23/7/06
The ‘open house’ afternoon we hold in the village clashes with a local celebration, or perhaps we haven’t exactly marketed the event brilliantly. On the other hand, holding the event in my own village – Coniston – wouldn’t exactly over-excite the locals either.
Despite Barnaby’s projector dying, the cleared-out house looks rather good with our little installations scattered throughout. A cluster of us remain for some time in the back bedroom among the packed away furniture, designing and printing labels, tripping over shared power leads, chatting in cod-Japanese and generally having a laugh. I have enjoyed the communal domesticity in the house much more than I had expected to - the superior-quality running jokes more than compensate for the lack of a clean towel when you want one.
Anyway, a few villagers appear and seem to appreciate what we have done. The air is full of the aroma of Adam’s cooking for the evening: rabbit ravioli (actually hare, which seems to be called rabbit here – what we call rabbit is an animal that doesn’t exist here), moussaka, a new biscuit called the Toge frog is being baked in a brand new mini-oven.
Other artists from the Triennale make up most of our audience, and they seem surprisingly appreciative, considering how different our approach has been to theirs. One Australian artist working here has recommended a local craftswoman who teaches at the university, who might have the model-making skills we need to start our ‘Toge home’ collectable project.

Later we attend the communal dinner in the village hall with our European foods – I help make cucumber sandwiches and tzatziki (cucumber dip – unpopular I think due to incompatibility with chopsticks). Apart from Adam’s ravioli it’s totally vegetarian, which is incredible considering there are probably over 40 different dishes on the low tables. I think of the English equivalent – a nightmarish spread of shop-bought flans, cheese sandwiches and sodden salads.
The village women are warm but clearly feel more comfortable apart from the menfolk and us. They cluster near the kitchen, even during the evening entertainment (Marcus Coates’ shaman routine) and I wonder how we will be able to engage with them when we return to the village the week after next, without the familiar faces of the 5 male samurai.