- Osaka - Suntory Museum -

This is the Suntory Museum. Unfortunate for Martin and Tsubasa (and perhaps a whole lot more people who are deceived by its name), this is not a museum of liquor.








































































Designed by the osaka native and internationally renowned Tadao Ando, the Suntory Museum houses the world's largest IMAX theatre (which I did not experience, boohoo) and exhibition spaces for high profile artists such as Toulouse-Lautrec, Mucha and Cassandre.
























I'm guessing this gigantic balloon-like construction houses the IMAX theatre. This part reminds me a bit of Sydney's NIDA.































































It's a pretty stunning piece of iconic architecture. Except there's nothing much to excite from the inside. The exhibition spaces were mediocre and the rooftop restaurant seems like a helipad they added on post-occupation.

Hector and I had the pleasure of seeing Alphonse Mucha(1860-1939)'s collection of commercial and personal works. We saw a lot of his posters especially ones for theatre productions in France. He loved Byzantine icons and had a beautiful knack of weaving together frame, text and image into the works. Here's a bit more on Mucha. And here's a good description of the Suntory Museum's architecture.