Japanese Week in London 🇯🇵 | Day 3: Tate Modern, Frida Kahlo & A Very Special Souvenir

Welcome to day three of my Japanese week in London! The day began with my usual morning run through Bloomsbury before another enjoyable session at my Japanese intensive course at King’s College London. After a year of studying Japanese, I’m really beginning to feel the difference, and it’s lovely to feel my confidence growing with each lesson. In the afternoon, I walked across the Millennium Bridge to the Tate Modern to visit both the Tracey Emin and Frida Kahlo exhibitions. I came away with mixed feelings. I have huge admiration for Tracey Emin’s artistic voice and the influence she’s had on so many female artists, but I don’t particularly enjoy looking at her work. The Frida Kahlo exhibition was fascinating, but I found myself wishing it had focused more on Frida’s own paintings and photographs, rather than the wider collection of artists inspired by her. My Japanese treat for the day was a visit to Arome in Covent Garden, where I sampled one of their delicious Japanese-French pastries before unexpectedly finding myself at Code 8, creating a bespoke lipstick. The most meaningful moment of the day came when I was asked to name my new lipstick. I chose “Frances”, after my dear friend who is currently very poorly in hospital. It felt like a simple but special way to carry a little reminder of her with me every day. As always, thank you for coming along with me. If you’re enjoying this London series, I’d love it if you’d subscribe and join me for the rest of the week.