Mori Art Museum 2009.12.27

Winter is the season to visit museums.

I visited an exhibition titled “Medicine and Art” at Mori art Museum @ Roppingi Hills.

The museum is in the 53rd floor of the building or about 220 meters high from the ground. Many Japanese museums are in the upper floors.

The exhibition is held jointly by Mori Art Museum and Britain’s Wellcome Collection.

Drawings, life-size models, artificial hands legs and other things related to medicine are displayed. The exhibits from the Wellcome Collection include Charles Darwin’s stick and other interesting things.

Gilles Barbier’s work “The Nursing House” was very impressive for me. Aged Superman, Mister Fantastic (of the Fantastic Four) and other American heroes (and heroines) live in a nursing house. The extended hands and legs of Mr. Fantastic no longer return to the original shapes. Superman carries a drip pole. Even the heroes cannot resist aging...

I took pictures outside the museum as it is prohibited to take photos inside.

Tokyo's Christmas 2009.12.25

Tokyo celebrates Christmas, but howto celabrate it is different from Western countries.

Statistics show only 1-2% of Japanese are Christian. Only limited number of people go church.

Christmas is just a holiday to enjoy shopping and dinners and recieving (giving) presents. Shops, hotels and streets are covered with glittering Christmas decorations.

Most people know Vatican’s Christmas mass or Rockefeller Center’s Christmas tree in NY. In Tokyo, however, there is no such symbolic Christman scene.

On 26th of December, shops and streets quickly take off the Christmas decorations and change them to the New Year decorations.

Funny English Expression in Japan

You may find funny English expressions when you walk around in Japan.

Examples include:

Flesh Juice (not fresh juice) -- in a menu of a coffee shop
Our city is fruity (not fruit-rich city)

In this blog, there may be many “funny” English expressions (in addition to simple grammatical errors). Please do not be angry and enjoy them when you find them. They must be typical mistakes made by a Japanese (^^)

I am trying to take laughter-evoking pictures in the streets in Tokyo. It is yet successful. Instead, I show some examples I found in the web.

http://www.eigotown.com/bikkuri/popup3.html

http://www.eigotown.com/bikkuri/popup2005_1.html

http://www.eigotown.com/bikkuri/popup2005_3.html

Tokyo Map

There are some easy-to-read Tokyo Maps I have found.
You may find it easier to read this blog with these maps.

Useful links:

Tokyomap.com’s broad area map

Japan-hotel-reservation.net’s map

Japan National Tourism Organization’s map

You may find various maps – nationwide, broad area Tokyo and local maps, in these sites.

Negish 2009.12.23

Negishi is an old town near Ueno (-->　See “Ueno” article). Many artists used to live in the area.

Masaoka Shiki, poet and critic of Haiku and Waka (Tanka) in the Meiji Era, lived in Negish. His house “Shiki-an” remains here.

It is a small ordinary house with a small garden. Many artists and writers (including Natsume Soseki, Mori Ogai and Takahama Kyoshi) gathered here and exchanged ideas. It is why the house is seen as one of the birthplaces of modern Japanese literature.

Shiki got ill and had to stay in his futon (bed) for years till his death. He called the garden “my universe” and described the changes in the garden in his Haiku works.

The nation’s public broadcasting station broadcasts a program which focuses on Shiki and other Meiji people (including political and military leaders). The program (Saka no Ue no Kumo) is based on a novel written by Shiba Ryotaro, one of the most popular novelists in the country. So, Shiki is more popular now than before. More visitors come to Shiki-an this year.

There are many stone monuments which record Shiki's works in the area.

Hayashiya Sanpei was one of the most popular Rakugo Players in the Showa Era. Sanpei’s house has converted into a museum. (--> See Rakugo article)

His life-size pictures, books and many othere things are desplayed. Rakugo performances are often held here.

There are many love hotels (special hotels used for love affairs) in the area. The atmosphere of the town is far from sophisticated because of the hotels, but it is interesting to see the changes of the town from Shiki’s era.

Ueno 2009.12.20

Ueno Park is one of the most famous urban parks in Japan. It has famous temples, concert halls, museums, zoo and universities as well as sports grounds inside the territory. People enjoy “hanami” (flower watching) picnic under the cherry trees in spring.

Shonobazu-pond lies in the south west part of Ueno Park. Lotus grasses cover the pond. They have dry leaves and grown-up lotus fruits at this season. There are many birds in the pond and people enjoy walking around the pond.

The Statue of Saigo Takamori, a leader of Meiji Revolution, is known as a symbol of Ueno. A religious group was holding a campaign in front of the statue.

The museums in the park include Tokyo National Museum, The National Museum of Western Art, The Ueno Royal Museum, and National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo. A life-size model of blue whale is displayed in front of the Nature and Science Museum.

The park is rather old. It became open to the public in 1873, just before the Meiji Revolution. The roads in the park are covered with asphalt.

The land was originally owned by Kanei-ji Temple, the guard of Tokugawa Family in the Edo era. Most od the land was taken over by the Meiji Government and it became the park. Kanei-ji Temple still remains in the northern part of the territory.

Tokyo University of Arts has its campus in the park. It has departments of fine arts and music. Old Music Hall of the university built in the Meiji Period still remains.

Hiroo & Embassies 2009.12.19

Hiroo is a place where many embassies gather. They include French, German, Chinese and Finland. There are so many foreigners walking in the area.

The German Embassy holds a special exhibition to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s collapse. Historical pictures are displayed on the wall of the embassy.

At French Embassy, a special exhibition titled “No One’s Land” is held. The Embassy has built a new office building and the old building is expected to be destroyed next year. The exhibition is held using the old building.

Rooms are allocated to artists and each artist shows his/her works in the room.

For me, some works were easy to understand and some were beyond my understanding. But all of them were impressive. I was also impressed by the idea of the embassy to have such exhibition.

Hatoyama Hall @ Otowa 2009.12.19

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is from a distinguished family. His Grand-grand father served as lower house’s chairman. His grand father, Ichiro Hatoyama was the country’s Prime Minister, and his father was foreign minister.

The house now called Hatoyama Hall and is open to the public.

The Hatoyama family moved to Otowa in Bunkyo ward, northern part of central Tokyo in 1981 (maiji Period) and a western-style house was built in 1924, a year after the Kanto Great Earthwuake. A renovation was carried in 1995 and

The house was used for important political gatherings. The pamphlet says that Japanese postwar politics started here.

A slope leads visitors from the main street to the Hall. A video program played at a drawing room emphasized the great “achievements” of Hatoyama members. The records of former PM Ichiro Hatoyama (including appointment letters issued by the Emperor) and former Foreign Minister Iichiro Hatoyama are displayed. Various stained glasses are in the windows.

The atmosphere in the Hall is completely different from that in ordinary houses. Current Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s unique character (he is sometimes characterizes as a spaceman-like person) may have been developed in this special mood.

The Otowa district is is also known as one of the centers of publishing industry. Kodansha, one of Japan’s leading publishers, has its headquarters here.

Shinjuku Gyoen 2009.12.6

Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden is just 10 minutes walk from Shinjuku Station, Japan’s busiest station. There are many types of gardens and woods in it –- Japanese garden, English Garden, French garden, lawn garden and family’s woods etc. All are beautiful.

Shinjuku Gyoen is one of the best places to enjoy autumn red in Central Tokyo. (It is more difficult enjoy “red” than “yellow” in central Tokyo). Maple trees give us beautiful scenes there.

The garden is not free. The entrance fee costs 200 yen (for an adult). So, the garden was not so crowded and I had a good time.

Communication Museum 2009.12.1

The Communication Museum is in the NTT Corporation’s headquarters building. It is in the center of Otemachi, one of the busiest business districts in Tokyo.

The museum displays goods related to postal services as well as telecommunications. They include: a model of postal office in the 19th century, stamps, posts, old telecommunication devices, fiber cables, telephones, and many other thins.

It is the season to start writing new-year greeting cards. The cards, known as nengajo, still play important role in keeping ties between people (even it is the time of e-mail). The museum was holding a special exhibition of nengajo.

Japanese postal services and telecommunication services started under the government’s operations. The services were later separated and were run by public companies such as NTT and Japan Post.

NTT was privatized in the 1980s although Finance Minister remains the largest shareholder.

Japan Post privatization law was enacted in 2005 under the Koizumi Administration. The plan is about to be reversed under the Democratic Party of Japan’s government in 2009.

BOJ Currency Museum 2009.12.1

Marco Polo, a Venetian traveler who visited Khblai Khan of Mongol Empire (China’s Yuan Dynasty) in the late 13th century, described Japan as a country of gold in his book. Indeed, Japan was a big producer of gold.

At the Currency Museum of the Bank of Japan, visitors find big oval gold coins. They were minted in the early Edo period, about 300 years after Marco Polo’s book. We also find silver, bronze and other coins of medieval Japan.

Coins and bank notes issued after the Meiji era (modern Japan) are also displayed.

The museum was not crowded. The staff answered politely to the questions by a group of students. I enjoyed the display.

The old headquarter building of the Bank of Japan was built in 1896. It was registered as national cultural property in 1974.