The All-Seeing Daruma

The daruma is finally accomplished—he has both eyes now (and by now this is so late, I probably should have gotten another daruma to finish up my posts! Thank goodness for this nifty feature in blogger that allows me to backdate stuff!)!

Tale of Tokyo Stats:

2,000 photos taken

6 gigabytes used in SD cards

1095 photos deemed “okay”

189 photos used in the blog

1 lens cap and 1 handkerchief lost in the bustle and tussle of crowds

Anyways, finals are upcoming and boy oh boy do I wish I had studied more!

Tokyo - Museum Madness

Today I gained my zen back—Isa and I spent the entire day museum hopping. And, oh, how much fun that was!

We started off by walking to Tokyo Daigaku (often called Tokyo University or Todai) because Isa wanted to see smart boys (Todai is the best school in Japan, you see). Unfortunately, it was break and thus, no boys.

On the way there, I saw this sign. "Bear Medic Corporation" I don't know about you, but if I was a patient, I probably wouldn't want a bear as a doctor....

After there we walked to the Tokyo National Museum—and it was glorious! Spring is usually known for its cherry blossom viewing, so the museum put on a special cherry blossom viewing exhibit—it was like a treasure hunt! In each of the main gallery rooms (13) there were special objects related to sakura in some way inserted in. And once you found them, you went and got an embossed stamp on a pamphlet.

Sakura manhole cover

Sakura Exhibit Sign

Boston Museum of Fine Arts Traveling Exhibit Sign

Stamp pamphlet

Stamper

I talked to one of the docents (and boy was she surprised I could speak Japanese!) and I was telling her how awesome I thought the exhibit was, she told me that if we got all the stamps, at the end we’d get a pretty, little sakura button.

Of course I got it. What did you expect? They combined my love of pink, buttons, and museums. Of course I'd get it.

  
After going through the sakura exhibit, Isa and I headed to the archaeology exhibit, stopping to take a peek at the conservation exhibit (sadly, mostly in Japanese).

The archaeology exhibit was pretty fun because I recognized most of the objects from the beginning of the art history class.

Isa and the dogu

As I said before, the conservation exhibit looked interesting, but it was all in Japanese, so Isa dragged me away before long.

Then we headed up to the special exhibit—a traveling collection from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston! It was pretty crowded, but I enjoyed looking at all of the screens, statues, and paintings, even if my feet did hurt afterward.

Leaving the Tokyo National Museum, we got lunch and headed to the National Museum of Nature and Science. It. Was. Huge. It consists of two buildings—one with three floors and one with six. And Isa and I traversed them all in under three hours. I am very impressed with us.

If the Tokyo National Museum was amazing, the National Museum of Nature and Science was astounding. I loved how the building played in with the exhibits to keep museum goers interested and engaged.  I also liked how there were translations in English, Korean, and Chinese for most exhibits (even if you had to pay a fee for the ear guide) and I really loved the graphics and design that went into the exhibits (can you tell I’m a museum studies minor yet?).

There was a large exhibit on chickens...loooots of taxidermy in this museum

And speaking of taxidermy...meet Hachiko (yes, the same from Shibuya Station...)

Of course, I prefer interactive museums to art museums, but I was deeply impressed by the sheer score and variety that he National Museum of Nature and Science had to offer.

Some of my favorite exhibits were the plesiosaur, the evolution of Japan room, and the taxidermy room. I feel that taxidermy is treated differently in Japan than it is in America or that maybe I’ve worked at the Nature Center too long and it all seems blasé to me.

Originally discovered by a Japanese man!

These are just a few, but the room was both gigantic and FILLED with various foreign and native animals

This was maybe a fifty foot long wall made of plant specimens encased in glass. It was glorious, and also very hard to take pictures of

However, the human models were amazing—I mistook them for real humans when first saw them! The attention to detail was astounding!

These are models!

This too!

Part of an exhibit on how variations of a species occur in nature

Also there was a super cool theater which was shaped like a sphere and made you feel as if you were constantly moving. I got a little bit of a headache, but it was so cool!

So, Isa and I traversed the three floor building and then the six floor building g as well, determined to get our six hundred yens worth out of it. I am pretty darn sure we did.

After becoming all museumed out and in the zen-like haze of good feelings museums put me in, we headed back to the hostel where I had stored my baggage for the day. After a quick dinner and repacking of my various shopping bags, I was off to Tokyo Station to catch my bus!

Luckily, this time I got a window seat, so I was able to snooze without becoming living drapery to my poor seat mate. I actually got some sleep, so as I waited for the bus (I had just missed the once-an-hour one headed home as I got off the train), I chilled awake.

Then I got home and promptly collapsed. I supposed unpacking will come later in this story.

And thus ends the Tales of Tokyo.

Tokyo - Ghibli Museum and Sensoji

This may have been one of the best experiences of my life—top twenty at least. Starting out early, we made our way to the famed Ghibli Museum!

Who's excited? I am!

The train ride was pretty typical—it was when we waited for the bus to take us to the museum that the magic really started.

Yes, this is the bus

Entering the museum gates, I was much enamored of the ticket seller.

There were also random portholes in the wall filled with soot sprites.

Here they are

My reaction

Unfortunately, no photography is allowed within the museum to expend the aura of mystery and wonder.

But look at the ticket with frames from Ponyo on it!

I, myself, muchly enjoyed the film room where a mixture of stop-action, glass plate diorama, mobius strips, and old film machines were used to show the animation process.

I was also very impressed by the stained glass sprinkled liberally throughout the museum—it was all of Ghibli characters!

The inside of the museum is too wonderful to describe with words. If I attempted to tell you in person, I probably could only gesticulate wildly while making strangled squeaking sounds of joy.

The most awesome exhibit in my opinion is the walk-through Ghibli scenes—starting with a life-size Catbus that you can sit in.  following that, you experience Mei’s goat, the Baron’s Antique Store, and a large pile of roasted chicken—be careful not to eat it, or you’ll probably end up pigs!—followed by Yubaba’s quarters. You can also step into Sophie’s hat shop and see Ashitaka’s deer. It was mind-blowing. I only wish I could have taken pictures. Luckily, there was a book that you could buy of all the scenes.

The Catbus

The less I mention about the jam-packed gift shop, the less I give away certain Ghibli-lovers’ souvenirs.

But there were cookies

But Sarah, you cry. You’ve mentioned Totoro, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, and The Cat Returns—what about Laputa (Castle in the Sky)? This is the part where my smile threatens to split my face in half.

On the top floor there is a patio. On the patio is a spiral staircase encased in ivy. If you climb up that staircase you will reach one of the biggest signs of the Ghibli Museum.

This.

Yes, this is the robot from Castle in the Sky (a.k.a. Laputa).

But that’s not all—there’s also the power cube!

A photobomb turned right: FEAR MY POWER

Also the Ghibli Museum has its own beer. Awful-tasting, but worth the bottle!

After Ghibli, I made my way for Sensoji—the temple closest to my hostel that I haven’t visited yet. Almost better-known is the street leading to it!

There's the Tokyo Sky Tree, unfortunately not open yet, but it's the tallest structure in the world now I think...

It was there that I finally get some nice, authentic Japanese fans!

After that, I met up with Isa and we walked to the kitchenware street, Kappabashi, but they were all closed when we arrived! Oh no!

But the lights were pretty

We also stopped by a sweets/snacks shop

Tomorrow is my last day in Tokyo and I’m going to spend it with a blast—I’m going on a museum spree—the Tokyo National Museum, the National Museum of Nature and Science, and the Mitsui Memorial Museum!

I'll leave you with a picture of my newest friend, KuroTotoro (limited edition museum-only)