From Ueno Park we get distracted by the festivities but finally notice the museum and head for it. As we get close we notice how big it is how it actually is composed of multiple buildings. After paying the entrance fee we are greeted by the museum mascots, everything has a mascot here, and after checking the map we walk to what we think is the main building.
It is a very popular museum and also very spread out so we have the work cut out for us if we want to see everything. But on we go bravely, we want to see as much as possible.
The museum is really interesting and it allows flash photography in some areas or in other areas the artifacts are illuminated quite well which leads to great photographs. While popular it is also less full than expected which is great while the explanations in English are very good and allow us a good understanding of what we see.
There are a lot of Buddhist artifacts as well as some artifacts uncovered during an expedition in Mongolia in the early 20th century.
The ceramics collection is quite large and it has some beautiful Chinese porcelain and Japanese imitations of it – the colors used are impressive and beautiful.
We especially like the plates, we always liked the blue color of original porcelain. Or that of well made fakes…
From our trip we learned that the Japanese really like animal representations as there are quite a few figurines of different animals from birds to camels.
And of course they like imaginary animals like dragons and also have many different spirit representation. That is quite typical for the Eastern world we see here as the Indonesian puppet really looks like a spirit in our mind.
There are also bronze objects both from Japan and Korea and even further afield and we enjoy looking at them and trying to understand what they are for.
Other sections are dedicated to furniture and clothing, we like the furniture but we do not see ourselves dressed into the typical kimonos and clothes of the Japanese.
A few of the most popular exhibits are related to Buddha carvings and statues from Cambodia and South East Asia, they are really intricate and well done and as such much photographed by the Japanese.
And of course given that it is a Japanese museum there is a section about samurai swords and their history.
One of the more unique areas is a section about animal drawings done at the beginning of the 20th century. Some are the usual birds and animals including the now extinct Japanese wolf.
However even more interesting is the section about imaginary animals that were drawn based on descriptions of eyewitnesses (or at least that is our understanding). We try to guess on what they are based but some would be really difficult to connect to any real animal. Like the three headed fox or whatever it is.
Another section that we enjoy is the one about Japanese divider panels. They are quite interesting and beautifully painted and some of them are very large even though most of them are relatively standard. In fact afterwards we even buy one for our home in the US and it is one of our most prized possesions.
During our visit we get quite hungry so we stop to eat at the museum restaurant. It is very popular though so we have to wait for some time before a table opens up. The food is good and we eat a Japanese specialty, Unaju, which is grilled eel and is served in a lacquered container, very posh. And then it is time to make our way to Akihabara where we plan to spend the evening.
