Free time and Three places.

So not that long after my parents returned to the UK I actually got a surprise present of three days off work. It was nice surprise, and one that I’ve been assured by Masamoto-san will not happen again.  I decided to use the time to visit some places that were a little more unusual and therefore would require some more time to get to.

Due to the repetitive “I went here and I did this and then this” of the last few posts I’m switching up the style a bit. Hope you still enjoy it,よろしくおねがいします。

Kyoto station

 

A weird place to visit but it was more because I was there than anything else. Actually it is a really impressive place and incorporates quite a lot. Japan seems to pride itself on efficient use of space, and Kyoto station is no less of an exception.

It is a wonderfully pretty structure, very futuristic all irregular cubes an swooping edges, with a sleek black gloss finish. With an expansive central hall as well as two adjoining towers the whole structure is nearly half a kilometer long there is a lot to do and see.

First stop for me was the garden and viewing area at the top of the western tower, well I do love climbing. I decided on the stairs to climb the eleven floors although there are escalators available. At the top I was greeted by a small and very jolly terrace, one could even say it was Happy, and some big glass windows looking out over Kyoto. The city itself is pretty low to the ground for Japan, so even though I wasn’t so high the views were great.

On the 7^th floor there is an art museum called, “EKI Kyoto”. The exhibit running at the time was a wonderful one displaying the works of a famous kirigami (or Mon-Kiri) artist whose name has slipped my mind. He was heavily influenced by nature and most of the works were of birds and insects.

Unfortunately none of the explanations were in English so I couldn’t fully appreciate what I was looking at, though they were pretty and very impressive nonetheless. Also not many pictures, it was an art museum after all, though I did get a cheeky one of some penguins.

Iga Ueno Ninja Museum

 

This had been my main goal for the short holiday and let me tell you now it was a bugger to find. Admittedly it is a ninja museum so why I expected otherwise I don’t know, I mean it is a ‘Ninja’ museum, they aren’t supposed to be easy to find right?

First task get to Iga Ueno. Not so easy as it is a little town famous for its ninja museum, and not a whole lot else. It is accessible by the Kansai line, which I believe is one of the oldest train lines in the region. Trains consist of one carriage and it even has the old school ticket machines like Japanese buses.

From Iga Ueno station the museum it is actually only a short trip by the local area train, which is covered in pictures of ninja. Of course no one told me this and instead suggested I walk the 3 miles between the station and the museum, thanks guys. It was hot and sweaty but I did manage it eventually.

It was worth the treck. The centrepiece of the museum is an old converted farm house that had been set up as a traditional ninja house. The multitude of traps, secret doors and tricks had been faithfully restored and were demonstrated with gusto by the attendants.

I’d really recommend this place as whilst not many people speak English the signs written in English are fantastic. I think someone who had studied the language for quite a while created them, or was a native speaker, as they contained none of the usual grammar pitfalls. In fact they were very informative and I learned some interesting little factoids, begin list.

1. 1.     Ninja’s did not wear black. In fact it is actually quite conspicuous at night. Instead they wore a dark blue coloured outfit that also doubled up as a disguise as it was a similar shade to the clothes of many farmers.
2. 2.     Ninja’s actually developed there own language based on letters created by ropes, some believe this maybe one of the earliest examples of an alphabet, rather than kanji, in the Japanese language.
3. 3.     Place names ending in ga or ka, such as Iga and Koga, tended to be strong holds of ninja and in fact were part of something known as the “がのまち“ which provided a safe passage through Japan ninja.
4. 4.     Ninja’s were damn good farmers.

Factoids over I was very glad I managed to get there. There was also a “Ninja Show” but it seemed more for kids so I gave it a miss and instead checked out Iga Ueno’s castle. It’s not bad though not as Impressive as Osaka-jo. As you can see from the pictures Iga-Ueno is in th back end of beyond.

The Osamu Tezuka Manga museum

This was another place high on my to visit list. Following the fun time I had at the museum in Kyoto it seemed only right that I take a trip to a museum dedicated to the “kami-sama” (God) of manga, Tezuka Osamu. Putting out works such as Astro boy, Kimba the white lion and (my personal favourite) Blackjack, this guy is a legend and the museum is a must see for any manga fan.

It is situated in, what I thought, was the rather picturesque town of Takarazuka, just beyond Amagasaki prefecture. This is where Tezuka spent his childhood, although he was born in Osaka, and was clearly a place dear to his heart. Just outside the museum is a large statue of “火の鳥“ (Phoenix) which was a comic that Tezuka cites as his life work and one he constantly came back to.

The museum itself is very colorful and so well reflects the style of the artist. There is a strong theme of nature running throughout the whole building as Tezuka often said this is where he drew his inspiration, in fact his pen name and animation studio take their names from insects (むし)and they are recurring characters in much of his art work.

The ground floor is dedicated entirely to the man himself with many artifacts from his childhood, his early works, the development of his style and so on. There are some interesting pieces about his relationship with Disney, whom was a major influence upon him, and also the boom period of manga following world war 2. There is also a wall displaying a time line of Tezuka’s, which is absolutely staggering .

The focal point of thi floor is a small cinema which runs a 30 minute animated film dedicated to Tezuka’s early years in Takarazuka. It’s a lovely piece about him and some insect, a bee maybe, anyway no words but a wonderful score.

The bottom floor contains a large space where you can have a go at making your own animation. I drew a winking crow, only two panels but it’s a start ey, it was a lot of fun. The top floor has a small library of Tezuka’s work, all in Japanese so a no go for now but soon, as well as a display area for temporary exhibits and a video area to watch some of Tezuka’s anime. I probably would have stayed longer had I the time and I may have to go again.

So that was my three day holiday, obviously there was  lot of travelling in between and I did other stuff but these were some really cool spots. If you are in the Kansai area definitely check them out if you haven’t already.

Mata atode minna