Tokyo Day 5 and 6 – Back to the future and books from the past

Wow sorry it really has been a long time since the last post in this series. Once again I’ve been getting steadily more and more busy. With publishable results comes, as one might expect, the need to publish. Most of the writing of my journal article is finished however it would seem that about 90% of the battle is getting the figures done to a reasonable standard. Anyway that’s not what I’m writing this blog for so I’m going to finally finish off this Tokyo visit series.

Now much though I do love my parents there are times when I’d like to do things at my own pace so we agreed to do a half day break from each other. With plans to meet each other later on at Roppongi hills I got myself up early to get back to Odaiba and finally visit Miraikan (未来館).  

Mirakan is the National museum of Emerging Science and Technology, the naming is a shortening of “Nihon kagaku miraikan” which is a bit of a mouthful, and houses many of the latest big developments in Japan’s research. As a member of RIKEN it would be rude of me not to go really since my organization probably contributes to some of the displays.

The first stop was the Dome theatre, a dome shaped planetarium. I have a strong sense that Japanese people have a real fascination with the stars, there are so many planetariums in this country, and you know what I’m not complaining because I love them to. This one was particularly special as it has 3D projectors and 270⁰ screen meaning you really feel like you are in amongst the stars. The best 3D I’ve ever seen hands down.

After a 20-minute movie I strolled around the exhibits. The top half of the museum is dedicated solely to real ongoing scientific research in an exhibit called explore the frontiers. It was quite nice to read about all the varied research going on across the country with nice little cornered off sections like; Our Solar System, The Universe, Life, Medicine and so on. In fact over half of the floor space was dedicated to something space related but I’m not complaining too much.

The section that impressed me most was definitely the Earth Environment space, called more specifically – Earth, Environment and Me. It showcased some of the wonderful things currently being developed right now that are moving towards making our exploits on the planet more sustainable. The exhibits were colorful and well laid out, god bless the Japanese propensity to the aesthetically pleasing, and the English was excellent. In fact I think it’s the most informative of all the museums I’ve been to as most of the Japanese information was well translated. Further more whilst there is a lot of stuff for children there is also a lot of extra information available if you want to delve deeper, and that is also translated.

 

Some of the displays themselves were really impressive in their ability to convey their message. I loved all the Rube Goldburg machines that illustrated things like the flow of carbon or the changing of the ages of earth. Besides these some other displays that stuck in my mind was the genomic harp, a series of light panels representing the 23 chromosomes of the human body. When you pressed a button corresponding to a particular trait lights would flash showing the corresponding genes positions on the chromosomes, very cool.

In between the 5^th and 3^rd floor is a giant suspended, revolving sphere, called Tsunagari. Onto it is projected a map of the world that can be changed to display maps colour coded for various different global trends. Alongside this is a walkway that is lined with images of all the Astronauts who have ever been sent to space, ordered by the year they were up there. Have you ever heard of Valentina Tereshkova? I know I hadn’t but she was the first woman in space, way back in 1963.

 

The third floor is a little less based on hard science but it is nonetheless interesting. This area is called “Create Your Future” and is focused on where we are headed in the next century. My favorite area, besides the robots because who doesn’t love robots,  was “The drive force of innovation”, a display devoted to where ideas come from. There is a large mural displaying some of the best human inventions from ancient times to the present day as well as area exploring the different ways in which we come up with new ideas. Mixed in there are also some amazingly inspiring quotes about the human mind.

There is much more I could talk about as this place really is the best museum I’ve been to in the country easily. I could feel the pride for Japan’s scientific frontiers without and of that creepy nationalism I got in the natural history museum. It was very cool and I was even treated to a dancing robot display before I left to meet up with my parents.

So out of Odaiba and off to Roppongi. Unusually I was bang on time and I met up with my Mum and Dad without any problems. I think being able to be in touch constantly this time around really helped a lot, my lesson had been learned from 2 years ago.

The plan for the evening was to check out the Mori art gallery near the top of the Roppongi hills tower complex. The complex is massive and the art gallery on the 50 something floor is equally expansive. The reason for us going there was an exhibition of works by Alphonse Mucha, of whom my dad is a big fan. I’ll not pretend to be particularly knowledgeable on Art Nouveau but Muscha is one of the big names so I’ve at least some of his work before. I’m not going to embarrass myself by trying to play art critic so I’ll just say I enjoyed the exhibit.

 

Afterwards we went up to the sky deck for some very spectacular views over Tokyo. Up is always better if you want to get a good impression of this city. What amazed me is the diversity of architecture across Tokyo. Sure it is mostly a concrete jungle but every now and then you see some wonderful curves to contrast those hard angles and some lush green to offset the dull greys.

For my final day in Tokyo I wanted to visit a friend out in Tsukuba, I think travelling to visit friends is something I will make more of a habit of when I return to the UK it’s such a rewarding pastime, but first there was one place I’d been longing to visit for quite some time.

It is no shock, I’m sure, to learn that I have a supreme fondness of the written word in any language. I’ve spent much time over the years wandering aimlessly through libraries and second hand book stores so when I heard there was a place in Tokyo where there were a ridiculous number clustered close together, I had to go.

Jinboucho (神保町) in Chiyoda sits neatly in between several of the major Tokyo universities and for this reason many of the big Japanese publishing houses set up shop nearby. Now we all know that your average student is pretty strapped for cash and so I’m sure it’s not surprise to learn this place has become known as “Book town” due to the approximately 150 used bookstores that line it’s main high street.

 

There really are books of all kinds here. Reference books, magazine stores, antiques, battered old novels, you name and you can probably find it in Jinboucho. Many of the shops have so many volumes in stock that they quite literally spill out into the streets, with boxes and shelves strewn willy nilly. It is a bit of a far cry from the usual pristine order of many Japanese establishments and I’ll be frank it was a welcome change.

I could have lost myself there in the musky smell of ancient tomes for over a decade but sadly I did have other things to do. Now knowing this place was home to a lot of th old Japanese publishers I wanted to check out some Ukio –e (Japanese wood block painting) prints for my parents. The best place for this is undoubtedly Ohya Shobo, one of the oldest stores in Jimbocho. The place is lined wall to wall with prints and originals, as well as some very old maps and books dating back to the 18^th century. I think I could have emptied my bank in that shop but instead I settled on a couple of copies for my parents. I think I’ll go back to get a few more before I leave.

 

After that I set out on a separate mission. This time I intended to find some books of old Japanese fairy stories (In Japanese of course). Not really being able to read too much kanji I was a little bit handicapped but I did eventually come across something and I’m currently reading it for practice, and personal interest of course. I do love a good folk tale and these are all centered around a particular area in northern Japan called Kurobe, home, besides all the crazy creatures in the stories of course, the world headquarters of zipper producers YKK apparently.

I eventually had to tear my self away and go visit my friend, my backpack was starting to get a bit heavy and if I didn’t leave soon I was going to have spent all of my money for sure. That being said on the way out I did make one final purchase. I came across a bookstore selling English books very cheap and picked up a copy of the Han Solo adventures, once a star wars geek always a star wars geek.

Well that about does it for my Tokyo adventures. I still need to write up some stuff about Okinawa so have that too look forward to, then hopefully once I have my paper and Japanese language proficiency test (eep) done and dusted I’ll hopefully be off on more adventures.

 

Mata ne.

Tokyo Day 4 – Yohohokohama

Ok I know I know, I promised clowns in the previous post but the writing got away from me so I’ve had to make it a separate post. So what’s all this about clowns then? Well being outside of your own country throws you into the paths of people you’d likely not encounter otherwise I feel, you are limited in some ways by the people who you are able to easily associate with and in some ways that broadens the scope of possible acquaintances. What I mean is back home you associate with who you know. Once outside your preconceptions of people are necessitated to expand, kind of like the first month or two of University really.

Anyway my friend a clown at the Kinoshita circus and we met whilst they were on tour down Himeji way. We only actually met face to face once and yet through the power of the Internet, various conversations through the medium of facebook, we realised we had a fair amount in common, a creative streak and a love of all things geekery and a friendship was born. So when I mentioned I would be nearby, the circus was in Yokohama at the time, she asked if I felt like coming over. Why the hell not ey.

Yokohama is the capital of Kanagawa prefecture and lies just south of Tokyo. It is one of the largest suburbs in the world and is particularly historically famous as being the site of the first American fleet landing in Japan, the beginning of Japan’s opening up to the world from centuries of isolation.

 

As such there are two things that I found really stood out about the city. Firstly there is quite a thing made of Yokohama’s port roots with many maritime museums and a striking influence on its architecture. The other is an invasion of quite frankly European sensibility in some of the buildings. Looking at some of the old stone buildings I could have almost been back in the UK, I’d guess most of them sprung up around the Meji era when the emperor had a bit of a thing going for Europe.

Anyway enough about that, onto the circus. The big top was mercifully very easy to find, you’d think it would be but then remember the scale of everything in Japanese cities. It seemed like the show would be pretty packed, odd since it was a Thursday afternoon in a working week during term time, but well everyone needs downtime I guess. When we came to pick up the tickets I was pleasantly surprised to find they were free of charge, always good to know someone on the inside, and we merely had to pay for our seat upgrades.

So all sorted out we had a few hours to kill and decided to go for a stroll. The circus was located in Naka-ku of Yokohama, only 5 minutes from the main station. It was a really chill place and, after the hustle and bustle of central Tokyo, it was nice to step the busy down a notch. If we didn’t have our day planned out already it would have been nice to spend a bit more time wandering. It is the former central business district something that was evident by the large administrative buildings everywhere, though now it is more well known for its huge Chinatown and annual Jazz festival.

After a hunt for a post office and international ATMs we wandered out towards the prom, you know seaside town roots we just can’t help it, and then into a rather fancy looking central mall to stop for a much needed coffee. In fact we ended up in something called a “Dog Cafe”. At first I thought this was like a joint café and dog fashion shop but it is in fact a place where you can share a cuppa and a treat with your beloved 4-legged friend. Some people even came in with dogs in prams, mental.

Revitalised at last it was time for the show. Now the circus was, well a circus. I’ll admit I’d not been to once since I was maybe 8 years old and would have had no inclination to had it not been for my friend. Still it was a good giggle and our seats were awesome. My friend and her partner were sadly just filler between the ‘main’ acts but to be frank (she’ll hate me for saying this) they were the best part. As I mentioned our seats were awesome, in fact a little too awesome as I was dragged out for some audience participation, I should have expected as much.

It was fun but my only gripe was the animals. I was a little surprised, as been expecting them to be such a main focal point. I guess when you think of the circus classically you think of lion tamers and stuff but, well I’ve only been like once before and I think big animals are banned in the UK. Still Japanese people have totally different perceptions when it comes to animal rights, I’ve seen it on many occasion and since for many people here there is very little opportunity to travel this may be their only encounter with such animals. Doesn't mean I’m happy about it though.

Anyway moaning aside it was a nice reunion and after quick costume change we met up again by the river side. Whilst waiting for my friend to get into her civvies we bumped into the lion tamer and his son. From appearance during the show we thought he was central European or something but much to our surprise and amusement he was a real Geezer from Oxfordshire.  After about ten minutes of listening to him bemoaning the cost of “Faackin’ PJ tips” we were off to do what you do in any major Japanese city. Climb the tallest building and see everything from above. In Yokohoma this would be the very stunning and aptly named Landmark tower. I don’t know what it was about the building I liked in particular; maybe it just had nice angles.

A quick ride up to the observation deck and you are treated to some spectacular views across the bay and into Yokohama. The city is really quite a sight, metropolitan zone after metropolitan zone as far as the eye can see, can you tell I’m still not used to this big city stuff? One funny observation was the sheer number of helipads on most of the skyscrapers. We speculated that they were either for emergency earthquake evacuation or relics of the 80’s bubble economy and the extravagant spending of top Japanese execs, awesome either way. The trip was capped off nicely by a lovely sunset and also a bit of eavesdropping on a local baseball game through one of the pay binoculars, we could see the pitchers throwing from the mound up close which was quite cool.

After some deliberation, not much really, we settled on a Hawaiian restaurant for dinner, marking yet another day of avoiding Japanese food as my dad was quick to point out. I can’t remember what I ate but I do remember it being some tasty white fish. By the end of the meal my folks were pretty exhausted so they headed back the hotel giving me a bit of time to catch up with my mate.

We spent the night doing what I do best wandering, aimlessly. Fortunately her sense of direction is waaayy better than mine so we didn’t end up aimlessly lost. There isn’t much to Naka-ku once the lights go down so we headed back towards central Yokohama and where greeted once more to hordes of Japanese men in business suits.

I managed to drag her along to a game centre. I love these places and the collisions of social backgrounds that occur there in. We couldn’t help but gawp at the businessmen, suited and booted, shaking their things on dance dance revolution machines, or the chain smoking forty year olds battling it out on beat-em ups against teenagers. I was feeling a bit rhythmic so we had a go on a Taiko drumming game. The idea is to pound along to the rhythm of various popular J-pop sings on giant fake taiko drums. I lost badly; my former African drum teacher would be ashamed.

A common feature of Japanese game centres is Crane games, or UFO catchers whatever you want to call them. These are several times more awesome in Japan because the prizes are actually good and also obtainable. I mentioned there was a trick to them and since I was met with disbelief put my money were my mouth is. I became the proud owner of an oversized mushroom called nameko.

We ended the night at Yokohama station with coffee, a good chin-wag and a lot of people watching. It amazes me how similar our experiences of life in Japan have been, considering how different our working backgrounds are. It seems that there are just so many rules and conventions deeply entrenched in the Japanese mindset that it bleeds over into everything. I was particularly saddened to hear about what a rough deal the Japanese circus workers had when compared to the performers from outside the country. They literally do everything, from tent pitching and cleaning, taking tickets and performing. I’m amazed they don't collapse mid show. Anyway now is not the time to vent so I’ll leave it at that. Yokohama was cool and I most definitely plan on going back.

Ja mata ne

Tokyo Day 3 - to the future

 

Another post and another little insight into my five day sojourn to the capital with the parents. Oh how I do love to travel. I’ve been amazingly lucky the past couple of months that work has slowed down a little, giving me more time to stretch the old adventurous legs. Though what the next couple of days reminded me is just how much I also love meeting up again with old friends.

I’ve met some wicked people in my time here and I’m amazed at how fast some of my friendships have formed. Non-Asian ex-patriots in Japan constitute less than 1% of the total population so I think it’s easy to see why ex-pat communities form so quickly. Also generally you find that such people have a lot in common, at the end of the day choosing to spend a chunk of your life in another country, especially one so different from the west as Japan, is a huge decision and those who undertake it likely have some underlying character traits.

 

With that being said the person I met up first is in fact an old Japanese friend from Osaka. She helped me out a huge amount when I first moved here and had recently moved out to Tokyo for work. Crazy though her schedule is she had a bit of time off so asked to Join me and my parents in some sightseeing.

We started out in Shimbashi heading towards Hamarikyu gardens (浜離宮恩賜庭園

) an impressively large Japanese style garden right in the middle of a bustling business district. On the walk over we came across a rather elaborate clock tower, more than slightly reminiscent of structures from Howl’s moving castle and the like. As luck would have it we passed by just as it was begging to chime the hour, something that only happens a few times a day. As it started up I could understand why. Wonderful though its whirring, clicking and clanging was I could see it being quite a nuisance to those trying to work in the high-rise offices nearby. Still it is a wonderfully quirky addition to the somewhat stiff and business like atmosphere of the area.

The park was also another stark contrast. For a start when so many giant buildings surround you it’s easy to lose track of what is going on in ground level. The park is like an island of flatness in the gargantuan landscape, with nothing inside taller than the trees. There were quite a few people about taking respite from the hustle of the big city within its calm environs, engaging in all kinds of activities, from taking their dogs for a stroll, photography, simply chatting and in the case of a pair of old dears we came across, painting watercolours.

I’d say the central feature of the park, though as it’s designed with a careful balance like so many things in Japan it’s hard to assign a centrality to it,  is the medium sized teahouse plonked right in the middle of a pond. This was in fact the whole reason we’d come here as my mum really wanted to sit down to some traditional match at some point. Well sit and drink we did. It was surprisingly nice actually, much less bitter than my previous experiences.

 

The park faces out onto Tokyo bay and is one of several stops for the various transit ferries carrying people around the area. Our next goal was Odaiba (お台場) a large artificial Island just a little way into Tokyo bay so setting out from the garden was the easiest way to go. Maybe it’s just years of ferry trips across the Mersey when I was little but I do love them, so many pleasant memories.  The ferry we took was pretty cool and futuristic looking, the seating area set very wide and low so as to minimise pitching. In fact I’ve recently found out that the designer of these ferries is the man behind none other than the epic anime space opera “Space Battleship Yamato” so I guess I shouldn't be too shocked by their design.

So what is Odaiba? As I mentioned it’s a giant artificial Island situated in waterfront of Tokyo Bay. Originally developed as the a military strong hold in the Meji period  to defend against potential attacks from the sea it has now been transformed into a centre for leisure and technological development..

When you come in off the boat the first thing you are confronted with is a giant artificial beach. Yup a beach right in the middle of an urban metropolis. Why not I guess and the funniest part is, it’s not the only one. The beach itself leads to a massive a massive entertainment complex called Decks. This thing houses many shops, restaurants and the largest amusement arcade in Tokyo, and possibly Japan. Sadly no time to go in, but I’m sure I’dve spent a fortune if I had.

After a nice lunch, it was time to part ways with the parents as they were knackered bless them. I really wanted to head out to miraikan, a museum dedicated to innovative technology coming out of Japan so we proceeded to traverse the Island. Now aside from the supermalls and giant buildings Odaiba is pretty flat. I reckon it would be a great place to skateboard or cycle.

Well mostly flat that is besides a scale replica of the Statue of liberty and a giant Gundam statue. Well if there is a giant robot floating about I kind of have to get a picture with it now, it is traditional. In fact this is just one of the many quirky things on this rather modern Island, apparently there is a teleport station though I’m not exactly sure what that entails.

In the end most places were shut, it was after all a Tuesday? Anyway we decided to head back towards Tokyo for a bit more of a wander as Odaiba, whilst interesting, is not the most scenic area of Tokyo.

We took a monorail and then the subway to the ritzy Ginza. I always feel so out of place there, it’s far too stylish for a scruffy pleb like myself. Still it is nice to walk around as the architecture is really stunning. I always found it interesting that many of the really incredible buildings are built by just a handful of Japanese architects. There work is a amazing though. I should probably learn a bit more about them at some point.

The main reason we came was to check out the new Kabukiza which had finished being refurbished just a week or so ago. You can always tell when you are nearing a kabuki theatre as the streets become packed with old dears. I should really try and go to a show, or at least an act, before I leave I guess.

We finished the night by grabbing a coffee at what is the first Starbucks to be opened in  Japan. Apart from the plaque you wouldn’t really know to be honest, it doesn’t look much different and the coffee is still rubbish. Anyway the time whiled away as myself and my friend had a good old natter about life, Japan, overtime, you know the important things. I won’t bore you with the details.

Well that's it for now. Sorry I know I promised clowns but they are coming I swear.

Mata neee.

Tokyo Day 2 – To Fuji

With a big stretch and a yawn our wonderful Liverpool arose to some spectacularly clear blue skies in their swanky hotel in one of the more up market business districts of Tokyo. Ok I’ll drop the weird third person perspective but the sky really was amazing on our second day in Japan’s capital. So clear in fact that it was possible to see Mt. Fuji from our hotel windows. Well that was that then our goal for the day was clearly settled. We were off to get a closer look at Fuji.

I’ll have to just spend a bit of time here to discuss how amazing the train systems are in Japan. It really is easy and fairly inexpensive to get across the length and breadth of the country by train. Now fair enough Shinkansen costs can start to add up but if you are willing to grin and bare through some slightly longer journey times you can get pretty far by local trains.

A quick flick through the guide-book and a potter on the internet found us a likely candidate for a nice place for a bit of mountain watching and photography. Gotemba (御殿場). In truth it’s a tiny little town, in fact there is almost nothing there, but it is the gateway to Fuji, one of the two main trails starts from Gotemba.

 

It was however perfect for our current purpose and the views were spectacular. Fuji absolutely dominates the landscape with clear shots being available wherever you walk. Also with Gotemba being so tiny it gave my Dad his long desired insight into what the ‘real Japan’ looks like. Sadly much like suburbia anywhere else in the world.

After a good wander and much mountain snapping we made our way back towards the train station with our beady eyes peeled for a coffee shop. I think it’s fair to say that, unlike in Europe, there is still little in the way of coffee shop culture in Japan outside of the big cities and, unsurprisingly, we were pretty hard pressed to find anything. Still we did find something eventually although a little outside of our expectations.

 

It was a coffee shop sure, but it also doubled as a clothes shop for women. The most eye catching thing, besides of course the rather flamboyant owner, were the various nicknacks that were all over the shop, including a Princess Diana memorial plate. Well after seeing that how could we not enter. The old lady was pretty interesting, mostly shocked that tourists would come all the way out to Gotemba let alone patronise her shop. There were pictures of her all over the place from her younger days including a picture of her on her way up Fuji. The coffee and tea was pretty pricey but I think the whimsical charm of the shop made up for it.

After that we made our way back. I opted to take local trains rather than the shinkansen, it’s expensive やで。It did mean sacrificing speed but the lovely costal views on the way back Tokyo made up for it, and I got to get a bit of reading in too. I do love trains deep down, I guess I have to since I spend almost a quarter of my time on them it seems, and I think I get all of my best reading done on them.

 

Pretty wiped we just milled about the hotel for a while before embarking into the surrounding madness that is Shiba. This is clearly a central business area as the surrounding streets are just chock full of Izakaya’s and pachinko parlors to cater for the outpouring of office workers after a hard days work. We went into one such establishment for some yakitori and I did some people watching.

The speed at which these guys got totally rat-arsed and chain-smoked their way through packets of cigarettes is pretty alarming. This is a side of Japanese society a lot of people outside of the country don’t see and to be honest it’s something I really don’t like. You sacrifice everything to your company, head out to a bar late, eat, drink away the stress, head home on the last train and then do it all again the next day.

The more I see it the more I realise it is not what I want. I just can’t take the high tension Japanese working life and seeing it up close and personal on this trip really hit that home for me. While I do like it here it reminded of one scary fact. I can’t stay, I just don’t fit. I love the people, and some of the cultural aspects of Japan are truly wonderful and admirable but I can’t slot in as another cog of Japanese society. I want to turn left when it wants me to turn right.

Sorry to end on a bum note but that was a really strong memory from the time in Mita. The lines and lines of men and women in Identical suits streaming out of offices and into Izakaya’s late at night is a bit scary to me. It is admittedly a bit better at least than some of the drinking culture in the UK but if that’s all there is for me if I stay here then I can’t do it. It really hits home how much I love the freedom of thought and expression that is afforded to me by research and how lucky, truly lucky, I am to be paid to do nothing but think somedays.

Next post will be a bit happier I promise, it has clowns and stuff. Also here are some wonderful Japan rail train sounds.

Ja mata neeee.

Tokyo Day 1

Well Spring is well and truly in full swing. The cold is behind me, the Sakura has already bloomed and fallen and the new financial year is well under away. So what better way to welcome in the new season than…a holiday. Last year I missed almost all of spring thanks to a large amount of beamtime, the only spring I saw was of the 8 variety. This year with my group’s size shrinking, and the fact we have plenty of data to work with, we’ve applied for much less beamtime.

April is about the best month to be in Japan in terms of the weather. It’s not too hot, the rainy season hasn’t set in it is definitely the third bowl of porridge of seasons in Japan. With that in mind when my parents mentioned they wanted to visit I told them that April was the best month. So without further ado here is a little travel log of the week we spent in Tokyo.

As with nearly all of my trips to the capital that aren’t for work my journey started the night before boarding the night bus from Osaka. I’ve experienced these beasts quite a few times and it’s always a bit different, a topic for another post perhaps, either way they are by far the cheapest way to get to and from Tokyo for me and I’m now a gold member due to my frequent use.

One long and uncomfortable bus journey later and I was standing in front of Tokyo station, and it was finished. To backtrack it has been under renovation since I arrived but now it is all done. I must admit it does look magnificent a real blast from the late 19^th century. After basking for a while I descended into the maze therein to make my way to Ueno park.

I’ve heard many great things about this place, it’s the home to many national museums, plenty of sights of historic importance and also a zoo, admittedly I had no intention of visiting that though. Suffice to say I was very excited to finally get there. Ueno station on the Yamanote line is right outside so I had no excuses not to haul my bum over there, sleep deprived or not.

First impressions? It’s E.N.O.R.M.O.U.S. I think I don’t have too much experience of huge public parks to draw on, or I’ve been in Japan too long where large green spaces are few and far between, but either way I was really staggered by just how much open space there was. The park was established way back in the meji period as a drive for more public places of exceptional beauty, an idea borrowed from European countries at the time. Well good work Meji people you really nailed it.

Asides from monolithic Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo Metrapolitan Art Museum and National Museum of Western Art, amongst a few others, the park is home to a wide variety of flora and fauna. Over 9,000 trees call it their home and as such it has become a particularly famous place to visit for 花見 (flower viewing) in early april. Most of the blossoms had already fallen to the ground thanks to a heavy storm a few days previously but there were still many out braving the early morning to lay down their tarps for festivities in the evening. Amongst them is an incredibly old Cherry blossom tree that is incredibly designated as a world heritage site.

After necking a coffee I wandered about the place in a bit of a daze. As you can imagine, this being Japan after all, there were plenty of shrines knocking about the place. The shrine to Benzaiten (A goddess of luck), which sits out in the middle of a lake definitely caught my attention. I wandered over one of the many bridges out to the shrine taking in the skyscraper dominated skyline that, for me, always epitomises Tokyo. The shrine is not so special but I guess it gets a lot of visitors as there were many people setting up Yatais (portable food stalls). I got talking to the lady who owned on such that was selling dried fruits and nuts. She was fairly impressed with the fact A) I spoke passable Japanese and B) I’d come all the way from Hyogo by Night bus and gave me a nice handful of dried fruit for breakfast. Language skill level up.

So as I mentioned earlier there are many museums and galleries in Ueno and the thing that impressed me most was the price. None were more than 600yen and some were even free. Having not long been severely ripped off at the Kobe municipal museum I was more than happy to see this.

I had to debate were to go a bit but in the end my inner science nerd won out and I went to the National science museum. What can I say, science isn’t my job it’s my lifestyle choice. That and it had a giant whale model outside so I was intrigued from the beginning.

A quick warning here. Whilst the exhibits are enourmous, informative, and well layed out there is also almost zero English information in the entire building. I was a little shocked by this given it is a national museum, but I have long come to expect this from Japanese institutions. That being said if you can read there is a lot of interesting stuff here, with a heavy emphasis on natural history.

The one weird thing I did get out of the museum though was how amazingly Japanocentric it was. One exhibit that really stuck out was one in which the indigenous vs non-indigenous flora and fauna of Island nations was compared. Specifically Japan, New Zealand and the UK. Now it is true that Japan does have a lot of animals very particular to it’s lands alone but as an outsider the way the display was set up almost made it feel like “Japan rules and these other countries suck.” This was also apparent in a section tracing the anthropology of human existence in Japan. One display said in all but words “The Japanese people are special and unlike every other race on the planet.” Maybe I’m just being cynical but it’s a little unsettling that these kind of messages are being passed down to children.

The next floor down however my dark thoughts were dispelled by a wonderful showroom full off old scientific instruments. If there is one thing I most definitely am it is a massive instrumentation geek. I love this stuff. Looking at old telescopes, seismometers and even a 1933 electron microscope really brightened my mood. A kind old man even stopped to explain a bit about the history of the seismometers and how in ancient times in Japan it was believed a giant catfish demon was the source of earthquakes.

The museum itself is absolutely huge. It is separated into two sections, Japan and global, each of which has three upper floors and two basement floors. Being a natural history museum a large portion of the exhibits were set aside for hulking great skeletons (some amazing dinosaurs in there), taxidermy models and, weirdly enough, a large exhibit displaying the intestinal tract of various animals. I was immediately taken back to my youth spending time wandering the displays of Liverpool museum.

Nostalgia aside this place is an excellent waste of time and money at 600 yen. I easily spent 5 hours wandering it’s corridors and I could happily have spent longer. What I will say is that I’m glad I got into Ueno and the museum early because by the time I was leaving around 3pm the whole area was incredibly crowded.

So there ends day one, didn’t really do much after I met up with the rents. Anyway look forward to day 2 some time soon.

Ja mata ne.