Day 275, Tokyo, Japan
We bought a Ueno Passport. For $20 you have access to all eight museums in the park, plus the zoo. It’s incredible value that we haven’t seen anywhere we’ve visited.
The Tokyo National Museum, established 1872, is the oldest and largest national museum in Japan. It’s one of the largest art museums in the world with 110,000 items, 87 of which are national treasures.
Paul looked at a map of the different museum buildings.
My favorite part of the museum was the miniatures.
There were many statues originally in temples and shrines. Some were made of stone.
Others were carved in wood.
or bronze.
There were many swords and samurai items displayed.
There was an interesting interactive exhibit on cultural superstitions. This one had pillows on the bed. You choose the pillow that has the picture of what you dreamed about on top, flip it over to see what your dream meant.
There were many high school aged girls in the museum. At lunch time they put little cloths across their uniform skirts, and took out their little colorful divided lunch containers. The bigger section had rice, the rest had other accompanying goodies. If you or your mom didn’t pack you a lunch for museum day, like us, you had to find another way to eat. There were no vending machines other than drinks on location, and no quick grab cafes. If you wanted food, your only option was civilized sit down meal at the on site restaurant. I had a yummy bowl of Udon and tempura. it was a great way to spend a cold, rainy day.
