Asian Adventure: Tokyo New Science

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It was fitting that on our last full day in Tokyo we visited the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation.  That’s it’s full name,  but it’s so long the Japanese call it Muraikan for short, which means ‘future.”  Given its focus, it’s most appropriate.  We were hosted by their international outreach team and their director, Dr. Mamoru Mohri, who did two missions on the space shuttle.

The museum opened in 2000 in a classy contemporary building and is full of light with an energetic vibe and crowds of people.  This is spring break week, and there was a long line at the ticket booth outside and masses of young children in the special exhibit on the first floor which was all about co-creation and the linkages and connections between technology and art.

Children drew something on paper and then it was projected on this wall.
Children drew something on paper and then it was projected on this wall.

 

Video panel--historic painting animated--part of special exhibit
Video panel–historic painting animated–part of special exhibit

In the entrance lobby (this area only is free admission), you can sit on a bench or a lounger and gaze upon a large replica of planet Earth that is suspended from the ceiling, changes frequently, and is made up of LED panels.  You can also walk the spiral ramp that takes you closer to it.  It is amazing and brings home the interconnectedness of all of us.

 

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Other floors included a relatively new space for very young children, a cafe with tables of  three different heights and sizes (little ones for kids), and such exhibits as how the brain works, life in 2050 in a model city, a deep sea submersible that you can climb into, and a big attraction, a female android, and the robot ASIMO created by Honda.  ASIMO gives performances three times a day that include it moving in a variety of ways, jumping, talking (Japanese and English transcriptions are on a wall screen), and even singing.  ASIMO was quite something to watch and hear and the area was packed with visitors.

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As we toured the museum, we encountered a volunteer (in an orange vest) and later a science communicator (white vest).  Muraikan has 600 volunteers and 50 science communicators in addition to other staff.  About 1.4 million people visit each year, and the museum offers a full range of science workshops and other activities.  They also provide lab space for researchers from other institutions for several years at a time.  The labs are open to the public at set times, and Dr. Mohri commented that not only were visitors impacted by seeing “real” scientists up close; the scientists themselves were changed.

 

To round out our day, we strolled in the lovely Japanese garden behind the New Otani Hotel.  This is an extremely old and historic garden and when Mr. Otani was building the hotel on the adjacent land, he directed that the garden be retained and maintained.  It rambles up and down along stone steps with a pond, benches and a bright red lattice bridge, an oasis midst the city’s bustle.

Now, time to say, “sayonara, Tokyo.”  It’s been great!

Asian Adventure: Yushukan

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Yesterday we meandered through several more parks (can’t seem to get our fill of these cherry blossoms!), but more significantly visited the Yushukan museum.  It celebrates Japanese warriors down through the ages from the early Samurai through the Second World War.  Those Japanese who died in battle are considered enshrined deities and their photos and mementos are archived here.  On display are the uniforms, relics and letters of these men as well as the weapons of war. Everything from torpedoes and guns to bombers and ammunition.

There are also several rooms tracing Japanese military history up to the modern era.  I found the account of Admiral Perry’s trip to Japan in the 19th century and his demand that the country be “open” particularly interesting and wondered why the U.S. thought it had the right to demand that.  No reason was given here.

Also noteworthy for me was the depiction of Japan’s role in the Second World War, their decision to bomb Pearl Harbor, and the battles they fought in Midway, Guadalcanal, and the Philippines. I read in its entirety the emperor’s message to the Japanese people announcing the country’s surrender to the Allies. Without his assent and encouragement, the military leadership would have kept on fighting. The emperor valued the land and wanted to protect the Japanese people.  It’s always enlightening to read about one’s country’s wars from the other side as we did in Vietnam and in Berlin last fall.

Visiting this museum, I was reminded that in 6th grade, I had two Japanese pen pals. This was a program through my school and I signed up to write to two students.  One was a boy whose first name began with “H”and a girl whose full name I do remember,  Setsuko Ito. I wonder where she is today. One of my sisters also had a pen pal. My letters were written on thin blue airmail paper and then mailed to the other side of the world, somewhere here, with a long wait for a reply.  Nothing like the immediacy of e-mail or Facebook.

We were on foot most of the day and joined the throngs of Japanese individuals and families worshipping the cherry blossoms with their cameras and their picnics. We didn’t picnic, but did locate a small café in a park where we had lunch. Can you believe they ran out of rice?  The small picture menu had five options including a curry and something else hot with rice. No rice, so we both ordered the spaghetti and meatballs.  It wasn’t bad and served the purpose of refueling.

Last evening we finally had Japanese food for dinner.  We ordered miso soup, chicken skewers or yakitori, and tempura.  The skewers had bites of chicken prepared three ways and the tempura was in an exceedingly light and delicate batter and consisted of pieces of fish, shrimp, green beans, lotus root, and eggplant.  There was a dipping sauce to which we were instructed to add a piece of the soft round white radish from its separate little dish.  Delicious!  Dessert was a soupy brown bean concoction served with a small dish of tiny matchsticks that tasted a bit salty and also like anise.  Not to my taste, but worth the experiment.

[Source of Yukushan image:  www.panoramio.com]

Booknote: Fuller and Divorce

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I have been traveling for almost five weeks now and not getting in my usual component of reading. However, I did read one book that I’d like to share.

I enjoy well written memoirs, ones that share someone’s life experience in an informed, but not a whining, way. It’s a genre I seek out. Recently I read  Leaving Before the Rains Come  by Alexandra Fuller.  Fuller has written other autobiographical works, one about her mother and another about her childhood.

This book details her marriage to an American and its unraveling over several decades.  Fuller had what most of us would call a harrowing, disjointed childhood and it is encapsulated here as she sets the stage for why and how she fell in love with Charlie Ross. Growing up in Zambia and Zimbabwe, a transplanted English child, she experienced war, near starvation, encounters with snakes, frequent moves, and from uncles and family friends, what was most likely sexual abuse. Her parents seem to have been loving, but checked out or oblivious and probably some of both.

Fuller by Laure Joilet for The New York Times
Fuller by Laure Joilet for The New York Times

Charlie, her boyfriend and then husband, represented and seemed to offer adventure, but also predictability and stability and a grounding she hadn’t ever had. Theirs is a seesawing story of love and heartbreak and two very different personalities ultimately realizing that together they produced more disharmony than happiness.

While I might not like Fuller if I met her, I found it fascinating to inhabit her worldview for a time.

Asian Adventure: Tokyo on Foot

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Yesterday and today we have done all our sightseeing in Tokyo on foot.  That is, we walked everywhere and yesterday logged nine and a half miles or 23,000 steps!  Easily our best day this entire trip.  Today we did well at 17,000 steps or just under seven miles.  The weather has been lovely so we have focused our attention primarily on the parks.  Yesterday and today we spent time in Hibiya Park admiring the poppies and the fountain and then wandering over to the very large Japan Local Food Festival. Yesterday we shared one beef satay and one hot rice cake from one of the vendors.  Today we just looked.

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From Hibiya Park we then meandered on  the grounds of the Japan Imperial Palace and then on to one of the many fashionable shopping districts.  We were looking for some tea and a bite to eat and thought Takashimaya, Japan’s old and distinguished department store, would meet our needs.

Mostly, we just rode the elevator, a cultural experience in and of itself!  The elevators are run by young women in fussy uniforms, wearing hats and white gloves.  They greet you and then extend one arm, ballet-like in front of the now closed door.  There is a recitation about each floor (I’m assuming it was what is on that floor) and then at each floor, the operator locks the door in the open position, steps fully out of the elevator and announces to everyone and anyone in sight that she is going up (or down) and invites them in.  Then the door is closed and the whole ballet begins again, almost robot-like.  We took the escalator down to B2 from the main floor and all the little restaurants were full with people waiting outside them.  We found the elevator lobby, waiting somewhat patiently, and then rode the elevator to the 8th floor with every floor in between included.  The 8th floor had no acceptable options for food so we took the cultural long view and rode the elevator back down to the main floor with the same young woman!

Today was cloudy and a bit cooler.  We returned to Hibaya Park and from there walked  to the Zojoji Buddhist Temple.  The most striking thing here was the stone statues of little children, all in knit caps with brightly colored pinwheels next to them.  This is the Unborn Children Garden and represents children in Japan who miscarried, were aborted or were stillborn. Parents decorate the statues and often add little gifts as well.

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At lunchtime, we poked around the Ginza and found many small cafes and restaurants, most though were already full or had only a counter or standing space.  Just before we bailed out at McDonald’s, we lucked out with one of the last booths at the Coco Ichibanya Curry House.  My stewed chicken curry with spinach over rice was very tasty, and it was the cheapest meal we’ve had in Tokyo!  Even with a beer each. After lunch we continued on to yet another park, Hama-rikyu Gardens, for more cherry blossoms and a pretty pond.

A note about food.  After four weeks of Asian cuisine, we’ve reverted to type somewhat and have been ordering more familiar dishes. Everything from linguine with Sicilian tuna and bottarga to two nights of very good French cuisine at a brasserie a short walk from our hotel.  Tonight, though, we plan to have tempura.