I headed out to my destination of the day: The Tokyo International Museum in Ueno park. I didn't know what to expect there, but wanted to see a lot so I paid for the special exhibit as well. The museum has multiple different building, with several dedicated to western art and asian art respectively and another building specific to Japan, and another for the special exhibit.
I went through the Japanese exhibit first. Everything had excellent info in multiple languages. It went through the history of japanese pottery, metalwork, and artifacts. Very interesting. It had another section for metalcraft, weapony, and armor. So I came in not caring that much about Samurai and their armor and weapons, but the swords really are fascinating up close. Famous swordmakers had uniqye traits on their sword such as the tempering line (hamon) pattern on the blade. And it pointed out the details I might not otherwise know to look for.
Another section was on the natives of the northern islands such as Hokkaido (Ainu people) and the southern Ryukyuu islands (Ryukyuuans). It showed artifacts dating up to the 18th century. It stopped there because, if I' remembering this right the Japanese mainlanders, ahem, removed the Ainu. The exhibit glazed over that bit.
The special exhibit was featuring the treasures of Toji temple. I had been to Toji on my second day in Kyoto, but was really just there for the flea market. Actually at that time all there stuff was being set up in Tokyo anyway.
The exhibit explained Esoteric Buddhism which Toji is a temple for. Its a branch of Buddhism that has secret rituals and objects learned and passed down for specific things. I.e. if you want to prevent natural disasters to your town, there would be a special ritual they could do for it. There were 32 national treasures in the exhibi if I counted correctly. Toji is the oldest standing temple in Kyoto, since the 700s and was one of 3 government sponsored temples in its city when built, so it has some cool stuff.
There were a lot of mandalas both statues and paintings, records from the temple, ritual objects, and finally buddha, myoo, and buddhastava statues. One of which was the only item where photos were allowed.
After that I finished off the upstairs of the Japan section and went to Asian art building. This also included west asia, so Iraq, Egypt, Iran. To my suprise they had a mummy and sarcophagus and 2 statues of Seht dating to 1400bc. Pretty wild.
I was super hungry at this point, Id been in the museum around 4.5 hours, and didnt even see all of it. I looked up good food near me and found a well reviewed ramen place. On my way out, I realized that today was part of Ueon Parks speing Fedtival. Stands were set up selling food, and it was packed like the State fair as people tried to watch and walk under the Cherry Blossoms. That was the direction I was going so I shuffled and the slow speed of the crowd through the trees. In other areas the ground was covered in blankets and picniccers. People had all kinds of food ranging feom homemade stuff and sake to pizza and McDonalds. Even though it was pretty warm and crowded Im glad I got the experience.
After getting through I crossed the road to a ramen shop with a line outside zig zagging a bit. I got in line and an older guy working there handed me a little menu where you circle the ramen options you want, and if you want extra meat or less hot sauce you circle that option. Its like ordering Jimmy Johns online kind of choices. After 40 min I was in the building where I was 10 people away. They had ticketing machines where you pay for your food when there are fewer people or so i presumed. When I sat down in my booth it was like those prison phone chairs. You have tiny privacy walls, and in the otherside is a cook who you cant see most of ththe time. Im like heres my stuff, and hes like, wheres your ticket. Oh crap I need a ticket. Luckily he was super nice and left the kitchen with me, helped another customer with the machine, then showed me how to order. Phwew. Went back to my seat, handed over my ticket and in 10 minutes I had a very delicious bowl of ramen with extra pork.
Now I had some time to kill again so I went to look for a store I missed yesterday in Akihabara which was Mandarake. Its another one like the one in Shinjuku that was in a cellar. This one went up 7 floors instead of down and was pretty cool to look around. At times it has a museum vibe because they have so many antique toys from Japan in the 50's and up. A lot of Ultraman who i used to love, and the monsters he fought.
Had to rest my feet again so found the McDs. After I sat down by myself for a short while, a Japanese guy sat next to me and said hello and if I spoke english. I said yes. Turns out he writes a small column for the Japan times called Views from thr Street, where he talks to foreigners and nationals on random subjects.
We talked about this and that, and after 30 min or so thanked me and said he let me enjoy my food (normal fries btw). He didn't take my picture or ask my name, so chances are it wont show. Or it could've been a ruse to practice his English. Either way if you see anything disparaging of me just remember its fake news. But if its nice then hes a great guy, probably the greatest reporter, and I know a lot, believe me.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/author/kunio-kanamori/
After getting interviewed, I headed out to the CAPSULE HOTEL that I booked the night before. it had ok reviews and was in the general area. Its where I am now, in my capsule.
Itsss okayyyy. I definitely prefer a not awful internet cafe. I did a Japanes faux pas entering. You go under a curtain and BEFORE you go into the elevator to go to the lobby youre standing on a tetami mat. Tetami mat = no shoes allowed. I was confused at the elevator and saw some guy taking off his shoes, and he looks up and Im like excuse me (sumimasen) and start walking past and he looks at my shoes and goes "hrmphh!" and walks past me. Whoopsie. So I verify the name is correct and take my shoes off this time and put them in a locker, taking ththe key. The 2 guys at the counter get me checked in and take my shoe keys and give me new keys for a locker. They give me the tour of the area which has a lounge, showers, a sauna I think, restrooms, shower. Finally my capsule. I got top bunk so im climbing up. Temp is comfortable, theres a tv with like 10 channels. Theres a radio alarm on the wall, an outlet, and lught controls. The capsule entrance is just a curtain, so it wont help with any noise.
Pricewise its the same as an I cafe, right around 28 bucks. Hopefully I have a pleasant night. My checkout is later than usual at 10am.
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