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Mitsui Memorial Museum – Part 1

acase — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:54:31 +0000

Our 8th usage of the Grutt Pass was going to be at the Bridgestone Museum of Art near Nihonbashi. For the second time we encountered a museum that was closed due to a rotation in exhibits. Ugh.

We flipped through our pass booklet to find the closest museum, and it turned out to be the Mitsui Memorial Museum. We had no idea what to expect as we hadn’t researched this fall-back museum at all. We got really lucky.

Nothing was available in English so we didn’t know what we would be seeing. In the second room of the exhibit I realized that we had stumbled upon some of the most famous works to ever be created in Japan. Thank you Bridgestone Museum for being closed! Otherwise we would have never seen these originals.

Photography was not allowed so the pics below were not taken by me.

First up was Hokusai’s “Great Wave off Kanagawa” (Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎神奈川沖浪裏). The original is not as pretty as the prints you normally see which have been altered, but the feeling while seeing the real thing is far better than the cleaned-up prints. The above is a photo of the original. Click on the above to see the version you are probably more familiar with.

The above was drawn from basically the same spot that I took this next picture on Enoshima.

Another ukiyoe that brought back a recent memory was this next one by Hiroshige (歌川広重) from his series “The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō.”

We were near that spot a few weeks back in Hakone at the Old Tokaido Hakone Checkpoint. Here is a photo I took then from the same general location. Unfortunately, the clouds obscured Mt. Fuji for my picture, unlike Hiroshige’s.

By the way, the museum entrance fee would have been 1,200 yen. We got in free with the Grutt Pass.

Mt. Fuji from Owakudani

acase — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:37:07 +0000

Last week we visited Owakudani and some other areas of Hakone for the first time in two and a half years. Mt. Fuji made an appearance or two before quickly hiding itself behind clouds.

A wider angle on “Man and Pegasus”

acase — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 06:49:59 +0000

My prior entry on this piece is a bit deceptive as it appears this work by Carl Milles is only a few feet off the ground. In reality his “Man and Pegasus” are well airborne. I took this one earlier in the day when the sky was bluer.

Time to pack my desktop computer up for the move. It isn’t coming on the trip. The next 350+ blog entries will be coming to you from my laptop.

箱根湯本の煎餅屋さん (Senbei–rice crackers–man in Hakone)

acase — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:58:54 +0000

We watched this man make Japanese rice crackers right in front of us on the streets of Hakone Yumoto before purchasing one to try ourselves. I was expecting the freshness to make it taste extra good. Although it was warm, it didn’t taste any different than any other senbei I’ve had.

These are frequently eaten with a sheet of nori (seaweed). That is what the man is holding in his left hand to wrap around the senbei.

Hakone Sushi

acase — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 06:11:19 +0000

Even though Hakone is loaded with tourists, many doing the Hakone loop during the day, by night the place becomes a ghost town. Very few of the few restaurants remain open as most tourists eat in their lodgings. We walked past this sushi place (すし処 means sushi place and はげ八 is the name of this restaurant in Hakone Yumoto) on our way back to our hotel.

Reflecting on this picture now, as we prepare to head back to Japan, I can see how much my kids have grown in just two years. My son is now as tall as my wife.