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Inside the Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art (東京都現代美術館) I found myself surrounded by about a dozen of Andy Warhol’s “Marilyn Monroe.” How many of these did he do anyway? I’ve also seen these at BYU and in Denmark.
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo can be entered for free with the Grutt Pass.
There are about 20 “original” Rodin (ロダン) “The Thinker” statues in the world (not counting those that are part of “The Gates of Hell”). I think I’ve seen five of them (Tokyo, Copenhagen, Paris, Palo Alto, San Francisco). This one was a couple weeks ago in Ueno Park outside the National Museum of Western Art. In fall, I think this one looks the best.
A really good day to do touristy things in Tokyo is a weekday when my kids aren’t in school but the Japanese schools are in session. Such was the case this past Tuesday so Ryan and I headed off to Ueno Park while Ellie had a sleepover at a friend’s house. Our destination was the National Museum of Nature and Science (国立科学博物館), another place that takes the Grutt Pass.
Other than a few school groups (who mostly stuck together), the place was empty. Avoid the school groups and you can enjoy the exhibits all to yourself. Run into a school group and, if you are a foreigner, you will turn into the exhibit.
The old building (above) houses the Japan collection. The building, itself, is almost as interesting as the collection. It is one of the few buildings in Tokyo older than WW2. A new building (below) was added in 2007, and it houses the bulk of the collection.
There is little in English, but you can rent an English audio guide for 300 yen which can keep you busy for up to nine hours. We only had three hours in the place but could have easily spent all day exploring if I had not had an afternoon appointment elsewhere.
Our most recent Grutt Pass adventure had us at the Tokyo Sea Life Park on a Saturday morning. The place was empty in the morning but looked to be getting very crowded on our way out the door in the early afternoon. Live and learn. If you want to visit a spot like this in Tokyo on a weekend, get there at 9:30 a.m., not 1:30 p.m., and your enjoyment factor will go up tremendously.
Tokyo Sea Life Park (葛西臨海水族園) is very similar to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which we were members of about 10 years ago. They say Japan is expensive, but Tokyo Sea Life Park is a huge bargain compared to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The cost is only 700 yen (or free if you have a Grutt Pass). The Monterey Bay Aquarium costs four times as much.
Touching fish, sharks, and rays can be done at either location. Sometimes it is just as fun to watch the expressions on Japanese kids’ faces as they touch the sea life.
Here is a video of the large tank with Hammerhead sharks (シュモクザメ) and tuna (まぐろ). It seems the sharks were getting a bit frisky with their tank mates at this time of the morning.
Continuing from yesterday’s blog entry, the “Special Exhibition: Vision and Reminiscence of Edo – Masterpieces from the Takahashi Seiichiro Collection of Ukiyo-e Prints” was a lot of fun to stumble upon.
This next ukiyoe reminded me of another recent scene.
I didn’t take a photograph of Enoshima from the same angle drawn by Hiroshige in “The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō,” but I did take one, below, on the bridge out to Enoshima (江ノ島).
And I took one looking back, to where Hiroshige did his drawing 180 years before, from the shrine at the top of the stairs on Enoshima. Much has changed on the landscape with 180 years of development, but you can still feel the ukiyoe if you visit the area on something other than a weekend or holiday.
Finally, there was another ukiyoe (浮世絵), below, that was very fresh in my mind. We crossed Nihonbashi (日本橋) in order to get to the Mitsui Memorial Museum just a half hour before.
It, too, has changed (and yet not changed) in the subsequent centuries–especially with the freeway being built right over the top.
But some things are still there, even if in a slightly different format…
How many other department stores have been in business for more than 450 years?
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