If there is one museum that one wants to see in Tokyo, then it’s the Nation Museum. I spent almost 6 hours in this museum and at some time, because of lack of time and because I wanted to see everything, I had to rush, so probably it makes sense to see it in 2 visits.
The museum has 4 building: the asian art Toyokan (China, Cambodia, Korea, Vietnam etc), the japanese art Honkan, the Archeology Museum and the Gallery of Horyuji Treasures. There was a building that was currently closed, I think that one was the Architecture Museum. All in one museum, so now that I think about it, 6 hours were sporty.
I personally startet with the Toyokan, because I wanted to see them in some kind of visual order. The museum was very interesting, I learned a lot about Buddhism, differences between other cultures. It seems that one can become a Buddha only after many years of training. At the end of this training he finds the truth and he no longer feels desire. Of any kind. I personally didn’t know that there are many Buddha’s, because I actually wandered why the statues with Buddha don’t look the same, like Jesus in the Christian religion.
I continued with Honkan, the Japanese art. Here I could see a lot of Japanese art, paintings, different styles of calligraphy. What shocked me is that many years ago, the Westerns (Americans, Europeans), considered the Japanese art a decorative art and not a “fine art”, just because it was mounted on sliding doors and folded screens and this practice made this art look more like furniture to the Westerns. All the Japanese ceramics, textiles and metalwork were also considered decorative art. In response, the artistic traditions were changed to meet the Western standards. They wanted to show the world that Japan is a “modern” nation with sophisticated arts and culture.
Below are some pictures I made in this museum:
After my visit ended, I went for a walk in the city, towards Ginza. This is a shopping street with very high buildings. It was already 17:00 when I arrived on a street close to Ginza. This is a work place and I had the chance to see the workers leave and go home. I was impressed that so early they were leaving, knowing the stories that most of the Japanese work 11 hours every day. Maybe these ones were those apologizing at the managers for leaving on time.
All of them were dressed in a costume and women with skirts or dresses under the knees. It was a very wonderful sight to see so many people dressed for work. The all looked more or less the same, it was more an uniform from my point of view. I think this is another standard that Japanese culture in general has and this is the respect for work and colleagues.
Some were in a small group, letting me believe they are on their way to Izakaya. This is a place where they go to eat, but more to drink and it’s actually part of the work, they cannot refuse to go.
In Tokyo there are a lot of signs that forbids smoking and there are many streets where smoking even while walking is forbidden. You see the signs on the pavement itself. This is so relieving, to walk and not be forced to breath the deadly smoke of others.