Rain, rain, go away...

On Wednesday they were predicting rain, but the morning was dry, so I headed off to 東武動物公園 (Tobu Zoo), a zoo and amusement park about an hour north of Tokyo, but easily gotten to by train. Unfortunately, when I got there, it was open, but they had a sign out that all the major rides were closed all day. So I headed back. About the time I got back to the city, the sky opened up and rain came pouring down.

Thursday I had planned to go to Yomiuriland, an amusement park on the western outskirts of Tokyo, but it was still coming down in buckets. So I headed down to Shinjuku to do some shopping, since it is possible to go to a lot of stores around the station that are connected by underground passage ways.

Not much to include picture-wise, but it was fun. The major department stores all have food levels with lots of individual stalls, many of which give samples. They also have many nice handicrafts. Even the dishes are fun to look at, since much of what they have would qualify as high-end ceramics in the states.

I did like this little set of statues of Buddhist (I think) deities:

I also ventured out to go to the new Japan Traditional Crafts center. It had a lot of beautiful (and expensive!) pieces for sale. It happens to be just a couple of doors down from the Canadian Embassy.

Friday, still raining...so I went to the Tokyo National Museum, which holds the country's best collection of traditional Japanese art. It was great!

There were two interesting 7th-century scrolls in the "new acquisitions" gallery, which unfortunately I couldn't photograph. One was a kanji dictionary; notable in that it was organized the same way that Kanji dictionaries are organized today, by radical. The other taught how to write kanji and resembled handwriting instructions from today.

I loved this detail from a scroll showing people bowing down to the emperor passing in a carriage (click to enlarge):

Some other pieces that I particularly liked, and that I was allowed to photograph...

A 13th century statue and a 15th century painting:

     

This scroll was interesting...it was a picture scroll in progress, but the emperor who commissioned it died, so it was repurposed. But you can still see the original picture behind the writing.

Samurai armor, and a carving of a nobleman:

 

This 18th-century print of a Boy's Day celebration shows that today's tradition of carp wind socks has a long tradition. I also really liked this small carving of a boy with a cat.

The museum had beautiful gardens and a tea house (taken through a window; you can't actually go there except for twice a year).

A lion and a kirin from the 17th century:

By the time I left, it had finally stopped raining and was getting nice. This picture of a secondary building came out interesting with the wet pavement, since it's hard to tell where the pond stops and the walkway begins. The main museum building looked like any other classical museum building, but with a Japanese roof stuck on top.

The secondary building houses a collection of artwork donated to Emperor  Meiji by a Buddhist temple. Especially interesting was a collection of about 50 exquisite bronze statuettes of Buddhist deities.

There was also a collection of Japanese art on loan from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Been there, done that, so I didn't pay the extra to go see it again (plus I was getting tired!)

Walking back to the train station, I got a great view of the just-finished Tokyo Sky Tree tower. At over 2000 feet, it is now the tallest tower in the world. Unfortunately the public opening is going to be two days after I leave, so I won't be able to go up to the observatories.