A Tochigi Day Trip - Part 2 - Oya

We hadn't spent much time in Utsunomiya before we decided to move out of the city and into the adjacent town of Oya. To be frank, when I first planned the road trip, Oya was meant to have been more of a distraction than anything else, but the cozy town turned out to be so much more than that.
 Oya is the exclusive place where Oya stone can be found. It's a unique rock that pretty much put the town of Oya on maps. Within the town, there are countless monuments made of it, and blocks of it seemed to have been carved right out of cliff faces, giving the landscape a bit of a peculiar look.

The Oya-ji Temple and the Oya Kannon.

Our first stop in Oya was the Oya-ji temple, a Buddhist temple with a very ancient history. The temple itself is nestled in a cave-like depression in a rock made of Oya stone. Upon entering it, a 1200 year old Kannon Goddess can be seen carved into the face of the rock. You're not supposed to take pictures of it, but I sneaked one for the sake of satisfying the curiosity of the few readers I have. Other figures are also carved into the rock, though notably not as important as the Goddess herself. Ken noted that there were words inscribed into the stone next to each respective figure, but the writing looked so far removed from Japanese that I couldn't help but wonder at the evolution of the written language.

The Heiwa Kannon and some unphotogenic Adventure Friends.

 Across from the temple, though nowhere as ancient as the Oya Kannon within the cave, is the Heiwa Kannon, another Goddess carved out of the indigenous rock. Overlooking a square, the Heiwa Kannon is much taller, standing at nearly 30 meters in height, and an impressive sight in and of itself. From what I've read, it was carved by hand as a World War II memorial. There are steps allowing visitors to climb up to its head, and give visitors a good view of the Oya-ji temple. We promptly did that, and, lo-and-behold, what we discovered from up there turned out to be even more interesting...
  A haikyo! We told ourselves we'd get back to it later, since we had one more thing we wanted to check out within the town. I'll elaborate further down.

All credit to Agha for this brilliant picture. It's hard to make Ken look like a child molester but he pulled it off.

 Our next stop was the Oya Stone Museum. And though my companions originally weren't sure what
to think of a museum based on stone, they were open to the idea of checking it out, and it sure as hell didn't disappoint. Essentially, the museum itself is a gigantic cavern. Located deep underground, the dark, cavernous halls of the museum were approximately 15 degrees colder than surface temperature, and we could see warmth of our breaths in the dim light. The cave turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip despite our initial skepticism. It was hard not to be amazed by the vastness of the underground chambers located under the small building on the surface. The walls were so high that the ceiling above was plunged into darkness. The whole thing felt very much like some kind of Egyptian tomb. Here are there, small art installations were installed and lit up in colored lights. We later on found out that many different music videos, commercials, and movie scenes were shot within these very halls. Some parts of the cavern were barred off and inaccessible, making it hard to tell how deep the man-made tunnels even went. We left the museum pretty satisfied with what we had seen.

 Thereafter, we took our bikes to the abandoned place we had seen earlier, from the top of the Heiwa Kannon statue. It took a little research for us to find out that the ruins before us were those of the abandoned Yamamoto Grand Center, which had been left to ruin at some point during the '80's (not a hundred years ago, as one of the locals tried to get us to believe.) The surface of the decaying structure was covered in vines and other various plant-life, so deep the ground-level of the building could hardly be seen. The tall grass was a nest full of vipers, as was made evident by the nearby signs. Though we were in broad daylight, we promptly decided to ditch our bicycles and find a way inside the building, but as we approached chains barred our way, alongside with a camera and another sign warning trespassers of an alarm. I swear to God, a pheasant also jumped out of a bush and scared the shit out of us, and so we decided it wasn't in the cards for us to visit this place, and we turned tail. Maybe some other time.

 Evening was encroaching on us by then, and we still had one appointment left, back in Utsunomiya. In fact, what came next was the very reason we had even come to Tochigi in the first place.

The Yokohama Ramen Museum

 "Only 3 to 4% of Japanese people polled said that they don't like ramen," Ty told me between thick slurps. "Foreigners love ramen too. It's easy to take foreigners to eat ramen." Truer words were never spoken.
 In Japan, ex-pats and locals alike all have their favorite type of ramen. There's no shortage of different bases for the soup, thicknesses or types of noodles, or variations of additional toppings - but unfortunately, it's hard to experience them without a significant amount of travel. And although I have no doubt it's possible to find different types of ramen from across Japan within Tokyo, that would take some research too, no doubt.

 And so, Ty and I, lovers of ramen both, found ourselves in the one place where 9 different types of ramen met under one roof: the Ramen Museum of Yokohama (not to be mistaken for the Cup-Noodle Museum of Yokohama.)
For the cheap admission price of 300¥, the rather plain-looking building is hardly eye-catching at first, and even upon entering. But the bulk of the museum is underground. Go down one floor, and suddenly, you find yourself transported to the Japan of the late 1950's, during the years when ramen culture was at its peak and exploding across Japan. And really, the decorum is great - old movie posters adorn walls, 50's Japanese music fill the vast hall, and of course, ramen restaurants to be seen in every corner of the room.
 And really, "museum" it may be called, but the Ramen Museum hardly offers you any information. "You want to learn something?" it seems to say, "then eat, damn it." And so we did. Each restaurant within the ramen museum offers mini-portions, which are about half the size of a standard portion of ramen, for a rather affordable 570¥ each, making the Ramen Museum the ideal place to sample different kinds. Now, of course, trying each of the nine mini-portions would have equated to eating around 4-5 bowls of ramen, which one of is adequate for a meal. While I'm sure it's not only possible but has been done before, as adventurous as we were, we weren't about to replace the blood in our veins with broth, so a choosing was in order. In the end, we opted to choose 4 different types of ramen, each with a different base for the soup, from 4 different shops within the museum.

The first, Zweite Ramen, is actually originally a ramen shop from Germany. That itself was a conundrum and drew us in. Apparently, the flour used for the noodles here are traditionally for pastas and pizzas usually found in Europe. Zweite Ramen is a restaurant that actually, if the information at hand was to be believed, has quite a good reputation within Germany. The noodles and the soup were both rather thick, and the sauce was a pork bone and soy sauce combination. 

 Our second stop was Ryu Shanghai, with its ultra thick noodles, reputed to be folded 32 times. Their miso based soup is given extra flavor by a generous topping of spicy red miso, sitting right atop the noodles as the dish is served to you. I didn't find the whole thing particularly spicy, but perhaps that's for the best, as the spice doesn't remove from the richness of the soup.

The third was Nidaime Genkotsuya, which served a very satisfying salt and soy based soup with its straight noodles, which were neither thin nor thick, but quite flat - a first for me when it comes to ramen. The more-than-adequate toppings of pork and kelp is what made this one taste great to me.

Our last stop was Komurasaki, a shop originally from the western prefecture of Kumamoto, which specialized in pork bone soup. Contrary to the nearby and very-famous hakata ramen, which also uses a pork bone based soup, the soup at Komurasaki was rather light, though both types of ramen use thin noodles. Komurasaki's special flourish was the roasted garlic chips, which gave the dish a really nice smell.

 All the different types of ramen aside, the museum itself does go an extra step in conveying the mood of 50's Japan, by having occasional kamishibai shows, which are charismatically narrated story-panels played from within a box-like contraption. The story teller flips the panels manually while telling the story, displaying the pictures from a window in the box. You can kind of think of it as a proto-television. Plus, it's worth having a look around to see the old-fashioned candy shops and the like, which are also decorated and run as they were back in the day.
 The Ramen museum was a culinary blast, and I say that as a person who really isn't much of a foodie. Go for the ramen, and stay for the ambiance.

Wall Tokyo - The Attack on Titan Museum

Shingeki no Kyojin, or Attack on Titan as it's called in English, has picked up an enormous amount of steam and has risen to become the number one selling manga in Japan, dethroning One Piece for the first time. Whether it's the series' intrigue and pacing, or rather it's underlying message of rising up against insurmountable odds, it's working. Men and women are flocking to Attack on Titan.
 In light of this success, the manga spawned a hugely successful anime series, and is following up with a live-action movie, an attraction at Universal Studios Japan, and a temporary exhibit at the Ueno Royal Museum. Which Dario and I had a look at!
 Now, this being Tokyo, and the subject being a manga read by millions, a crowd was to be expected. There was no getting in without lining up for a half hour, and mind you, we went on a Monday morning. Those seeking entry on a weekend, beware.
 Right off the bat, though, the Attack on Titan exhibition begins powerfully, with a guide, completely in-character, telling everyone who entered that the city is under attack. On a gigantic screen is a curtain, with the silhouettes of the titular giants moving around behind it. Their footsteps are thunderous. She disappears behind the curtain, and all of a sudden, it's lifted, and she appears on screen, being devoured by a titan. She's thrown into the air, and a loud crack is heard over the audience's heads, as she appears to have fallen onto the ceiling. Her tattered cloak hangs through the rafters in the ceiling. How delightful! There are even children in the room! I bet some of the parents were wishing they had been warned.

The art of Shingeki no Kyojin.

 The first section of the exhibit is dedicated to Hajime Isayama's original artwork. It's pretty par-for-course in an exhibit such as these. Now, you may recall that I said that Attack on Titan isn't the best drawn series by a long shot. But the exhibit does have his best pages (the originals, no less) on display, and no matter what else can be said, he is a professional. On some pages, there are neat little commentaries written by the man himself, and you do kind of discover that Attack on Titan was very much a learning process for him as well, as he could not have anticipated that the series would garner such a massive following. I do admit the full-sized pieces of his colored work were actually really nice when seen in person. There's a corner also dedicated to what inspired Isayama to start his series. It may or may not come as much of a surprise that, amongst other manga he cited as being inspirational, he also studied UFC and cited that as being something that helped him create certain scenes.
 It's the second half of the exhibit, though, that adds fun to the experience: the interactive showcase, where items and scenes of the comic are brought to real life quite literally. This half of the exhibit kicks off with a little something fans of the series will be sure to recognize - a life-size diorama of the character, Annie Leonhart, looking down at a flight of stairs. It's hard not to be tempted to recreate the iconic scene itself (which I did.)

The interactive exhibit. Why'd you do it, Annie!?

 Past this flight of stairs, though, is a collection of items that were recreated from Attack on Titan. And although some of it is completely goofy (a glass case, for example, containing a potato half-eaten by one of the characters,) they did fabricate some of the manga's coolest gadgets, such as the box-cutter-like blades used in the series, or the contraptions used by the characters to navigate the city while hunting for the titans. All of the above are life-sized, and presented in such a way where they blur the line between comic and reality. It's all very cool to look at.

Egad!

 But of course, the best is saved for last, and visitors are given a chance to stand in awe of the head of the Colossal Titan, breaking through the very floor of the building. It kind of puts things to scale. It's one thing to read about a 60-meter monstrosity and another to see it as it would appear in reality.
 And as usual, it's exit through the gift shop, which contains a few framed pictures, if you like Attack on Titan that much, and some 50$ white shirts with nothing but quotes from the series written in black. With or without context, the shirts are a little ridiculous.
 But hey, I really enjoyed the exhibit. It's certain to please fans of the manga or anime, and there's lots of cool opportunities to get souvenirs in the form of pictures. Check it out, but leave the kids at home, maybe.
 

Behold the Controversial Yasukuni Shrine

Today I paid a visit to Yasukuni Shrine. Other than being a shrine of a certain size, it's well known for being the one shrine the Emperor himself must never visit. It's a place of controversy, where the names of everyone who has served and died for the empire of Japan in war has been engraved and laid to rest - including a few of history's most infamous war criminals. Men responsible for ordering the pillaging of cities and the rape and murder of civilians. Many Chinese and Korean in particular look at the shrine's existence as something disdainful, and I do recall having read about a certain incident in which a Chinese man attempted to burn it down with molotov cocktails.
 So I went to have a look at it myself, and, lo and behold, not a single statue of Hitler murdering Jesus to be seen. Yeah, I could've guessed. Without proper context, it's a little hard to see anything controversial here.

But I can tell you what I did see! The Yasukuni shrine has at its entrance one of the most majestic torii gates you'll find in Tokyo, making the walk to the shrine quite nice. There's no denying that the shrine is quite militaristic though. There's a huge focus on war-time Japan here, even going as far as having a small museum next to the shrine.
 Within, all sorts of paraphernalia relating to World War II in particular can be found inside. Heavy artillery launchers, an attack plane, as well as a gift shop filled with postcards and other merchandise displaying Japan's military flag are on sale. It's kind of a strange gift idea for the average joe, but collectors probably dig this kind of thing.
 When it comes to the controversy of Yasukuni shrine, I really think it's just a matter of context. To build a memorial for people who died in service of their country makes all the sense in the world. And yes, even though the war criminals enshrined inside have done unspeakable evils upon the world, that doesn't change the fact that, technically, they do qualify. They didn't eat babies and shit bats. They were once someone's children.

Yeah, I know, it's also that the shrine states a different number of victims from the war than the text books and the records other countries have. I guess that would be the first time religion, science, and history say something different. Oh, wait, it's not? Huh. Isn't that odd.

Beep Boop

While at the Miraikan, I did take the opportunity to meet its other denizens (rather than just the toilet guys.) Though the museum has a very compelling section dedicated to the exploration of space, I found myself more compelled by their robotics section. And seeing as Japan has invested heavily in robotics, there are quite some interesting encounters to be made within the museum. Allow me to introduce you to do the two forerunners!

Asimo struttin' his stuff.

The first of the two is Asimo. Everyone loves Asimo. He's just a few inches over four feet tall and speaks in a high, child-like voice.  Once a day at the Miraikan, Asimo is brought out for a 30-minute demonstration of his capabilities, where he showcases his mobility. He's appeared at many different events, ranging from conducting orchestras to dancing in Disneyland. When it comes down to it, though, Asimo's purpose is to be a personal assistant, and he is capable of recognizing faces, following people, respond to questions, call people by name, and react to sounds, completely on his own. I think Asimo would be fun to have around.

Geminoid F.

 The second of the two is Geminoid F, or Otonaroid (with "otona" signifying "adult".) Geminoid F is an attempt at creating the most human-like android possible, and, at a glance, it's pretty convincing. She mimics the mannerisms of real people, by blinking, shrugging, and using her hands to gesture. Geminoid F, though, is designed to be controlled remotely, allowing an individual to operate her and even speak through her lips with the help of a voice changer. Personally, while I think she's pretty impressive, she's also pretty damn creepy though. Her movements are a ever so slightly angular and broken, and she kind of has a glazed look, with her smiles lacking warmth. It's hard to look at her and not think that this won't somehow eventually collide with the development of sex dolls. Maybe Geminoid would be a little less fun to have around.
 And there you have it! Maybe eventually these will come into the public market, with debatable yet interesting outcomes.

Diving Into the World of Shit

The Miraikan, or the Museum of Emerging Sciences as it's called in English, is considered to be one of the best museums in Japan, showcasing the brilliance of Japanese innovation and technology. It's where you would go to meet Asimo or Geminoid F, for instance. On top of its excellent permanent exhibition, the Miraikan also has special exhibitions - none of which seemed particularly fascinating enough to merit its own visit - especially alone, since very few of my friends here care for science. I reconsidered my stance for the current one, though.
 Between the months of August until the first week of October, the Miraikan cordially invited visitors to explore the world of shit and toilets, in a highly interactive exhibition suitable for people of all ages. I know, right? How could I miss this. I don't think they could pull this off as successfully anywhere else in the world. Of course I went.

As easy as it would be for me to make up what follows, note that everything below is true.

 It all starts off pretty rationally, see. A talking turd is wondering why he won't get flushed down the toilet. A face appears upon its lid, and it yells angrily that it's sick of humans that look down upon toilet-kind for no reason, and refuses to ever flush again. "We think of people as being our friends," the toilet said, "but we've never been thanked!" The turd turns to the audience and implores us all to at least try to understand the toilet's point of view, and that everything would be so much better if humanity knew about the importance of toilets. I was immediately hooked. 10/10 for the intro.

You never get to do this elsewhere!

Well logically, the first step in understanding toilets is understanding our own shit. So the museum brings you into a hall of learning about the consistency and smell and shape of our feces. Here, I was told of the benefits of examining one's own feces as a means of self-diagnosis. Entrants were also invited to compare samples of shit (not real ones, but models,) which children were thrilled to do.
In another corner of the room, three different aromas were stored into metallic cylinders. One with a pleasant smell, one with the smell of shit, one with 90% pleasant smell and 10% smell of shit. The point was, that it's very hard to overpower the smell of shit. I didn't actually try smelling from the cylinders. "Gross!" people would say after smelling the 'smell of shit' sample. No, really? Could it possibly smell like...shit?

Of course, there was all kinds of scientific facts and such on nearby panels, and believe it or not, I actually took the time to read those too. But let's move on, because that's not as much fun.
The next room was also very interactive, and visitors were welcome to try to sculpt their last bowel movement out of play dough given to them by the kind staff. Why not, I thought, as I took the play dough from the nice lady and molded it upon the surface of the small porcelain toilet on the counter in front of me.
 I came up with this.

Diagnose this!

I censored it for the kids.

It made the lady smile, so that's a win in my book. I don't actually remember what my last shit looked like.
 I proceeded through the next door, and made it to the hall of wonderful toilets! Here, many different bathrooms were showcased, showing how different people could possibly be pleased by a little innovation when it came to bathrooms. There was one where the walls were all one-way windows. No one can see you inside, but you can see the people outside, kind of thing. In application, though, that'd be horribly awkward, taking a dump while seeing the person waiting to use the toilet next, just standing there, holding it in. There was an open room one (for daycare centers that want to be able to keep an eye on the kids while giving them their space) as well as one that turned peeing into a video game (but I've seen that type of thing before) and ultimately, the toilet of dreams unfulfilled!
 The latter one allowed visitors to write ideas for a new type of toilet on a post-it note and paste it on the wall.These included ones that would make everything smell awesome and that kind of thing. There was one odd drawing of a guy sticking his head of the toilet bowl.
Such potential! I came up with a fun one.

Soon after that, the moment had come. I had learned about poop. I had learned about toilets. But that brought me no closer to understanding the struggle of the talking toilet from the beginning. It was time to become one with the shit.

The sign literally read "Imagine yourself to be feces and see what lies beyond."

There was no turning back. I became one of the numerous shit heads in line to get flushed down the mega-toilet, and within moments, my turn had arrived. I slid down into the porcelain funnel, and found myself in a hallway made to look like sewers.
 "Hey, do you have a moment? Sir?" a voice stopped me, as I made my way to the end of the corridor amongst all the other shit heads. "Could you please take a picture of us?" A Japanese lady handed me her camera, and I took a picture of her and her nice family, with everyone wearing poop on their noggins. There was a giant screen displaying a beautiful sea in the background. I relished the moment, because I knew this would never, ever happen again.

Next step is Broadway.

As I shuffled my way to the exit amongst the crowd (relinquishing my poop hat on the way out) I found myself in a room with many, many toilet bowls. A dozen children were sitting in front of them. "Now do you understand all that we do for you?" said one of the toilet bowls - it was the one from the beginning! "From the bottom of your heart, say thank you!" There was an awkward silence. "Thanks...?" said a few of the kids sitting before the toilets.
 All of a sudden, faces appeared on every toilet bowl! And they joined their voices together and sang in a choir! They sang of the importance of toilets and shitting, and the future humanity would build together with their help!
 "I forgive humans now!" announced the main toilet guy.
I was relieved, and the exhibition made my realize it was about time I relieved myself in a different way, too. So I found the washroom on my way out and did that. Thank you, toilet.

Specters, Ghosts & Sorcerers in Woodblock Painting

Throughout history, Eastern and Western art took very different paths and evolved in very unique and distinctive ways. Some of the most renown art pieces in Japan are carved in Ukiyo-e - woodblock painting, in which the art is drawn on slabs of wood, chiseled out, and pressed onto parchment using different color applications, creating vibrant colors in a way that certainly inspired current trends in graphic design. And though subject matter varied, Tokyo's Ukiyo-e Museum is currently doing a special exhibition on fantastic monsters and ghosts and demons as they appear in historical paintings.
 It's fascinating and inspiring all at once, but I can't walk you through the whole thing and tell you about every single story, as even I don't know them so well myself. But here are my three favorites, in no particular order.


1 - GAMA SENNIN INSTRUCTS YOSHIKADO AND TAKIYASHA by Kuniyoshi 

 In this amazing painting, Taira no Yoshikado and Takiyasha are instructed by the spirit of a 3000 year old toad, named Gama Sennin, on how to invoke sorcery. He spits a jet of mist with his breath, and the illusion of a beautiful woman appears. They are in front of a cavern made from the mouth of an enormous toad, with the statues of hundreds of other toads standing vigil all around them.

2 - KIDOMARU LEARNING MAGIC FROM THE TENGU by Kuniyoshi

 In this one, the bandit sorcerer Kidomaru is instructed by the Tengu (the four birdlike creatures at the bottom) on how to use sorcery. In his training, he plunges a blade into the head of a giant python. What he learned would later come of use to him in his battle against Yasuke, in which he would summon a giant poisonous snake to make battle with Yasuuke's heavenly eagle. I absolutely love how Kidomaru's body seems to be merging with magical smoke.
It's also important to distinguish the two types of Tengu. I didn't know this before, but the commonly depicted long-nose Tengu is only one of the two types. The second type, Crow-Tengu, like the ones shown on this picture, are the less common second type.







3 - TAKIYASHA THE WITCH AND THE SKELETON SPECTER by Kuniyoshi

Oh come on, this is seriously bad-ass. In real life history, Takiyasha was a princess whose father was slain when he established a rebellion. His palace in Soma was utterly destroyed, but his daughter Takiyasha remained there. In the legend, when a government official, Oya no Mitsukuni comes looking for surviving conspirators in the ruined castle, he finds the former princess, who, reading incantations from a scroll, summons from a dark void a colossal skeleton to kill the trespassers. It's a really well known work of art in Japan.

Yes, I know I haven't shown a very great diversity in choice of artist at all. But Utagawa Kuniyoshi's pieces really outshone the others in my eyes, even before discovering that all pieces were by him. I feel like I've discovered a new-found liking in Japanese mythology thanks to the exhibition. It's on until the end of September, by the way, in Harajuku, so check it out!

The ExploraScience Hall

Today, for the second time, I went to the Miraikan to find it closed, goddamn it. The temporary exhibition on toilets and shit would have to wait. And once again, I found myself in Odaiba with a lot of time in my hands. Thankfully, Odaiba is a bit of a treasure trove when it comes to random points of interest, so Ken and I made the best of it and went roaming.

And wander we did until we stumbled upon the ExploraScience hall (which is actually officially named Sony ExploraScience, but I find it tiring to throw in the company's name every time.) And, though ExploraScience is a poor substitute for the very acclaimed Miraikan, which is also a science museum, it does have a certain charm in its array of interactive technological exhibits which really don't aim to teach you anything, but merely to entertain you in some way or another. Here, it'll make more sense if I show you, won't it.

 ExploraScience is a playful museum built around the theme of sight and sound. Using screens, monitors and recording devices, visitors are encouraged to mess around and make their own fun, as well as to experience recent emerging technologies in the home entertainment industry, such as 3D screens and augmented reality.
  There are various booths placed around the dimly lit, sci-fi looking hall that allow you to record your voice and alter it in a number of ways, including, but not limited to, drunken slur. Then, other people can stumble upon the same booth and listen to you babble like a drunk person. That's an example.

 I personally had the most fun using the motion mapping booths that converted your movements into those of a character on the screen. There was a game with the object of touching other objects popping up on the display with your hands, and I enjoyed cartwheeling and attempting to jump and kick them. I was a little disappointed that feet didn't count.

 There was also a terminal at the very beginning of the hall that rated and ranked your smile amongst all the other people who came in and used the machine during the day. I made light of it and smiled in a rather spacey-looking manner and was somewhat surprised I ranked amongst the better half. And then I felt a little bad I beat a lot of people who genuinely tried.
 It's all simple fun, really. You can spend an hour in ExploraScience and that might be just enough. Spending more than two would be pushing it, perhaps. But the admission fee is a measly 500¥, and it might just be one of those things where the more people you bring, the more fun you have.

Silly Inventions 6: The Synthetic Woman (a Museum Full)

#6: Synthetic Women

I DO NOT ENDORSE THIS.

Actually, they're sex dolls. For a limited time only, in the posh neighborhood of Ginza, a museum dedicated to showcasing sex dolls opened. And by that, I don't mean blow-up dolls. Japan, apparently, has come a long way from those.
 Really, I shouldn't even be surprised. This is truly the only country in the world where even the most perverse basement dwellers could get together and pool their resources to create a full synthetic woman just so they wouldn't have to speak to a real one in the outside world. But here I am, and after having toured the small museum, I now feel like I know more about sex dolls than any man who hasn't used one has the right to.
 Pictures weren't allowed! Sorry if mine are blurry, I kind of had to go at it through a stealth-cam. I gladly deliver!
The museum was comprised of two rooms (boutique not included), one displaying sex dolls of models old and new, arranged in various poses, while the other one showcased some casts through which the dolls were molded, as well as having a doll that could be interacted with (moved, touched) while a savvy clerk explained its functions.
 The dolls were frighteningly realistic. With flexible skeletons that could be moved and articulated in places accurate to the true human anatomy, as well as a full jacket of silicon skin, from a distance, they certainly did look like real people. The level of detail in the lips and faces was jarring, and of course, for the hair, nothing would have sufficed but actual human hair.
With such a level of detail, though, it was almost disturbing to hold one's wrist and realize the one thing it lacked was the warmth of actual flesh, making it seem like I was touching a corpse. Plus, the skin had an inhuman smoothness, an absence of pores and veins and wrinkles - all things I didn't expect to find on a doll, but keep them from being perfect. I think I'm a little grateful for that, actually.
 What kind of threw me off however was the centerpiece of the main room, a doll just around 145 centimeters tall or so that had all the traits of a ten year old girl. I don't know whether it was meant to provoke thought or not, but whatever the case, its mere existence was both fascinating and a little upsetting. But if it holds pedophiles back from going after the real thing, then maybe it's a good thing? Most of the questions I had here went unanswered, for better or for worst.
I still don't know how one goes about cleaning a sex doll after use, but its mildly entertaining to imagine some guy dragging one into a bathroom, running the bath water, holding it upside down, spreading its legs and scrubbing with a sponge.
 I guess I'll never know.

Gundam Front

Anyone who's ever had an ounce of interest in Japanese animation (and a whole tonne of people who don't) has heard of Gundam. Before Dragonball and Sailor Moon took the world of animation by storm, Gundam was already going strong, with its powerful stories of human drama and giant god damn robots. Though I've never been a fan of the franchise, there is without a doubt some respect to be given to a 45 year old series that still manages to bring more fans around its table.

The "life-sized" Gundam at Odaiba Diver City.

However, my good friend Basil is a longtime fan of the franchise, and so we delved into the heart of the beast. Here, in Odaiba, lies the Mecca of Gundam fans - Gundam Front, where not only goods are sold and displayed as if in a museum, but a towering "life-sized" Gundam is put on display for all to see at the very doorstep of Diver City, the mall in which the Front is located.

I do like this!

The Gundam Front is to the Gundam series what the Ghibli Museum is to Ghibli movies, though much smaller. Not only are there informative displays with large size figures of the flagship robots, but original artwork of the series' creator are put up for all to admire.
 The interior of the Gundam Front itself looks like that of a space vessel from out of the series, so it's enjoyable to walk around within the small complex's halls, dimly lit with neon lights so representative of the sci-fi setting of the anime.

You'll surely get the ladies now.

There are also a couple of interactive displays allowing for fans to pose inside the cockpit of a Gundam robot, or next to the forerunner characters of the series, though I think few would disagree that the main highlight of the Front is the large dome room purposefully built as a theater for the projection of a Gundam battle, in the same way planetariums do their projections. Sadly, photos are not permitted in the dome (and the subtle ones I took are just a terrible mess.) Personally, I found the whole thing hard to follow, but what do I know of Gundam anyway.

Is this the feeling called lust?

And of course, at the very entrance of the Gundam Front is a store where figurines of the series' robots are sold, amongst a whole other bunch of related paraphernalia. Posters, pillows, postcards, coffee mugs and even Gundam-shaped cookies and cakes. You name and they have it. Every overseas' fan knows that these cost a fortune outside of Japan. Well, they cost a fortune inside of Japan too, but at least they're all concentrated in this one spot, which is sure to please many.


The Gundam Front isn't free to enter (costing 1200¥ for adults) but I guess that ain't much of a detractor for full-blown fans. For the rest of us, it's at least fun to see how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Reliving the Bombing of Hiroshima

That's as unappealing a title as you can get, but it's the honest truth. Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Museum doesn't exist to merely inform you of the tragic events of August 6th 1945. In order to fully comprehend the events that took place on that day, one must be brought to relive the day the sun fell out of the sky and on top of the heads of the citizens of Hiroshima.
Frankly, it was kind of hard to take pictures here. They're allowed, for certain, but it kind of feels inappropriate to do anything but look at the showcases in a mixed sense of wonder and dread at the hell these people were put through.

A display of Hiroshima before and after the bombing. Notice the bomb dome from the last post.

 The Peace Memorial Museum's main focal point is to show the point of view of the civilians who suffered the consequences of the attack. To start with, many of the halls of the museum are lined with the preserved clothing of dead children, with plaques indicating their names, ages, and the circumstances under which they died. Also preserved are samples of the skin that peeled from their bodies and the hair that fell from their scalps. It's as grim as it sounds, and it's gripping to read about healthy fourth grade girls who died in a man-made hellfire, wearing the dresses they proudly made themselves.
 And really, it just goes downhill. Visitors are given the chance to read, listen, and look at the preserved remnants of the bombing, such as melted bottles and pieces of glass hurled so violently from the shock wave that they sank into concrete. Brick wall sections have been moved to the museum to show that the scorching flames imprinted upon them the shadows of the people who were atomized where they stood.

Nightmare fuel, and to think people lived through this.

But to top it off is this one, hellish display recreating a scene from mere moments after the bomb was dropped, showing people in tattered clothes searching for loved ones in the wreckage. Those aren't strips of cloth hanging from their arms. It's their peeling flesh.

 Just like the rest of the Peace Memorial Park, though, the museum has an underlying message of hope for the coming generations to reach out to their governments and protest against the usage of the weaponry that took away 220,000 lives after a single use. The final walk out of the museum is a hall dedicated to the survivors, whose eye-witness accounts and drawings serve as a final plea to take home what you learned and to never forget the atrocities that have been lived in a time not so long ago.

Meiji University Torture Museum

Yes, I know. This picture of me posing in front of a crucifix upon which Japanese prisoners were impaled from waist to shoulder on both sides is of questionable taste. But it shows how happy I am to be at such an interesting exhibit!
 The Meiji University grounds are host to a museum showcasing anthropology and the evolution of the human condition. I'm sure the administration wouldn't be too happy if the place became known as the Torture Museum, but really, the rest of the stuff has been seen and done before.

In a nutshell, the criminology section of the museum, located in the basement, holds replicas of items used for torture (and execution, I guess, since you won't get to use that guillotine on the same guy twice.) It's pretty grizzly to look at, and there are very few explanations in English, but you really do get a sense of what each contraption was used for, with the help of some disturbing-ass traditional wood-block paintings on the walls, showing people getting maimed or crushed or dismembered or beheaded or whatnot. Just another day in feudal Japan, I guess.
 The museum's collection is pretty sizable, with items such as the aforementioned guillotine, the iron maiden (pictured), blocks used to crush legs, scaffolds for hanging people (with or without killing them) or burning them alive, a variety of spiked rods, displays for the heads of the recently executed, etc.
 However, keep in mind that this is only one section of the museum, and you'll probably be through with it after an hour or so.

Just to make sure everyone's on the same page about torture being a big no-no, the museum also has merchandise! A great way to cash in on people's fascination for the ultimate misery of others! Oh come on, let's be frank, if your museum's official shirt has an iron maiden on it, then you're kind of acknowledging that the most interesting thing there is to see is an apparatus with which people made Swiss cheese out of other people. No More Torture! But look how cool this thing is!

So Many Goldfish

Fancy!

So word on the street had it that Nihombashi Matsui Hall was holding an exhibit showcasing goldfish as modern art. Nihombashi's actually one metro station down from where I live. Sweet deal, right? Let's spend an otherwise empty Saturday morning checking what all the talk is about. I can dig goldfish. I own two. They're named Cabin and With.
 And hey, as it turns out,  the goldfish (or Kingyo as they're called in Japanese) exhibit is actually worth its 10 bucks. Sure as hell, as you'd expect on a Saturday during its opening hour, it was crowded as all hell and worst. But the exposition itself was quite spectacular, featuring somewhere between 20 to 30 different types of goldfish (I didn't know there were any more than five different kinds) in a variety of eye catching or innovative arrangements, complete with complimentary lighting effects. It really made for a rich mood, and I'd imagine it'd have been quite different if not for the crowd.

WHAT IS THE MEANING TO OUR LIVES?

As it turns out, goldfish have always been featured more or less prominently in Japanese art (though not as much as their big cousin the koi fish.) Many examples of old woodblock paintings were put up to help establish the point.
 Nowadays in Japan goldfish appear in different places through different mediums. Why just the other day I was walking down a street where one of the restaurants had them in flower pots outside. It got me wondering whether the same, or this whole exhibit, could ever be seen in North America and still hold the same meaning or catch the same audience.
 I've got to say I enjoyed the hour I spent in the hall altogether, with the highlight probably being the fountain piece pictured above.
On a side note, if you're in Tokyo, the exhibit's up until the third week of September or so! They also serve alcohol in the evening, though I'd stake my money drinks aren't cheap.