Shitamachi Museum
I’ve been to Ueno Park quite a few times, but I had never been to this small, interesting museum. The entrance fee is ¥300.
Description from the internet:
The Shitamachi Museum was established for the purpose of passing on to future generations the culture and traditions of this unique Shitamachi area, the traditional heart of Tokyo, centered around Taito City.
Inside the museum, you will be able to actually enter a recreated Japanese lantern shop and rear tenement and touch the daily items of the time on exhibit. There are also exhibitions related to seasonal annual events.
After taking off your shoes, you are able to walk around in the 1960 home. There are little signs with a hand, telling you it is okay to touch.
It was fascinating and the details were amazing. I could imagine the people who lived in such a home.
You are free to gently handle the objects. Two older men were having a good time pulling out the contents and talking about them. Maybe they were remembering their own home in 1960!
I highly recommend visiting this snapshot of life in Tokyo in 1960.
1 comment:
This is one of my favourite museums in Tokyo, nay in Japan!
It is exactly the architecture, interior design and minimalistic lifestyle that drew me to all things Japanese when I was young.
Here you can see the foundation of 'smart' living. For example, by sitting on the floor around a small round table, many people can gather - the further away you sit, the more room you have. You hold the rice bowl in your hand and stretch out to take food from the serving dishes on the table, place it on top of the rice and eat. So no chairs, no table setting with individual plates and cutlery to limit the number of people.
At night, lean the table upright against the wall. Remove the cushions and spread out the mattresses, sheets and pillows - there's your bed. Fold the bedding away in the morning, serve breakfast at the round table, wash the dishes and give the leftover water to the plants outside. Then take the damp green tea leaves from the pot and sprinkle them over the tatami floor, sweep the floor with a bamboo broom... Finally, sit down and do some sashiko stitching on a tengui towel to make a pretty dishcloth...
Doesn't this museum inspire you to play house? I can sit here for hours dreaming up what fish I would cook on the Shichiri charcoal grill outside the house, what vegetables I would carry home from the greengrocer in the beautiful bamboo basket, what I would store in the triangular corner chest, whom I would invite for a cup of green tea...
Dream on!
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