Places I can't take pictures in.

On days when I don't run around town heading to all kinds of museums I can take photographs in, it's hard for me to write these entries. I just purchased a back pack to lighten up the load on my shoulders and that has also contributed to the total lack of picture taking I have been up to. I'm too afraid to put the camera in the front pouch and none of the clothing I own (so far) has pockets. Tomorrow is supposed to be the start of massive sale time, all through next week, so I hope to pick up some overalls. That should make things better.

On June 1st I headed to the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. You aren't allowed to take pictures in that museum, but I really enjoyed the works on display. I had to pay a bit extra to see the current exhibition. It was worth it. I think that it is very important while I am in Japan for me to be exposed to Japanese artists. So many of these Japanese museums are focused on Western artwork. Especially the museums that cater to the western audience. I saw the work of Seiichi Furuya in the special exhibition at the museum, which was something I had never been exposed to. His photographic works were very stunning. They mainly surrounded his wife and his memories regarding her life before she passed away. You can see some of the pieces from the exhibition here. I don't want to steal them.
On the main exhibit floor was "The Samurai & I". This exhibit started with early photographic works in Japan and discussed the history of photography in Japan, mainly portraiture. It was really interesting to see some of the very early photography of real samurai. I was really moved by the concept of what occurs to an individual when they understand that their place in society may be at risk, that their lives may be at risk so they reach out to a foreign technology to preserve themselves. The photographs were pieces of these people's lives, although now we only sometimes know who they actually were.


That museum happens to be in the Ebisu beer plaza area. So I headed to the Yebisu Beer Museum.

The history of the beer is pretty remarkable. It started when foreigners essentially started making beer in Japan. These guys in particular imported absolutely everything from Germany so they could call their beer a German style beer. It was a super luxury for everyone to buy beer. But then in World War II all the beer makers were taken over and they could only make all the same crappy beer. In the 50s Yebisu came back and slowly helped Japan drink beer that wasn't a luxury item. That was the only thing I found interesting about this museum. Obviously I did not get a drink there.

I keep hopping between museums. It gets a little mundane to write about 'cause there really isn't anything remarkable about them... when I get home. When I'm there I'm really into it, but you know, you leave and you have some time to think about it and it's not as cool. I got lost and spent about three hours trying to find the Parasite Museum. This poor doctor was treating all these really poor people in post-war Japan. He became really good and finding and identifying different kind of parasites. His office discovered four new to the world parasites just in their patients. They are most know for the 8 meter long intestinal worm they also uncovered. Horrifying. The website says that this is a fantastic place to not be afraid of parasites but to learn about them, but I can't say I've ever been so terrified at a museum in my life. You can learn more about it at the website here I didn't bother to look at the website before I left, just tried to use my guidebook. Needless to say, looking at the building before you go definitely helps you find it.

One thing in particular I was really excited to see was the Aleksandr Rochenko and Varvara Stepanova exhibit at the Teien Art Museum which happened to be down the street from the Parasite Museum and easily identifiable.

It sounded like a really cool thing. The museum was this Prince's house who had some complicated lineage and lived there with his wife. They had this art deco architect design the place, and it really shows. More information can be found on their website here.
The exhibition of this work was a partnership with Russia to bring these works to Japan for the first time. I was expecting (not knowing much about their work) many posters and graphic design work. The show encompassed all of the duo as artists and more. It was fascinating in that way. I didn't know they did lots of abstract painting, abstract photography and designs for plays, but they did. It wasn't as interesting to me from what I was anticipating seeing. The Japanese in there really ate it up though. There was a line of older people coming out of the gift shop into the hall. They all really wanted the book from the exhibit, which I wouldn't have dreamed of purchasing. I am really interested in the way the Japanese have taken Western culture and purchased it as a commodity. The reappropriate it as they see fit. They take it home and put it on their coffee tables. I guess we do the same thing with European culture for lack of our own American culture. I think this might be my theme for the year, but we'll see how things work out.

The gardens were beautiful. I hung out there for awhile 'cause it seemed to be the thing to do. There was a Japanese garden with it's obligatory pond and koi.

There was another section that was the Western section.

I hung out in these gardens for awhile before I headed back to the ranch. A suitable day, I'd say.

A lonely morning.

I left Tokyo Decadance really shocked that it was light outside. I know the rest of you all-nighter experts wouldn't be too surprised by sunlight after a night of no sleep. I found it shocking. Here's a street full of people who shared my experience of staying up all night, only they were at a club down the street.

This is Meiji-Dori between Harajuku and Shibuya


I snapped some photos of Harajuku at 5:45 in the morning after Tokyo Decadance. It's really amazing to see an area usually PACKED with people so empty.

Notice there is no one outside of Laforet! wow! They knocked down the Gap in case you hadn't noticed.

Takeshita Dori just packed with no one.

I didn't really do much else, other than sleep.

tokyo decaDANCE!

Somehow I will make it through this month.

Yesterday I spent most of the day wandering around Shinjuku trying to find the Closet Child (used reseller of Gothic and Lolita clothing) from memory. Not really an effective strategy as I had never been there before. I was trying to find a shirt to match my 3000Y used skirt to wear to Tokyo Decadance that night. Clearly I was not very successful.
I did find the Marui One weirdo building that only has weirdo brands in it (like Angelic Pretty etc.)
For some reason they were also having this extremely compact Evangelion art exhibition and t-shirt sale.


In my wandering I also passed these giant costumed guys. It sucks to be alone at times like these because I would've loved a picture with them but there was no one to take one.

I finally just gave up and went to the Harajuku Closet Child where I had seen this one shirt that matched but I didn't necessarily want to buy it. I caved and purchased it, and it matched perfectly with my outfit. Of course I don't have any photos.
I accidentally walked to Shinjuku instead of Shibuya. I asked the police officers where the place I was going was and they were like, uhhh. This map, it says Shibuya right there in English, right? I was really embarassed so I quickly ran to the train station. It was already after midnight and if I got lucky I might catch the last train. Well, I was lucky, and I barely made the LAST Yamanote line bound for Shibuya. I got off the train and got a bit turned around, but made it to the right intersection.

I found the address of the place I was looking for, but it turns out you have to enter through the back. Fortunately for me I ran into some pretty awesome looking Trump themed people (since that was the theme of the party although not my theme) and they helped me find the entrance.
I was afraid to take any pictures because there were signs all over the place saying not to photograph someone unless you've asked them. It was really loud and I was afraid I wouldn't be heard so I didn't ask. But there were a lot of photographers (most of them really nice, some of them really creepy) so I'm sure out there somewhere are pictures.
There were so many foreigners at Tokyo Decadance. None of them had even bothered to dress up. I guess they just figured they were going to this really big stupid party but in actuality it was this really tiny awesome tiny dance floor playing electronic and industrial music. I chatted with this one fellow who was in the Air Force stationed in Japan. He told me he wasn't really into this techno stuff. I really wondered why Tokyo Decadance was the party all these people decided to come to. I mean, really, no effort was put into their attire. The air force fellow tried repeatedly to get me to dance with him, and I rejected him repeatedly until he finally gave up. The foreigners were the worst too. I'm sure the Japanese felt the same about me, but at least I wasn't trying to feel up their ladies. I just went to dance, but these guys were really hell bent on grabbing and groping which the Japanese girls were really not up for. It was really unfortunate.
There was a stage in front of the DJ booth where at first all these kinda homely sad people were sitting.

That was right in front of the dance floor, so it was extremely unfortunate.

This fellow in this strange outfit got up there and did all these para-para moves which was really fun to watch.
There was an Alice and Wonderland kinda striptease thing.

It was really bizarre.
There was also a tap-dancing clown and this really awesome violin player.

After that was this really really sad magic show, and I don't drink so I wasn't drunk enough as everyone else who appreciated it much more than I did.

I have some really bizarre blurry pictures of people from that night.
The club was really awesome though.




Those guys were really the only people industrial-dancing to Sisen's set other than me, although I'm crazy so I don't think I count. When I asked to take a picture of them, they were like, uhhh, freak? sure?


Lights on! They're kicking us out at 5:30AM.

All in all, a good night had. I really enjoy DJ Sisen's music although I did not necessarily appreciate all the bizarre staging. It was also fun to dance with some awesome folks but not so fun to have to fight off creepy english speaking guys trying to get action. I didn't come to meet any guys, I wanted to make Japanese alternative culture kind of friends, but that didn't happen. I wonder if all these other American and European tourists hadn't caused suspicion for all of us based on the way they were acting.

There is some serious baby-mama drama going on in my hallway between the British guy and his wife. The British guy stays here so he can work while she lives out in the 'burbs with their daughter. Although she just said "my daughter"
And now piano playing while the baby-mama complains about how unclean everything is.
This place is so bizarre.

Next up, early morning Harajuku! I didn't take any pictures today, I'm no good.

my current savior.

my saving dryer.
thank you, dryer, for being there when i needed you.

today's non-existant agenda

I'm not feeling too well today so I'll just take it easy. I went out and walked through Meiji Park. I ate a sad excuse for lunch.
Now I'm going to do my laundry and relax.

I got this weird notice stuck in my door from Sagawa Transport Company. I have no idea what it says but I have deciphered that it is a missed delivery notice of a bill of some kind. It definitely does not have my name on it. -_-

Adventure in Guest House!
After the weirdo notice I decided to try to do laundry and make myself some curry. Being in the land of curry I thought making curry would be easy. I was partially correct. I picked up the supplies and set off to make said curry, figuring that I could also laundry at the same time.
Hah! Laundry! Hah!
I put in what felt to me like 4.5kg which was the capacity of the washer. I exchanged enough coins to be able to laundry properly. Or so I thought.
In the middle of the rinse cycle the thing stops and hasn't worked since. So my clothes are sitting in there, sopping wet, while this shitty machine is totally broken. Awesome. I tried to wring them out as much as possible, and put them in the dryer. I put them in for an hour, splitting them apart so as to hopefully dry faster. That was over an hour ago. I'm not going to use this washer in the future, it's garbage. I've wasted probably 1000Y in coins just trying to get this thing to work, but it's now (two hours later) STILL not dry. I don't know quite what to do about this terrible machine, but I guess I'll just keep trying. One of the lovely fellows who happened upon my terrible laundry catastrophe told me not to worry about the machine. They are old and they break. He also told me not to worry about this random notice, Sakura House will deal with it. How'd the guy get in anyways? I was wondering that myself. As I was making curry, the two gentlemen from Montreal came back from job hunting. Evidently they assumed that they could just arrive here and find a job. Great idea guys! And they don't have degrees nor do they speak any Japanese or fantastic English. Oh lord. So they were trying to figure out how to gyoza so I showed them. As I was showing them, the other guy from Canada whom I'd been introduced to at the magical midnight all night on the night of my arrival party showed up. Someone had stolen his gyoza out of the fridge. No one had any answers on the washer, but all agreed that this place is a shithole. We also had some pretty awesome other conversations and I feel good about some of the people who live here. I've only met maaaaaybe 5 or 6 out of everyone on this floor, some people are not very friendly. I'm hoping my laundry finishes itself please jesus because I'm running out of coins. And I don't really have anywhere in my room to hang it. that will be next, figuring out how to hang it so it dries overnight in this room... oi.

This weekend is a Tokyo Decadance party at Trunp Room. The really tall Canadian guy who I met before was talking about how awesome Trunp Room is as a place to party. I think he's a little weary of me because I wasn't all "LEMME GET REALLY DRUNK WHEN IVE JUST SHOWED UP" on that day when I met him but he doesn't seem to care too much. He's a freelance graphic designer who just happens to live in Tokyo. He really likes the music and the party, I think, so that's probably why he's here. Yesterday the heavy accented British guy who teaches English to tiny children showed me a picture of his tiny child. He has a wife out in the suburbs and is teaching English to bring home some cash. He also commented on how awful this place is.

I'm not quite sure how all these pieces fit into place yet, but when I figure it out, my laundry will probably be dry.

yesterday's art

I wasn't expecting to be heading to any art museums but this Grutt pass has really made them accessible to me. Yesterday I went to Ueno to see what there is to see.

In Tokyo, Salaryman and Elementary school kid both text message on the train!
My first stop was the National Museum of Western Art.

I really wanted to see what Japan would have and how Japan would present western art. Well, I was a little let down, I'd have to say, although the collection was small, it was also poorly put up. There were holes in the wall everywhere. Really poorly patched up and shoddily painted. I felt like they could use a lesson from the master house painter My Mom.

Theodore Meets in the Wood the Spectre of His Ancestor Guido Cavalcanti
Oh snap! That horse looks crazy. After passing through this museum I became very aware of how fantastic the Art Institute's collection is, even if it's horribly expensive to get in. You really get a bargain though, because here I would have paid 500Y to see this small museum, but in Chicago, I'd be paying $20 for 15 times as much, and even better pieces. It was an interesting contrast. The goal of this museum was to have Western pieces on view for Japanese artists to be inspired by. The final room, as a tour guide for small children let me and everyone else in the room know, had a Pollock. I'm not one to care for Pollock, but that seemed to be the museum's pride, was this one Pollock. I found this painting by a Japanese artist in more of a western style to be much more interesting.


After that I headed to the National Museum of Nature and Science. I am totally jaded by the Field Museum, but this museum wasn't a tremendous let down. It had a really interesting section on Japanese history, although it was all in Japanese, so I had no idea what was going on.

They had these wax models of Japanese history that were just amazing. Their detail was fantastic. I could've stared at these things for hours and continuously noticed new detail. It was really cool. They also talked about domesticating animals.

Chicken wall!!! Yeaaaaah!!
There was another section devoted to global history. I was really impressed by the layout of these sections. It was really neat.

The museum was FULL OF CHILDREN. They were very loud and it made things... less fun.

But sometimes amazingly awesome. I caught these kids posing for a photo, too bad the lighting was terrible. After that I headed to the Former Tokyo Music School. It wasn't anything to write home about, but it was an important cultural property, and for that it was interesting.

There was also a giant flowering bonsai exhibition in the park.

This cat was trying to tell me to turn around because of this.

This guy wasn't very good at being a circus guy, but he was really trying. He did some diablo tricks and just seemed to be enjoying himself. I watched him for about an hour. He wanted me to stay there because then he wasn't just some freak, he could draw a crowd. It was fun. He did some stupid dice crap and did some awesome chair stuff.
I headed to Ikebukuro after this juggling man to appreciate some cats because I was starting to get mighty lonely.

The top floor of the Ikebukuro Tokyu Hands has a room where you can go hang out with cats. It was fun. I hung out with the laziest, biggest cats I've ever seen.

Lazy mega-cat.

I won't subject y'all to too much of these because there were probably 20 cats in that room. And they were all really miserable.

Ikebukuro at night. I enjoy this anime called DURARARA!! which takes place in Ikebukuro. I enjoyed walking around the same places they walk through in the anime and imagining one of the main characters, Shizuo, lifting vending machines to send them crashing down onto people. I did get a little lost, but it was fun none the less.
My eyelids are droopy today again. I'm still really sick and it's hard for me to get over this cold. I think I'm going to head to Yoyogi park to see what all the ruckus is about (there's someone with a megaphone that I can hear all the way over here). I'd say, I'm maybe four or five blocks away from the park, and there must be something really awesome going on, hopefully with awesome food and awesome sauce. After that I'm off to the Sea Park! Today will be fun!

Hussein Chalayan is a bit of a household name in artschool fashion. When you start fashioning art-school kinda way people start going, "oh, have you seen the work of Hussein Chalayan?" Before yesterday I could say, yeah, you know on the web blah blah blah but now I can say that I have, in person, and his quality is fantastic (incase you were wondering). You might be saying, who is Hussein Chalayan? And why is he even remotely interesting to me?
You might be familiar with this classic coffee table that unfolds into a skirt.

I have been exposed to this image over and over again but I never saw it within the context of the show and collection he had designed for it. I was only exposed to his more sculptural end pieces, such as the one he did with LEDs, not his other pieces. I also never knew his inspiration. I always assumed he simply knew he wanted to make this pieces and as a sculptural fashion artist, he just did. But I was wrong. He made huge collections to contain these pieces based on very unique and personal concepts. This show in particular was inspired by the movement of people. How would you take your personal belongings when forced to move? Chalayan was inspired by his personal background (as his most powerful collections often are). He is Turkish but studied at Central St Martins in London. His people were forced to move during periods of strife (among other things). Given that most of my readers are scholars of history, I don't think I need to delve deeper into this subject.
You can see some of the way the exhibition was laid out on Chalayan's personal blog here
I was just so excited to use my GRUTT pass yesterday at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo but because I care about Chalayan, I had to purchase the special exhibits pass that also got me into the museum. The main exhibit was trying really really hard to show some pieces from the permanent collection. I've read that this collection is huge. The space that the museum takes up is MASSIVE but the exhibit space for their permanent collection is really small. The premise of the exhibition is best summed up on the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo's website "This exhibition, entitled ‘Plastic Memories’, focuses on the theme of memories that have been removed from their original context of ‘place’ and ‘time’, becoming raw material for the artists to reshape through the power of their imaginations, thereby throwing a light on one aspect of ‘contemporary art’. Numerous different kinds of memories have been brought together, they do not necessarily spring from personal experience, some are communal, in the form of history, while others reside within materials or locations."
It's an interesting concept and it was really neat to see some of the pieces, although others needed a bit more of an explanation for me. I'm not sure if that's the way things were intended or what. The neat thing about the MCAT is that you can pick up cards about the artist and the piece after certain pieces and have that little bit about what you enjoyed. So often we just get the little tidbit program about everything, not just the ones we are fascinated by, so this I enjoyed. Photos were not allowed in the museum.

I passed some awesome dogs on my way there. Dogs in Tokyo are horrifyingly expensive. I later wandered into a pet shop in Roppongi because I thought it would be a nice contrast to head to the Mori Museum. Stupid cats are close to $4000. I know it's Roppongi, I know, but this isn't unusual. Today I think I will head to Ikebukuro's Tokyu Hands to go appreciate some jaded cats because I'm so damn lonely.


Telling me the direction to go in.

I headed to Roppongi on this very crowded train. I got off, wandered around for awhile, before I finally went to the Mori museum. I tried to go the the National Museum of Art but it's closed on Tuesdays. I also tried to go to a couple more museums in that area, but they were also closed. The Mori museum is kinda expensive so I wasn't extremely excited to pay for it, but as I go closer to the area I happened upon this huge free 3D concert sponsored by Sony.

I had this crisis for a second about what I should be doing and then I stopped. I have all this time and not a lot of money, so I might as well go see some weird free concert thing and some crappy bands of never heard of for free.
There was an insect that was a little too excited about my decision and flew into my shirt at this moment (meaning, there was this suicidal insect...). He met quick death.

Stupid perverted insect. He tried to chill out in my shirt, but no. That is not allowed.

Here's me with 3D glasses on. Embarassing. I stuck around for two bands (photos were not allowed) Pidgin and Scandal before the concert ended.
It was fun and I was tired so I decided to head back to the ranch. When I returned I tried to take a shower only to find my towel on the floor and my soap missing. Finally I went to Tokyu Hands and bought a new towel and new soap. I also found some of those weird flavored toothpaste (they had all the flavors) and am bringing them back for certain special people (who like curry flavored toothpaste). If you have any specific requests for toothpaste flavors, please let me know.
I'm still coughing ridiculous amounts. It is very muggy outside. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do today yet, although I do have a lot of options. Maybe SeaPark? I don't know.

And Yet, They Still Craved for Beauty...

The weather outside is miserable. I am so determined to just GO somewhere constantly while awake that I did head out to Asakusa yesterday against my better judgment. You can't tell from that picture, because when I got up and headed downstairs, it looked a little gray but nothing to be worried about. Of course, when I left the house everything changed.

My breakfast consisted of these weirdo mochi, one stuffed with red bean paste and the other with tasty-I-have-no-idea. I picked these up at the fish market and left 'em in the fridge until their deliciousness fed me breakfast. I also got these weird mega pancake looking mochi and some other equally bizarre mochi that I will eat this morning.

That's my view from eating breakfast of the common area. It's funky, but not too bad. I'm obviously not taking pictures inside the fridge. Also, TV gets BBC.

That's the stove and the sink in case you can't tell. It's not so bad, really. I guess I was expecting brand new, but when you think about how many people have stayed here and are staying here, it's not so bad. I met one of the fellows on my floor, Matt. He's from England, and is teaching English at the Japanese Walmart, Jasco. I had a flashback to Kamikaze Girls and I wish he had been in that scene because his cockney (maybe?) accent is so thick that it would've been hilarious. He teaches English to tiny children while their parents shop. He's essentially the babysitter-turned-teacher. I'll probably go have another conversation with him this morning and we'll see if he comes up with anything new. He also has this cough-runny nose sickness so I shared my dayquil to help him get through the day. I hope it worked but I'm afraid it might've made it worse. You never know.
I headed out to Asakusa on the Tokyo Subway. I got on the wrong train, got off and got on the right train. wooooo, adventure!

Seems nine is still to early for Tokyo. I made it to Asakusa at around 9:45, while the shops were just starting to set up. It was nice to be there early. I made it into the temple early too before it was swamped with people.

There are still alot of people there, but it wasn't too bad.

At the gate you pass these two huge guys that are supposed to ward off bad spirits or something. I'm not good at this understanding Buddist temples business. I like their faces.

They aren't extremely clear because of the screen, but there's no getting around that. These guys are like 10 meters tall, carved entirely out of wood. This temple has been built and rebuilt at least four times. The most recent one was after the fire bombing of Tokyo. The temple burned down and then was rebuilt in 1967 by a wealthy benefactor. I find that really fascinating about Tokyo. It's easy to forget (for someone so young as myself) that this city was burned to the ground in World War II. It was also heavily destroyed in a earthquake a couple decades before that. The city's ability to rebuild itself and remake important points of cultural heritage is very inspiring and breathtaking. Heading to this temple was an incredible experience for me because the grounds are beautiful and I really felt moved by the entire circumstance.

Here you can purchase incense to burn to heal yourself (or so I read). You light the incense and push the purifying smoke onto your afflicted area.

Because this is a Buddist temple, you are supposed to purify yourself (a bit) before entering. This is the purifying water zone, where you wash your hands and probably some other things but I don't know and the people I watched didn't give me a consensus.

The kannon and shrine. I dropped my coins in and prayed like everyone else. I'm sure I was doing it wrong and not praying in Japanese but hopefully my sentiments were conveyed. And I also paid for a bit of upkeep of the grounds no doubt.

Beautiful luscious green grounds. I didn't take many photos, but this one is definitely the best.

temples are also havens for food vendors, especially the Japanese elote stand. Instead of having the usual butter, mayo and parmesan(the kraft version and therefor spelled "parmesan") the Japanese grilled corn has a thickened sweetened soy sauce. I didn't get one, I was a little more bent on soup. This area is known for their oden, a fish based broth laden with fish cakes. I didn't end up getting oden, but I wandered into an area that must've had some pretty awesome oden. Unfortunately I was a very obvious foreigner and they didn't want to serve me. woooooo.



First cat located. I really wanted to eat here but the old lady running the place literally blocked the door. waaaaaahhh. Instead I went to a quick and easy chain restaurant and had 500Y curry udon. The worst curry udon I have ever had. Unfortunate, but inexpensive.



There were so many beautiful food places. This one really reminded me of Spirited Away. Giant bowls of food just ripe for the taking. Fortunately I had already eaten and there was an attendant, so I would not turn into a pig. But Miyazaki's inspiration must've been at least partially here.
I wandered around a bunch and decided that I would head off in search of the museums that my trusty Time Out Tokyo guide mentioned. The first one I went to look for was the Drum Museum. I did not find it, instead I found the Amuse Museum.
This place was amazing. I can't express how extremely passionate I was about this in words on a flat screen. I took so many pictures of the Boro exhibit it was almost ridiculous. In fact, it was, because it ran my camera out of batteries and I don't have photos of the rest of the day.
What I found so incredibly amazing about this place was that you area encouraged to touch the artifacts. I guess they aren't that old, but you can still touch them. They are part of the collection of the life's work of this amazing cultural anthropologist, Chuzaburo TANAKA. He saved these garments because he saw the value of the lives represented in each piece of clothing. As Japan because more materialistic and modern like the rest of the world, the authenticity found in these works wasn't valued for what it was. New is preferred over mended and patched and old. These pieces were so unbelievably textural and fascinating. The Amuse Museum was the ultimate Emma-museum by far. It also must be fairly new because it wasn't in any guidebooks.




It's this texture that really drew me into these garments, but the English explanations of everything sold me. I first looked at these and thought, ok, mended garments. But the explanations reminded me that someone's hand placed each of those stitches. Someone wore these garments to shreds so that they need to to be patched. And then they wore them again. And they patched them again. And here I was touching this stuff and photographing it up close and personal thanks to this fellow who knew that these were a cultural treasure. He fought for them to be granted treasure status and be protected by the Japanese government and he got it. He collected all these stories from these old ladies who talked about mending their garments when they had nothing else and how the whole family would curl up naked together to sleep at night in the giant heavy kimono like donja that was often patched with hemp cloth and stuffed with hemp. The other thing I found really interesting was that cotton was valued and terribly expensive. They would have an original garment cut from cotton cloth and slowly have to patch it over with their hand woven and hand dyed hemp cloth. With the rags that were too small to be used for anything else, they would make rugs and belts and housewares. On the sixth floor of this museum was a relaxation zone where you could sit, drink tea, and watch girls weave these rag fabrics. Unfortunately they were filming some promotional video at the time so I couldn't sit there and watch the epic weaving process. And my camera battery was dead at this point, so there would be no photographing of this situation.
Chuzaburo made a very big point in his collection to collect all of the Boro garments that were used. He included diapers for old people, something that it was very difficult for him to get a hold of, but very culturally important to these people as they took care of their elders who had mended and created the clothing they were wearing over time. He also included woman's work clothing and woman's night wear, talking about how they enjoyed to come home and take off their itchy work wear and put on these soft handmade garments. It helped them relax. I enjoyed reading these labels because without that added commentary, the pieces in this exhibit would not have had the amazing depth and importance that they hold.

This is a life cloth, bodo. It was kept onto of straw underneath the donja in the winter. It was where women would give birth.
"We individuals do not stand on our own. We are here through our parents, grandparents, and all the ancestors that existed before us. We could easily trace back to more than 1,000 lives of our ancestors through the past ten generations. BODO has always reminded us that we would not be standing here right now if even one person had been missing from the unbroken line of family."
The power in cloth is something that is often lost in the day where clothing is considered "burnable garbage" and quickly thrown away to be lost forever. The cultural treasure found in these garments has been preserved and saved for future generations to hopefully understand how important each individual of their family really was to their birth. I think this is especially lost in America where now all births are done in hospitals where I almost wonder if there could be any blessings left from previous ancestors like the Bodo cloth leaves to the newborn upon its arrival into the world. There really is something powerful about the amount of time it takes for handiwork, and that was really moving to me in this museum. I bought the book from the exhibition (that is really a good piece of publishing) and I took many pictures for those of you interested in further exploring this subject.
There was also a special exhibit about Maekake-aprons, which were hand embroidered aprons used to keep women warm in the rough terrain of northern Japan. Alot of these aprons were given to Chuzaburo by the women who made them because of his obvious interest in their cultural heritage. The embroidery present on these items is really beautiful. They were originally made with hand woven hemp cloth that was then embellished with dyed wool threads.

After this moving cultural experience I wandered in search of the Edo Shitamachi Traditional Crafts Museum which was less than impressive. It was interesting to see which crafts still survive and the craftsmen that still make them in that area, but nothing was in English and my knowledge of the kanji that are associated with crafts is absolutely nothing. But it was neat to see that there are people who still craft in traditional styles.
I then went in search of a post office, got lost, and then finally found it. I went to Kappabashi Dori or Kitchen Town. I didn't know that pretty much everything was closed Sundays, because I was in search of plastic food. The plastic food I found was horrifyingly expensive and that's not the souvenir I'm bringing back for everyone like I had originally hoped.