Tag: fun

Hiroshima Voyage [Final Day]

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My last day is Hiroshima on a great note. The weather was sunny, but cool, and I set out early in the morning to hit the last three sights on my to-do list.  Out of all museums, I think I enjoy art museums the most, so I wanted to make time to see more diverse museums than I can usually find in Kumamoto. I had heard some rumors of some great collections that would be there during my scheduled voyage, so I decided to tackle them all before hopping on a shinkansen around noon to head back home.

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DSC_0818The first stop was close to my hotel, opening an hour earlier than the others, so naturally I headed there first. The Hiroshima Museum of Art in name, I found beautiful gardens surrounding an architecturally interesting building, which housed an impressive collection of paintings and sketches. They have four galleries presented in a timeline fashion: 1 – From Romanticism to Impressionism, 2 – Post-Impressionists and Neo-Impressionists, 3 – Fauvism and Picasso, and 4 – École de Paris. They also have a section called “The Annex” which houses special collections and exhibitions. I was honestly quite surprised that they had so many European paintings of note! (You’ll see what I mean if you check out the website.) This was the one particular museum that I didn’t research very much before coming, so I was pleasantly surprised even thought the entry fee was a little high. The special exhibitions at the time I went featured a variety of modern Japanese works, one which really appealed to me. It was a gallery of a man’s paintings of cats (and other aspects of life)! It really impressed me, but for some reason, now I’m unable to recover his name. If I find it, I’ll update the post immediately! :) The moral is, that I wasn’t sure anything would appeal to me in the annex, but it did! So I was happy about my venture in that section. One thing that could be improved – the museum could probably improve upon their English descriptions of the Japanese works. It’s quite good for all the other sections, but there are suddenly none in the annex, which is a bit surprising.

Next on my list was the Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum, located right next to Shukkeien, for those who are interested. At the time I visited this museum, the main collection was one put together cooperatively by all the curators, featuring some of their favorite pieces. There was a lot of cool stuff there, but one particular piece of note – Salvador Dali’s Dream of Venus was there in large format. It was an undoubted favorite among visitors I think, and I spent a good amount of time sitting before it, pondering its depths. It was lucky that the museum wasn’t crowded on this day because the holidays had ended, giving me adequate time to move through at my own pace. The piece was fantastic, and the rest of the main exhibition didn’t let down either! As I proceeded through works by artists I didn’t know, I found myself adequately stimulated the entirety of my time there. So though I can’t speak to other exhibits presently housed there, my experience was a good one, with proper English descriptions (if I remember correctly).

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It’s a lovely walk over to the Higashiyama area. :)

The last stop on my route was Hiroshima MOCA – the Museum of Contemporary Art. This museum was different in all respects from those that preceded it – focusing on interactive art exhibitions rather than the usual. As is expected of a MOCA, the outside of the museum had plentiful sculpture surrounding it. What’s more is that the museum is in the middle of Higashiyama Park, so if you were to walk a little around the area I think you would benefit! The sakura was plentiful. The only thing is that the park and museum are a little ways away from the main sights you may be visiting.

As I mentioned, the main exhibit here focused on interactions with art, and it’s practical uses in the real world. There was so much to do here! Contrary to most art exhibits, it was encouraged that you touch and use some creations, featuring a puppet theater, a carriage creation, a library, and more.

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Apologies for the darkness of the shot… it seems slightly creepy in this light. Not altogether inaccurate, but more child-friendly than is visible here.

My favorite part was the handmade wooden stairwell that led down to the second half of the exhibit.

Once you reached the bottom of the stairs, there was a video project and several scale model recreations. All in all, I think I had good experiences across the board at art museums in Hiroshima. Though exhibits cycle, I think you’d be safe spending some time at any of the places I listed that appeals to you. It was a nice, laidback day that can be much-needed in your itinerary, depending on your other activities.

That’s all for Hiroshima you guys! I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I did. I think I’ll move on to local highlights next to give a bit of a break. I feel like maybe I should also offer a few more insights and information regarding the JET Program. So keep an eye out for what’s next!

Shimoda Onsen Matsuri [Onna Mikoshi Oyu Kake] 下田温泉祭-女みこしお湯かけ-

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I very recently participated in the Shimoda Onsen Matsuri in the Women’s Portable Shrine Carrying event. This event was last Sunday, and was a rare, interesting, off-putting, yet all-around valuable experience for those of us involved as foreigners.

2015-06-07 08.53.30 HDRThe day began earlier than usual, with us meeting up at 6:30 am to get to the venue at 7:30 am to get our hair prepared and get into our loaned costumes. There was a bit of confusion initially because the name of the meeting place building changed and the flyer wasn’t updated to show the new name.

When we arrived, we stepped into our strange diaper wrap pants, our nurse’s scrub tops, and our taiko aprons and we were looking pretty interesting if I say so myself. The pants were definitely odd; they gave us all a strange breezy feeling, which is appreciated in summer but not so much for the built-in holes in the crotch and bum areas. It results in a rather constant paranoia that your private areas are being revealed. But for events like this, this is pretty traditional wear, so I was happy to put it on and look as Japanese as is possible for someone who already stands out like a sore thumb.

2015-06-07 08.31.28After getting into costume, we all received some interesting hair-do’s; mine resembling a small fluffy animal pinned on the back of my head at an odd angle, with 2 cornrow like twists on the left upper side of my head, a braided row on the bottom right side. We thought the hairstyle was going to be an elaborate affair, or at least I did, so I was pretty surprised to see the results.

Once this stage was complete, we had quite a lot of time to spare with our early arrival, so we went to roam around the main festival street. Festival food is pretty nostalgic for me, so I always pick up something, and that day I grabbed an iced coffee and a crepe. It was a pretty good start to the morning. We then talked at length with another ALT’s studentss, some of whom were veterans of the Onna Mikoshi event, and advised us to go acquire our pink towels to put on our shoulders due to the weight of the mikoshi. It was pretty helpful and worth it, because as we all realized later, that mikoshi is heavier than it looks! On quite another point though, a reality I’ve found from being foreign here: I will say that although I know it’s daunting to be a foreigner here at times, I still think people should ask before taking photos of us walking around. Photos while we are doing the event are great, by all means, but while we’re just walking about trying to live life it’s rather exhausting. Just because people can see that we’re different doesn’t mean they have the right to ask personal questions like where we live or take pictures of us willy nilly. [Soapbox over.]

2015-06-07 08.34.17The first leg of the carry involved a very steep learning curve: with the height differential it’s tough to carry for tall people. Plus there was a lot of stepping on other people’s feet and everyone received many steppings-on. So it was lucky that the water wasn’t being thrown for the first half of our effort. After we took a break and got going for the second leg though, the hot onsen water-throwing commenced. It was quite warm at first, and a nice sensation, but as we walked on it inevitably cooled and felt less sensational. It occurred to me that only in Japan would you give a group of people a heavy item to carry, then throw hot water on them to make the situation more precarious and dangerous. And no liability waiver was required! ^__^

Considering all the ups and downs, it was a valuable experience and I really enjoyed myself. I think it’s pretty rare that women get to carry the mikoshi, so to be involved and experience it, though challenging, was well worth the time invested.

Please check out the Asahi Shimbun article if you have a moment! It’s all in Japanese, but they have a better quality photo of us as we participated in the event. Most of us have our eyes closed because tons of water was coming our way and hitting us in the eyes and mouth and ears. It was still a really fun experience though. :)