riontel | Japan: Day Four, Edo-Tokyo Museum

Discovering that the rain had not abated while I had been busy admiring Japanese Arts and Crafts I decided to add another museum to my experience. Since I still haven't figured out how to get to the Japanese Swords Museum I had to settle for Edo-Tokyo one. It's a fairly new museum situated in a very modern looking building.

The interesting part of the exhibition are large-scale models of old Edo, starting with the Nihonobashi Bridge.

Then there is a beautifully detailed model of Edo castle:

Plus depictions of everyday life in the old city, complete with scenes on the streets, at the market and on the river.

Since I haven't seen a kabuki play yet, and probably won't get a chance to see one at all, I got an idea of what its setting and the costumes might look like:

But the museum is not called Edo-Tokyo for nothing. Period after Edo and Tokyo's transformation into the modern city were also covered, although I didn't find that nearly as interesting, especially the sad stories of the earthquake (which, btw, we had again today) and the WWII bombings. The museum offeres free guided English-speaking tours lead by volunteers. I didn't ask for one, their incessant chatting would have driven me nuts, but I listneed in on other people's tours for few minutes here and there. I noticed that guides accompanying Americans would fall rather quiet upon reaching the WWII section.

Outside the rain had finally stopped and instead of looking for another indoor activity I decided to go for a walk.

TBC

Complete album:
Edo-Tokyo Museum