Editor Pick
Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan –- What on Earth is that?
- May 12, 2004
- Rated 5 of 5 by
mkrouglova from Bradenton, Florida
For those of us who do not speak Japanese (yeah, right, I do not myself, but I found this name on a travel website), it’s the National Museum of the Japanese History. The title took me some minutes to pronounce it correctly.
First of all I must warn you that the museum is not really a very convenient place to visit. Supposing you will not want go there directly after you land (too tired for that, I was) at the Narita Airport, which is about 90 minutes outside Tokyo near Narita Airport, you will have to make a special trip.
Surprising Finding
It is no secret that the history of Japan has been controversial, especially in the 20th century and in relation to its Asian neighbors. You can imagine, then, how surprising it was for me to find that this museum teaches us a very important lesson – how to present one’s country history without offending anyone. Here the displays end with the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, thereby skirting Japan's involvement in World War II and other hot issues. Because let’s be honest, there were wars and various skirmishes in the history of any nation, and if we go on remembering each other’s faults, we will never get anywhere. But, as I found out later, that’s quite typical for Japanese history museums.
Visiting the Museum
Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan is located in the beautiful Sakura (flowering cherry, if I understood correctly) Castle Park, once the home to an important feudal lord, the museum covers virtually all periods of Japanese history, from the dawn of Japanese civilization 30,000 years ago to the beginning of the 20th century. The later part, as already mentioned, has been left out. You'll see many interesting ancient things, though: a model village of the Jomon period dating back to the 7,500 B.C.; keyhole-shaped burial mounds (not real, though -- replicas) popular from the 4th to 7th centuries A.D.; and a model of Heiankyo – which is what we know today as Kyoto – where the court culture flourished and feminine, rather than manly, virtues were valued. Who knows why Versailles comes into my mind when I think of this? Almost every country had such a place, I guess. . . Quite unique to the museum are its displays relating the lifestyles and values of various groups, from mountain villagers to urbanites – all in one place, not like in Europe where you’ve got to visit separate museums to see the life each social group led.
Language Problems
Prepare yourselves not to understand a word of the explanations – they are in Japanese only, except for the most important sights. You will get a decent paper in English describing the exhibition, a two-hour English-language audiocassette free of charge. But they have little relation to the actual exhibits. I found it fun in a way, trying to guess what precisely I was seeing.
From journal A Tourist in Tokyo