Over fall break I have decided to use my free time to visit one of Tokyo’s many museums. I eventually decided to go to the Edo-Tokyo museum as I wanted to see how they presented Tokyo’s past, and because I have not been to any of the other major museums around Tokyo other than the Miraikan - therefore making it an excellent opportunity to explore more museums.
 |
| The Edo-Tokyo museum |
Upon my arrival I was greeted by a large modern building standing on 4 pillars. The contrast between the sleek building and the historical nature of the exhibits of Edo was quite surprising. As you enter up the long escalators to the 6th floor you are greeted with a recreation of Nihonbashi – a large wooden bridge in the center of Edo. It served as the symbolic point of entry for travelers to Edo and now it is your entry to the museum. This is where you begin to realize that this museum is highly focused on replicating physical Edo on all scales. The miniatures, interactive exhibits, recreations of housing and objects from Edo to modern Tokyo, and the displays of historical objects all help you immerse yourself into Tokyo from 1603 to the 1960s.
 |
| Nihonbashi |
In general, the museum is laid out in a chronological order from the foundation of the Shogunate in Edo to the end of the 20th century. The exhibits are straightforward, and the explanations are strongly based upon empirical evidence. The museum accommodates foreign language speakers quite well by offering audio tours and digital displays in over 12 languages. However, as the content of the displays themselves are straight to the point, most of them contain endless amounts of graphs and charts of Edo statistics which forms form my main gripe with this museum - its overwhelming amount of graphs. For starters they are the only things that do not feature full translations that aren’t historical articles. Second, they serve as the main source of evidence behind the reasoning in the English explanations making me feel like I was left out on more of what the museum had to offer. This leaned me toward the feeling that the museum tended to be more cut and dry than your typical museum. Even if I were fully fluent in Japanese, I would still think the museum relies a bit too heavily on solely presenting statistics to allow less written explanations. There was still plenty to read, but the downside that I saw was in the lack of historical narrative leaving the patrons to be the ones to decide what really went on during the Edo period. Little to no explanation seemed to be available on the rise and fall of the Tokugawa regime and emperor Meiji from the view of a common person in that era, but more on the general conditions people went through during these times and less about what was seen in written sources and accounts.
 |
| More pie charts than my AP stats class |
The Edo-Tokyo museum in general was more of an experience the past type of museum rather than containing any major theme or message type of museum therefore giving it a strongly neutral impression if you don’t interpret it as being some kind of monument to the hardships Japan has endured. You can deduct a lot of the history by understanding why they chose these exhibits and the facts that you are given. However, I assume that the museum expects you to have an all-around knowledge of the Edo period and therefore what the museum offers compliments your knowledge while still offering the bare basics for foreigners and schoolchildren.
 |
| Ryōgoku Bridge |
 |
| More Miniatures |
2 comments:
This reminds me of the landscapes program! Not everyone went to the museum so I am happy you got to experience it now. I thought it was interesting to look at the period pieces of minature towns and people. Also, there was a dance and musical performance when I went and most of the people were over 50. I think this is a good example of how youth in Japan are not as involved in keeping some traditons alive in Japan. What other museums or other places have you been to?
Yes I forgot to mention the performance they do every few hours. A lot of the guests during my visit were much younger than 50 which surprised me. In my Tokyo studies course we got the opportunity to visit a lot of other museums I did not know much about such as the Shitamachi museum and the Showakan. Both had excellent displays with more of a focus on life in Tokyo during more modern periods such as WWII in the Showakan.
Post a Comment