Remembering Unkei
So I was serious when I said I had a whole lot of material saved up, three posts in as many days - what a treat! Work has been made towards the Hult Competition; my team is working on a social enterprise to promote human rights, seems like it will be an interesting thing!
Several weeks ago I went to a thing called 'TGIF Lunch', which is basically a lunch held by the TGIF group at Komaba campus. TGIF, contrary to what you may think (as I did) does not stand for Thank God It's Friday - instead meaning Todai (Todai being an abbreviation for Tokyo Daigaku [Tokyo University]) Global Interaction Friends. A slightly jarring name to get off the tongue, nevertheless it is a fun group. They run events for international students and Japanese who speak English, and it is basically an opportunity for domestic and international students to interact. On a Thursday they have a lunch in Komaba campus, which I heard about via Facebook, and decided to check out (also consider my confusion at going to a TGIF lunch on a Thursday, especially at the point where I believed TGIF referred to Friday still). There I met various people, mostly Japanese, who wanted to improve their English. At this point I was still settling into the hall, and hadn't really seen too many people yet, so I was eager to make some Japanese friends. One of these guys was an undergrad named Ryutaro, who suggested we hang out sometime. Always down for an adventure, I suggested we visit a gallery or a museum.
With everything else going on it took a couple of weeks to get our schedules in alignment, but on Saturday I went out into the pre-typhoon rain and made my way to Ueno, which is the site of many parks and also Tokyo's main zoo. I met with Ryutaro at the station, and we wandered in the rain through Ueno Park, where I was constantly taking us down little tangents as various things took my eye, including another temple (there's going to be a lot of these in this blog):
At the temple was this contraption also, which I found very convenient, though I didn't end up using it myself, being wary of the rain and also due to the fact I had Ryutaro with me:
Walking further through the park, I stopped at something that seemed decidedly un-Japanese, for a variety of reasons:
First of all it was a Totem Pole, which I'd see more of in Canada and the Northern United States. Secondly, it was erected by a Lions Club, something I don't really associate with Japan. However it was the third thing that really made me surprised:
A Taniwha, just like we have on our 10c coin in New Zealand, featuring on a totem pole in Tokyo, above a monkey! How curious I thought this was!
Speaking of international organisations that operate for social good, there was a statue of the current Emperor's father, though when he was Crown Prince, as he was the first head of the Japanese Red Cross - quite the title!
Finally getting to the museum, which is the National Museum of Japan, we made our way to the ticket booth, where much huzzah was going on for the current exhibition, showcasing the works of the Buddhist sculptor Unkei (c. 1150 – 1223). I had a moment of pride when saying I was a student (for discount purposes), and the ticket operator looked at me as though to say 'yeah right'. Pulling out my Todai student ID there was a look of surprise on her face - I suppose because both the foreigner was indeed a student, AND he was a student of Todai (Todai has quite a strong reputation, as Harvard or Oxford would in the US and UK). With a bit of a chuckle at this interaction, Ryutaro and I entered the museum, and wandered around for close to 5 hours.
There was so much to read in there and I couldn't possibly digest it all, nor would I want to vomit it all up here, but there were many interesting artefacts that justified photographing, even if the full story behind them I do not know:
Ryutaro and I went for dinner afterwards, demolishing Omraisu Hayashi (basically ham and rice wrapped in an omelette, with a beef stew/sauce drizzled over top), and for dessert I got what was called a Panda soft-serve, though for reasons I do not know, not seeing any Panda in it (Ueno zoo having a Panda in it, they market the hell out of it in almost every aspect of the area - fair enough too)
Other than that, movies were watched back at the dormitory, and generally a good evening had! Felt very enlightened having been around so many Buddha, and definitely got my 10,000 steps in!
I'm planning to go for some more wanders this week now the weather seems to have sorted itself out, and there is a Halloween party on Friday that I think I'll go to; whether photos of this are taken or not I don't know, but we'll see! In either case, more adventures will be had shortly!
'til next time!
Troy :)
Several weeks ago I went to a thing called 'TGIF Lunch', which is basically a lunch held by the TGIF group at Komaba campus. TGIF, contrary to what you may think (as I did) does not stand for Thank God It's Friday - instead meaning Todai (Todai being an abbreviation for Tokyo Daigaku [Tokyo University]) Global Interaction Friends. A slightly jarring name to get off the tongue, nevertheless it is a fun group. They run events for international students and Japanese who speak English, and it is basically an opportunity for domestic and international students to interact. On a Thursday they have a lunch in Komaba campus, which I heard about via Facebook, and decided to check out (also consider my confusion at going to a TGIF lunch on a Thursday, especially at the point where I believed TGIF referred to Friday still). There I met various people, mostly Japanese, who wanted to improve their English. At this point I was still settling into the hall, and hadn't really seen too many people yet, so I was eager to make some Japanese friends. One of these guys was an undergrad named Ryutaro, who suggested we hang out sometime. Always down for an adventure, I suggested we visit a gallery or a museum.
With everything else going on it took a couple of weeks to get our schedules in alignment, but on Saturday I went out into the pre-typhoon rain and made my way to Ueno, which is the site of many parks and also Tokyo's main zoo. I met with Ryutaro at the station, and we wandered in the rain through Ueno Park, where I was constantly taking us down little tangents as various things took my eye, including another temple (there's going to be a lot of these in this blog):
 |
| For washing hands and mouth before going to the main temple |
 |
| 'Ema', where people write their wishes and desires at the temple |
At the temple was this contraption also, which I found very convenient, though I didn't end up using it myself, being wary of the rain and also due to the fact I had Ryutaro with me:
 |
| A platform for resting your camera upon so you may take a photo with the temple |
Walking further through the park, I stopped at something that seemed decidedly un-Japanese, for a variety of reasons:
First of all it was a Totem Pole, which I'd see more of in Canada and the Northern United States. Secondly, it was erected by a Lions Club, something I don't really associate with Japan. However it was the third thing that really made me surprised:
A Taniwha, just like we have on our 10c coin in New Zealand, featuring on a totem pole in Tokyo, above a monkey! How curious I thought this was!
Speaking of international organisations that operate for social good, there was a statue of the current Emperor's father, though when he was Crown Prince, as he was the first head of the Japanese Red Cross - quite the title!
Finally getting to the museum, which is the National Museum of Japan, we made our way to the ticket booth, where much huzzah was going on for the current exhibition, showcasing the works of the Buddhist sculptor Unkei (c. 1150 – 1223). I had a moment of pride when saying I was a student (for discount purposes), and the ticket operator looked at me as though to say 'yeah right'. Pulling out my Todai student ID there was a look of surprise on her face - I suppose because both the foreigner was indeed a student, AND he was a student of Todai (Todai has quite a strong reputation, as Harvard or Oxford would in the US and UK). With a bit of a chuckle at this interaction, Ryutaro and I entered the museum, and wandered around for close to 5 hours.
 |
| Unkei, The Great Master of Buddhist Sculpture |
There was so much to read in there and I couldn't possibly digest it all, nor would I want to vomit it all up here, but there were many interesting artefacts that justified photographing, even if the full story behind them I do not know:
 |
| Paleolithic tools |
 |
| A photograph of Samurai armour taken around 1900 for a World Expo |
 |
| 17th Century Japanese gold coins |
 |
| Ainu fishing tools |
 |
| This one made me chuckle, being captioned a Brief History of Imperial Japan, though from the thickness it is anything but! |
 |
| On the stairs by the main entrance |
Ryutaro and I went for dinner afterwards, demolishing Omraisu Hayashi (basically ham and rice wrapped in an omelette, with a beef stew/sauce drizzled over top), and for dessert I got what was called a Panda soft-serve, though for reasons I do not know, not seeing any Panda in it (Ueno zoo having a Panda in it, they market the hell out of it in almost every aspect of the area - fair enough too)
Other than that, movies were watched back at the dormitory, and generally a good evening had! Felt very enlightened having been around so many Buddha, and definitely got my 10,000 steps in!
I'm planning to go for some more wanders this week now the weather seems to have sorted itself out, and there is a Halloween party on Friday that I think I'll go to; whether photos of this are taken or not I don't know, but we'll see! In either case, more adventures will be had shortly!
'til next time!
Troy :)
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