Making it Up As I Go

Today we went out to Fukagawa and went to the Edo Museum there. It’s in a hangar type space, and the whole thing is a reproduction of a 19th century Shitamachi neighborhood. It has seven buildings that you can walk around and inside, including homes, storehouses, and a watchtower. As you’re there, the lighting and sounds change from day to night and back again, and apparently they change things each season- even the vegetables in the market place are appropriate for the current season. It was SO COOL.

There was a sweet lady who worked there who was trying so hard to explain everything to us as we walked around,  all in Japanese. She was either assuming that I understood far more Japanese than I do, or was just unable to keep from talking- which I totally understand. She was so kind, and I actually was able to understand a fair amount of what she was trying to say- not because I understood any of the Japanese, but because of context.  A little bit later a guide who spoke some English came over, and we got more information from her.

After the museum we went over a couple of streets to the Kiyosumi Garden, which is hands down the most stunning garden I have seen so far. I was just so very beautiful.

(The picture directly after the museum photos is from the grave of Murata Harumi, classical scholar and waka poet from the Edo period. We stumbled across it on the way to the park.)

And there’s even a picture of me in there.