Ueno

Yesterday I went to Ueno with my friend Yoshi! Ueno is home to many of Japan's national museums as well as a zoo.

Konichiwa! or Ni Hao, take your pick. The first place we went was to the National Museum of Natural History.

To see dead Pandabears! Ironic considering that there is a zoo with ALIVE pandas about a 2 minute walk away!

The most interesting exhibit by far was on the origin of the Japanese people. This topic is still somewhat controversial in Japan today. Please note the red arrows with question marks. In fact I'm reading a book that discusses this very topic. If you have $25, 25 hours, and are curious as to how geography has affected human history I strongly recommend Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. A phenomenal book.


Many anthropologists and archeologists now believe Japan was originally settled by Caucasians called Ainu (Green). Then Koreans (Red) came to Japan and made Yellow people. The Ainu were apparently some of the hairiest mofo's on the planet. However similar to Native American's in the states they were gradually forced onto reservations and exterminated. There are only a handful of purebred Ainu left today.

Saigo-San
Saigo Takamori: The Last Samurai
In the movie his name is Katsumoto and he is played by Ken Watanabe

After eating lunch and we stumbled upon a Buddhist Temple. This dragon fountain is where you wash your hands before you go inside the temple to pray.



This is a video of me getting the best fortune possible. Yoshi was sooo jealous. Apparently it said I'm going to succeed at everything in life. That's not surprising considering I've already been doing that.



After the Buddhist Temple we walked through the park and watched a couple of street performers. During Hanami, this place is packed because everyone comes here to look at the Sakura and get drunk.



Japan loves vending machines. There were even vending machines to buy tickets for the museums and zoo.


This was the closest I got to pandabears. The zoo lied and these were the only pandabears they had.


Kangaroo's Boxing!



In this video we have: Ashika, Pengi, Shiro Kuma, and a Chicken riding a Goat.


Riding a Galapagos Tortoise! Look Mom, no hands!


5 Story Pagoda!


After the Zoo we went to the National History Museum to look for an acient sword that I just read about in my Japanese history book. When we arrived it was 4:30 pm, so we only had 1/2 an hour to find it. Mission start go!


As soon as we got there I asked the ladies at the info desk, "Futayama-Ken wa doko des ka?". They then pointed to two different areas on the map. After quickly searching both of the exhibits I was unable to find a sword that matched the description in my book. Down to 20 minutes it was do or die-cruch time-hail mary-all or nothing-triple overtime-sudden death and I didn't know what to do. I decided to gamble and we rushed off toward the Museum of Archeology where I found a sword that matched the description in my book, but I couldn't identify it because the placard was in Japanese. It was close enough, "Mission Accomplished". I then spent the next 5 minutes taking pictures of it until...


I turned around and realized that the sword I was actually looking for was RIGHT BEHIND me in its own spiffy display case. The description read FuNayama not FuTayama.



The Eta Funayama Kofun Tekken is from the 5th century and is one of the earliest examples of writing to be found in Japan. During this time many Japanese scholars believe Japan invaded Korea, while many Korean scholars believe Korea invaded Japan. The sword is very conveniently missing characters that would help put this debate to rest. The sword either says that the King of Japan was a servant to Korea King or vice versa.


After we found the Funayama sword we didn't have time to look at any of the amazing artifacts in the museum. One the way out this byobu caught our eye. It was a stunning bright light blue. This photo does not do it justice. After the museum we when to Gyu-Kaku for yakiniku!