On Saturday, I made a trip down to Osaka where I visited the National Museum of Ethnology. I spent most of my day in there and saw lots of exhibits showcasing various cultures from around the world in hope of furthering understanding across them and Japanese culture. It was particularly interesting to see how the exhibition space was broken up. The largest section in the museum was the one on Japan, but the sections on the cultures that make up major ethnic minorities (more specifically Ainu, Chinese, and Korean) were larger than I would've expected as well.
On top of that, the sections that I've seen mostly ignored in American museums and textbooks were fleshed out in the museum. For example, the museum had a decently sized section on the pacific islands that was the same size as the Europe, America, and Africa sections. The rest of the museum was dedicated to Asia through smaller sections like Southeast Asia and North Asia.
The museum was my first time seeing Asian cultures broken down into smaller subgroups like that and I really appreciated the fact that the expansive continent called Asia was broken down enough for distinctions between cultures to shine. Since Asia is oftentimes treated as a homogenous whole in the US, it was a refreshing change to see the various subcultures and how they changed through things like religion and trade over the years.
After my trip to the museum, I stopped near the Shinkansen station to get ramen before heading back to Tokyo.
The next day, I went to the Snoopy Museum and the Mori Art Museum after going to church. I'd reserved tickets for the Snoopy Museum in advance so when I got the email about seeing art galleries, I immediately looked up the closest one to the Snoopy Museum and found that the MAM was only a ten minute walk away and open late so I added it to my plans for the day.
The Snoopy Museum was holding a character centric exhibit when I went and had many originals of comics that displayed the personalities of the numerous Peanuts characters. The walls were covered in various comic strips and character sketches that I had a lot of fun looking at and reading. It was also one of the most English friendly museums I've been to in Japan and I enjoyed reading the explanations provided for the various comics as well.
After that, I made the ten minute walk over to the MAM which was holding an exhibit showcasing South Asian art. The art was categorized by its purpose/message like history and current social issues and why make art. Seeing the various art forms and styles within the museum itself and the exhibits, like paintings to videos to sculptures, created a comparison between various areas but also revealed similarities that the various countries in the South share.
All in all, the past weekend was full of amazing museums and experiences.
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