Where is the castle?

28102016

Did comparatively little today. Got out of bed late, because everyone needs a lazy Friday morning, and made way for the Chiyoda Castle. It was s quick train ride away, though we did buy the wrong tickets, so now we need an excuse to ride the Japan Rail rather then just the Tokyo Metro.

It began to rain just as we popped out of the station at Chiyoda, so we didn't want too much on the gardens, and decided to go to one of the museums to escape the rain.

That first picture is the main gate, and then the moat. It has a very impressive moat all the way around, that had clearly been filled with water for a very long time, with lily pads growing in it.


From what I've gathered on various plaques, the castle was started in response to a few uprising in distant provinces of Japan. It was made the seat of the Shogunate in early 1600s which is when it became a real castle looking much like does today.
Again without a tour I can only really point you to Wikipedia,
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edo_Castle

We then went to the Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo. It wasnt an exhaustive museum, but it was interesting. Like many modern art museums, I struggled to appreciate the art that is simply paint trowelled onto canvas, or a cardboard box bolted to the wall.

They did have a very interesting room, dedicated to the 1930s and 1940s and how many artists were forced to document the War in the Pacific.

I was hoping to see something of their perspective on WWII, as by most accounts they were the bad guys. Germany is very apologetic, and did is best to divorce the German people and modern Germany from the Nazi Party. This exhibit stated a little more objectively, not admitting wrong doing, not apologetic, but it didn't feel accusatory. From what I gathered it was called the War in the Pacific, fighting primarily the Chinese, and Western Imperialist colonies, not the ideological battle that it is usually framed as in the US.

After the main museum, was the crafts museum, a small annex that has more recent craft works, things like stone ware and baskets. That was neat too, and despite the avant garde and non utility of the art, I appreciate the skill that goes into sculpting and firing a pot vs splattering paint on canvas from 5 ft away.

The castle is made up of many gardens and nature that, despite the rain were still beautiful. As pictured above.

For a late lunch we grabbed some Indian food at a little place just off the women's university campus. And trained home. We had originally indented to go out again for dinner, but neither of us were hungry, and we thought we had to get to the Tsukiji Fish market reeeeaally early, and decided to go to sleep early.