Woke up feeling pretty tired. Had the alarm set for 9, but that came and went. Having lounged around for most of the day yesterday I was determined to get out today, even if only for a short while as I still hadn't done any laundry. So I picked a couple of things off the map and off I went.
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I went to Ueno which has quite a few
museums. Now there were just too many to choose from so I picked 1, Japanese National Museum, I thought it was the best bet! Short walk from the station, as usual the place was packed, I had the choice of standard entry, or encluding the special exhibition. Who could turn down a special exhibition? In I went, and after a short while it became apparent that every piece was of western descent, renaissance paintings and sculptors all over the place. After a quick check of my ticket, it was clear I had come to the wrong museum. Now my experience of the Japanese is that they are very polite and courteous. Not in a western museum! Not that they were pushing, just walking straight in front of you to get the best view. They were all over the special exhibition, in fact I think I was the only foreigner in the place. now the museum standard collection did include works by Monet and Picasso which was quite interesting.
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I experienced a sight for the first time since my arrival. A fat Japanese woman. Just one. Rolling through the museum. Panting and puffing. You definitely could not describe this as a fat culture. It was also the largest density of middle aged people I'd seen. Everyone appears to be so young. Not so much in the museum.
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After my disappointment in the first museum I consulted my travel guide to see what had gone wrong. After a short walk I was at the correct museum. This was more like it! Even the museum building itself was impressive, reminiscent of the shrines I had been to see previously. Inside was a veritable treasure trove of swords, kimonos, armour, scrolls and tea sets, over 40 rooms of stuff. A little more English text available in this museum which was nice and there were no where near the same volume of people.
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After I had my fill of museums I walked back through a park with another nice water feature, and back to the train. I now had the envious task of washing my clothes. Something that was long overdue, but only £5 for my stuff to be washed and dried, not bad I thought.
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Headed out for dinner just down the road. I had no idea what I was getting myself in for as I opened the door. Table for 1 and off I went. Not an ounce of English spoken here. That wasn't the worst part, I can deal with that. It's no pictures in the menu that I struggles with! When you combine that with no English spoken, things were starting to look grim. From what I could gather the place only serves raw beef, but you has a gas stove built in to the table. Couldn't be too hard. Some how I get something ordered and it was delicious! Really really tasty. Two plates of beef, bowl of rice and a beer. This is the life!