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Published: June 11th 2017
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Those of you who have been following along know of my misadventures in trying to find the Shitamachi Museum. Now, most people who want to visit a museum in a new city usually go to one of the big name museums. I do, too; whenever I visit Chicago, I always go to The Art Institute of Chicago to visit a few of my favorite paintings. But sometimes the small museums are more interesting and memorable.
Shitamachi translates literally as “downtown,” but it doesn’t refer to the center of the city. Rather “downtown” refers to the lowlands south east of the Imperial Palace. This was the area where craftsmen and merchants lived. It was also an area where tiny wooden homes and shops were crammed together, making fire a real danger that could wipe out a whole neighborhood with just a spark.
Whole sections of Tokyo, including Shitamachi, were destroyed by earthquake, fire, or during WWII. This museum tries to preserve some of the feel of the old city. To that end, they have reconstructed a whole street, with a candy shop, a craftsman’s shop, and living areas. You are invited to take off your shoes and walk
into the living room of one of these reconstructed buildings. There is even a shrine where you are invited to shake out a stick that will tell your fortune. My fortune stick, not that I believe in this, promised me good fortune. Not great fortune, but good. I’ll take good.
The Tobacco and Salt Museum Looking at the map later on, I found a building identified as the Salt Museum. I like salt, and the idea of a whole museum devoted to it caught my attention.
It is actually the Tobacco and Salt Museum, and it is in a very non-touristy part of the city, an area full of warehouses and small companies. As I was walking to the museum I came across a group of older men – and one woman –playing petanku, the Japanese version of petanque. (Petanque is a French game similar to bocce, except the balls are smaller and lighter.) Petanku seems to have caught on in Japan in a big way, with about 400,000 players. One of the things I like about travelling alone is that I can stop and watch a game of petanku when I come across
one.
Anyhow, on to the museum. The museum is small, but surprisingly fascinating. I learned about the chapel of Saint Kinga, located in a Polish salt mine. It is more than 5,000 square feet carved completed out of salt, including a larger than life-sized statue of the Saint Kinga, and a full size bas-relief carving of the Last Supper. Its ceilings are 36 feet high, and it exists 330 feet underground. There are sections on major salt deposits around the world, and it explains the process of extracting salt from sea water,
The tobacco part of the museum was less interesting to me, except for the section on netsuke. Netsuke are a small button or weight that was used to hang a pouch (like for tobacco, from the sash of a kimono.) Netsuke are often intricately carved little pieces of art, and I find them beautiful. They also have cigarette packages from around the world and across the decades, and that’s fun to look at,
Possibly useful information: The Shitimach Museum is on the shore of the lake filled with lotus plants by the park in Ueno, and is just a
short walk from the Ueno Station. Admission is only JPY 300, about US$ 2.75. They have a free guided tour in English, but you are free to wander around on your own. The museum is closed on Mondays.
The Tobacco and Salt Museum is about a ten or fifteen minute walk from Honjo-Azumabashi Station. Admission is only JPY 100. The museum is closed on Mondays.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Small museums
Soon we will be publishing a blog about museums in LA and some of the more quirky ones were worth a visit.