This morning they had the Asian version of the NY Times out for us. There were two stories about Canada and the positive reaction to Trudeau's election. Two stories in one day must be a record. Everyone looked a lot perkier than they did last night straight from the airport.
This was visually a day of rock and flowers. The Imperial Palace has model's of what it once looked like but the public areas are mostly garden now. What remains is the moat and the rock walls that protected the palace. Each rock for the walls was brought a great distance and was cut to fit. The walls were curved inwards from the bottom to withstand attacks from enemies and the pressure shifts from earthquakes. I thought they were beautiful. We have the world's english speaking expert, Beatrice Bodart-Bailey on the Shogun era. She is retired now but full of detailed stories. We drove around Tokyo while she described what had been built before the high rises and made it all come to life. The biggest surprise today was all the flowers that were blooming this time of year and many of the trees that have not even started to bloom.
Although just a few blocks away the Tokyo Skyline seems far away
when surrounded by the peace and history of the the Palace grounds
We were not expecting an abundance of flowers in November
Japan is so moist and temperate everything grows
quickly making the need for Bonsai on a grand scale
A famous bridge to the cherry blossom path along the river .It looks good in the fall too
After the garden we went to the Yasukuni Shrine which is their war memorial. It recognizes the names and contribution of 2.5 million who died in the wars from 1868 to WWII. It is controversial outside of Japan because it honours what others believe are war criminals and raises worries of a rising nationalism. Older Japanese are worried about the younger generations lack of pride in their ancestry and a fascination with all things western. There is a concerted effort to raise awareness of and respect for their own history. What I liked the best were the flower arrangements and the chrysthanemums.
The Yasukuni Shrine
There were walls of flower displays
After lunch we went to the Edo-Tokyou Museum, a new concept to educate students on history with dioramas and hands on experiences of living from the beginning of the Shogun era to the present. We had a wonderful guide who explained how Edo-Tokyo developed and changed from a tiny village in 1600 to today. .
Tokagawa the first unifying Shogun in 1603 the dynasty lasted until 1868
Fire was a constant danger and after the massive Fire of 1867 where 100,00 died and 80% of the city burned volunteer fighter brigades were established.
Tatoos became important so people could recognized the dead.
Woodcut of the first library. Paper was mass produced by the early 1600's and books were very popular. During the 250 years of peace there was not much demand for
Samauri fighting skills but they were smart, respected, well educated and became famous teachers
The boats and sampans were the life blood of the city bringing food and supplies and creating their own water communities including bath boats or floating bath houses.
This is a life size mock up of the Nihombashi bridge, an engineering marvel for it's time and the main highway into Edo. The area around it was the centre of trade and still is.
Kabuchi Theatre, more about that tomorrow
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