History of Tokyo Lecture and Tokyo National Museum Visit This morning, Sensei-Shimoda gave an insightful introduction to 400 years of the history of Edo, now the bustling metropolis of Tokyo. Beginning with the move of the capital of Japan from Kyoto to the impact of the 2011 earthquake, students learnt of the significant cultural and social shifts the largest city in the world has experienced. In watching some rare colour film footage of the city in the 1920s, students were able to see for themselves the Tokyo of old, learn of its Westernisation and the perception of it in the the Occident. The lecture fed into not only the students general awareness of different periods in Japanese history and their significance, but acted as a direct introduction to our upcoming visit to the Edo Museum next week.
We headed to the ward of Ueno in the afternoon to explore the Tokyo National Museum, one of the largest art museums in the world containing a host of the National Treasures of Japan and Asian countries. Students were able to see the masterpiece screen depicting the thunderstorm and wind go they studied in their lecture on Japanese Art, in addition to stunning examples of samurai armour, weaponry and pottery. At the end of the afternoon visit, participants were free to explore the congregation of other neighbouring museums or Ueno zoo if they so wished.
