The Japanese Prince & The Canadian Museum

So... this past week, I took my 5-year-old son Hudson to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) here in Toronto. We're members of the ROM, and go a few times a year. It was our second visit in three weeks. It's always an enjoyable way to spend a morning.



Since he is 5, we usually spend in ordinate amount of time checking out the dinosaurs... we actually spend it running between exhibits with very little time spent analyzing the fossils (much to my chagrin)... but that's okay. I love dinosaurs... and have been going to the ROM since my family and I first arrived here in Canada back in 1968. I believe at the time you could pay via a donation - whatever you wanted.



They used to have a gift shop near the front entrance where you could buy a chunk of amber... the trick was to find one with a full insect in it. Unfortunately, since the movie Jurassic Park, I've not seen one for sale anywhere. In fact... it was just always to rich for my parents blood to purchase a chunk of amber for me (we weren't rich) with a mosquito in it.... if you'll recall, in the book (and the movie - the book came first by the way!), dinosaurs were able to be cloned and brought back to life after scientists successfully tried to pull dinosaur DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) from within the mosquito in the amber... maybe scientists are actually trying to do that - because you sure can't find a bug in amber anywhere!



So... why talk about dinosaurs here in this blog? I'm not - at least not today. You can read about Japanese dinosaurs HERE, and see a photo of some of the fossils I picked up in Japan. I never did show you a photo of a fossilized leaf, so take a look to the side:  



Regardless, today, I want to show you what Hudson and I looked at this week at the ROM - it's Japanese collection.



It's a small collection, but very well put together nonetheless. It's smaller than my own private collection, but probably worth a million times more - I mean... they didn't have any telephone cards, or good-luck charms!



The ROM has the typical samurai swords and armour, bowls, period artwork - many things I had sort of seen in Japan - but it was all in one place and put together cleanly. The ROM is one of the best museums in the world, and first opened its doors in 1914, though it recently underwent an expansion, doubling its size by adding in a funky looking building that I personally don't like. It is a great design... but it's too angular for the what I picture as a studious museum.  Regardless, I would urge you to give it a look-see should you ever find yourself in Toronto.



The Japan exhibit is housed in Level 1 of the ROM's Philosopher's Walk wing in the Prince Takamado Gallery of Japan.



Prince Takamado was apparently known as Canada's Prince back in Japan for his apparent fondness to Canada. The gallery is a permanent link between Canada and Japan. Unfortunately, due to one having a lifespan, I'm only joining to be a semi-permanent link between Japan and Canada... unless that DNA cloning works. (Ha! I was wondering how I was going to link dinosaurs and Japan with this blog! I love it when I don't have a plan and it just comes together!)

  

Prince Takamado Norihoto was born on December 29, 1954, and died on November 21, 2002. He was seventh in line for the Chrysanthemum Throne (Emperor of Japan). After graduating from Japan's Gakusuin University in Law, he travelled to Canada to study at Queen's University's faculty of law from 1978-1981. He met his wife Hisako Tottori at a reception held by the Canadian embassy in Tokyo - they have three daughters.



On November 21, 2002, he was playing squash with Canadian ambassador Robert G. Wright at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo when the Prince collapsed from ventricular fibrillation dying of heart failure at the hospital.



In Japan, the Prince Takamado Cup, a youth soccer tournament, is named for him, while the ROM honours his memory with the Japan exhibit.



Please click HERE to view my photos.



Cheers

Andrew Joseph

PS: The photos look blurry until you click on one... and then via SLIDESHOW, it will be as clear as what I shot. Damn astigmatism. 

Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji

I'd like to share some art with you - just to make all of us feel like we are learning something on the computer, which is a good thing, especially when we should all be doing our real work!

Katsushika Hokusai (surname first) (1760-1849) is an ukiyou-e artist famous for his work entitled: Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji.


I've never seen Mt. Fuji and don't believe it actually exists - there can't be fog, rain, snow or a Godzilla-sighting to obscure my view of this so-called mountain every time I either pass by it or use high-power binoculars to sight it - can there?   

Regardless, this Hokusai guy believes it exists, and has done some very famous artwork showing his dementia.According to a Japanese fairy tale called The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, a goddess places the Elixir of Life on the peak of Mt. Fuji. As such, the mountain is seen as a the source of teh secret of immortality.

Ukiyo-e images are created when an image drawn onpaper is used to guide the cutting of a wood block. This block wasthen covered with ink and applied to paper to create the image.For each color, a different wood block is required.

I have scanned in all 36 pieces of art and an additional 10 he did on the subject.

Click HERE to go to my photo gallery for a peek at each one with a short description - complete with old names for the prefectures! By the way, if you click on the thumbnail, it will enlarge, and then you can view it like a slide show or go forward and backward via the arrows on the side of the image.

Enjoy!
Andrew Joseph
PS: Yes, the images are all from my personal collection... of postcards purchased from the Tokyo National Museum, from their collection of Hokusai art. I wish I owned even one original Hokusai ukiyo-e, but truth be told, originals are probably worth the cost of a house in Toronto. That's somewhere in the neighbourhood of 1/2 a million dollars.

What The Hell

It's Saturday, June 1, 1991 and the Renewer's conference in Kobe-shi (City of Kobe) for people returning for another year of the JET (Japan Exchange & Teaching) Programme ends early this morning. This was still my first year of teaching junior high school English for the Ohtawara-shi (City of Ohtawara) Board of Education (OBOE) in Tochigi-ken (Tochigi Prefecture) in Japan.
I've just broken up with my girlfriend Ashley. I feel depressed and angry. My mood isn't helped by Matthew leaving at 8AM to go off visiting Osaka. It's nothing he did wrong, of course - just that I didn't really want to be alone - which was how I now felt.
Jeff Seaman - our pal - he left the night before.
Why am I still here? Too lazy to leave? Naw... I wanted to find Kristine and tell her what went down yesterday.
In the lobby of the hotel, I meet fellow AETs (assistant English teachers) Tim Mould and Mona Maas - a happy couple.
I'm really depressed and I explain my situation. Mona seems very concerned, and it's very much appreciated that she cares. I tell her I think I'm at the end of my rope and keep making comments about how nice I think their relationship is.
Ashley was my first ever major girlfriend, and the first woman I ever loved... well, there was Bryndis back in Toronto... but that was three years ago and lasted the summer before she had to go back to high school (I was 22 and seeing an 18-year-old. Hmm... that seems odd to me now as I write this out).
Mona tells me she thinks I should take some time to reconnect with myself.
Maybe. Aside from three months a few years ago, and the past 10 months here in Japan, I've spent a lot of time connecting with myself. Sometimes more than once a day, if you catch the sexual meaning.
After the speeches are over, Ashley finds me wandering aimlessly in the lobby looking for Kristine or some other feminine shoulder to cry on.
Still, she asks if we can talk, so we go up to a lobby one flight up. As I sit there, not saying anything, other AETs I barely recognize come over one by one and tell me how much they enjoyed meeting me. Most of them - I have no clue who they are. Either I do know and I'm far too depressed  (and it shows on my face, according to Ashley) to remember, or I met everyone in an alcoholic haze. Probably a bit of both - despite my sharp recollections appearing here in this blog.
Ashley asks if I want to come with her this last day in Kobe with her and Mayuko on a sightseeing tour.
'Why not?' I think ignoring Mona's sage advice. 'I could use the company.'
We get our stuff from our hotel rooms and get on a local Kobe train.
I don't get a chance to say good-bye to Kristine - and that sucks. Back to Plan B.
I tell Ashley a big lie to cover up my moody behaviour of the past week - mentioning how my parents have a problem.
That lie, apparently makes a difference as Ashley seems sympathetic, as she buys me lunch at McDonald's and we talk about things unrelated to us or my folks.
I feel better, though, because we aren't fighting.
Are we back together? Didn't I break up with her last night? Why did she seek me out this morning? And where the heck was Kristine? I'm quite sure I wouldn't be eating a Big Mac with Ashley if I just had one more chance to talk with Kristine. Really. This time for sure.
Mayuko, Ashley's local Japanese friend that she met who knows when or where years ago arrives at the McDonald's and then walks us over to a friend's place - Kuriko.
She's very cute, perky and dating a 41-year-old German dude (now I still find that, a bit odd... she's like what, 20?). She, with our luggage crammed into her tiny white car's trunk, drives like she's in a hurry to get to an F-1 race, and while I like her care-free attitude, her driving skills (or lack there in), scare the crap out of me.
We go to a pottery museum - the Hyogo Ceramic Art Museum, I think - where they also allow us to participate in a Japanese Tea ceremony (which I will describe in a later blog). Okay... I'll do it now, briefly.
After the tea is made in a large bowl... I'm told to pick up the bowl with the pattern  facing me. You give thanks and then turn it one quarter at a time - twice - until the pattern on the bowl is now facing away from you. You sip once, twice and then drain it on your third try, ensuring you slurp at the end (slurping implies you enjoyed the food/drink and is considered good manners in many Asian cultures). You then turn the bowl back via two quarter turns and place the bowl down.
Yum. But still a lot of pomp and circumstance for a bowl of tea. Don't they serve any cookies? Nope. Stupid gaijin (foreigner).
Kuriko then drives us to another museum - but it's closed.
So we do what all Japanese do  - and sneak in!!!
I am impressed by the moxie of us all! These Japanese folks seem more like real people than the stifling, giggling image of the prim Japanese kimono-clad Geisha we are always bombarded with in the media. The Japanese are real people! (Uh, forget about the rules for drinking tea, though).
To get into the museum, we had to sneak past an outside office window, and then entered the museum via a side entrance which just so happened to be unlocked.
They were just closing up the place for the day (1PM??!!). It was filled with examples of Chinese pottery and vases, with explanations/descriptions of each written in Japanese and English. But, when both Mayuko and Kuriko saw fit to explain what we were looking at, it seemed as though we were looking at completely different object d'art.
We leave through the proper exit. We not only saved a few yen, but we had an exciting adventure! I've never snuck in or out of anyplace sober.
Because Kuriko has a dentist appointment, she drops us off near the Kobe waterfront - with all of our luggage. Good gravy but it's heavy. We walk down a cemented canal ditch over to the beaches and look at clams and other sea things that have washed ashore. It's all very interesting, but not very pretty, as the area is soiled by metal and concrete structures spewing black acrid smoke into the air.
We then take a taxi to the train station (I paid for some reason) and then travel to Mayuko's apartment where she lives with her folks. Her place is like the 22 floor - high! and there are more levels atop it. The whole building is perched up on the side of a tall hill or very short mountain that other than the apartment complexes, is completely covered in coniferous trees.
Her apartment is as Western as any I've been in here in Canada, but it's beautiful - and her folks are great and serve up a fabulous Japanese meal called shabu-shabu, guest starring the one and only... Kobe Beef!!
Mayuko's dad and I drink heavily until 10:10 PM when I am driven to a hotel. Okay. That was an unexpected development and cost, but no big deal. Ashley stays at the apartment.
Oh yeah... no gaijin hanky-panky. I guess no one told him I had broken up with Ashley. Or maybe someone did... and now figured I would hit on his lovely daughter, Mayuko. Honestly... I never really thought about it while I was eating.
At the hotel, I'm asleep by 10:30PM, but I have a nightmare of a cowboy killing me. Apparently I was affixing a pink tie on him... a pink tie he had stolen from me to lure me to that certain spot.
Holy crap! That sounds rather non-heterosexual. Despite having a meal on a hill, this guy and his six-shooter doesn't travel up Brokeback Mountain.

I try to go back to sleep, but it seems as though 2-1/2 hours is all I'm destined to get today.
What an effin' confusing day!

Somewhere, feeling like crap,
Andrew Joseph
Today's blog title is by Avril Lavigne: You can see it all here at LACEYBRA

PS: Did I not state at the beginning of this blog that I had broken up with Ashley the previous night? Why did we spend a nice day together today? And where the hell was Kristine? She might have saved me from this purgatory I am about to put myself through over the next few weeks. I'm not blaming anyone but myself, by the way.