Pwned x 47

I'll go ahead and tell you right now, this will be a long post. Sorry for not blogging day-by-day. This will cover Saturday, Sunday, and today (Tuesday).
First, I'll start by revealing the mystery purchase from Jimbo-cho: a Japanese print which is supposed to be from around 1888. Is it authentic? Who knows. At some point I'll have to look into verifying the authenticity of my purchases.
Second, I will note that I did not end up going to the temple of the 47 ronin or the Edo-Tokyo Museum immediately after the previous blog posting. I have, however, been to both since then, and I will describe them shortly.
OK, the good stuff:
After practicing with the EMS sub-group I'm in (which required another Saturday trip to ICU), I tried to go to the 47 ronin temple (Sengaku-ji) and the Edo-Tokyo Museum again. Unfortunately, I got on the line that circles Tokyo in the wrong direction, and, having dithered about wondering about my next move, I decided to skip Sengaku-ji for the moment and head to the Edo-Tokyo Museum.
To say that this '90s-era museum only covers two floors is an understatement of the vast collection offered for viewing. I was there for hours and still didn't really take in everything. I sort of had to rush my viewing at the end. Essentially, though, I can tell you that the museum describes the history of the city it is named after (Edo is the old name for Tokyo), including (to a remarkable extent) the lives and doings of those other than the warrior and noble classes. I didn't really take pictures, but you might want to search the web and see if you can see anything from the museum.
I did have a non-touristy purpose in visiting the museum (alluded to in the previous post) was to give me material for a museum review I have to turn in for my history class. With regards to the scope of my history class, the museum did have a section on Tokyo during World War II. Ugly stuff. Let me tell you, it felt pretty awkward standing behind some Japanese people as we watched bombs fall on a television. This trip's bringing me to very dark conclusions about the conduct of the U.S. during what the Russians called "The Great Patriotic War."
The next day I went to the Tokyo Game Show for two hours. It actually wasn't that great, in my opinion, but I had been told from someone on Saturday (after asking) that this wasn't the show's best year. I only got to try one game, Battelfield: Heroes, and I wasn't terribly impressed. Then again, I'm not used to PC shooters, so that may be part of it. It also looked like a bit of a Team Fortress 2 knock-off. Anyway, regarding the show itself, I also might have had a better impression of it if I had gotten more time to wander about. As it was, I had to leave early for a friend's classical music concert (they're in the university's College Music Society).
It was getting on in the day by the time the concert was over, but I still had time to go to the Tokyo Tower, which is open until 10 PM. The Tokyo Tower was built in 1958, partly to broadcast radio and television and partly to show Japan's determination to recover from the war. It looks like the Eiffel Tower, but, having been built by Japanese people, it's taller and lighter. It affords a spectacular view of the city, although I was only at the top (or "tops" - there are two decks, one at 150 meters and one at 250 meters) after dark; that made the experience more sparkly, though. There was also a little "aquarium" in the building under the tower, but it was basically just someone's very, very impressive collection of rare fish. It did have a little Japanese garden, though, which was awesome.
Today (Tuesday), amidst appropriately gloomy weather, I finally made my way to Sengaku-ji, the temple of the 47 ronin. Let me tell you the story of these samurai in case you don't know it. If you do, read this anyway, because it's still a cool story.
Several hundred years ago, the baron Asano Takumi-no-Kami had to commit suicide after injuring courtier Yoshinaka Kira in Edo Castle. This left 47 masterless samurai (ronin) who avenged his death the following year by overwhelming Kira's villa and decapitating him. Their punishment was also suicide, but they were more than willing to do so, having avenged their master. Meanwhile, Kira's head was sent back to his family in order to allow for a proper burial.
The 47 ronin and Asano are buried at Sengaku-ji in a small graveyard. Everyone has a headstone, and incense is left burning by visitors. There appeared to be a statue of a deity near the graveyard as well. The main temple had incredible architecture; overall, the place looked great. There was also a museum with various relevant artifacts, including armor, weapons, scrolls, and (I kid you not) a receipt for Kira's head. Awesome.
The souvenirs I collected this weekend/today are: a Tokyo Tower keychain, a Tokyo Tower 50th anniversary coin, a small Taiko war drum with someone's family symbol on it, and a set of two miniature swords - a katana and a wakizashi.
Coming up this weekend: a trip the Ueno area and its temples and/or a tour of the imperial grounds and the controversial Yasukuni Shrine.

P.S. I have finally realized that, since I don't have anything after Japanese on Tuesdays save a meeting for ICU Model United Nations, I can do a bit more touring. I don't know why I didn't realize this earlier.

Old School

Last night (Friday), I went to a Dean's Reception for the foreign students and September freshmen at ICU. Everyone was divided into groups based on Japanese animal names; there was actually someone from my dorm in my group ("Snake"). Thankfully, there was little by way of speechifying, but a good amount by way of free (though not always decent) food. There was also a quiz (participated in by group) testing our knowledge of ICU; we won 1st place, and got the spiffy prize bag. We divided the loot back at our table, using the democratic method of rock, paper, scissors to solve any conflicts over who wanted what. The bag contained an ICU sweatshirt, an ICU T-shirt, two ICU mugs, and several ICU folder-things. I ended up with a mug - not bad.
Today, a Saturday, I got up and headed to ICU - a somewhat abnormal move for a non-school day. I had a reason, though: LAMBS (the samba group I'm in) was going to have a parade. Our drum banging outside the D-Kan (basically, the student union) was cut short, however, by a man who told us that people were taking the SAT II in the Honkan (main hall). I don't see why a Latin American percussion ensemble couldn't relax the test-takers as they tried their hardest, but somebody must have disagreed. So, that activity was cut short.
I also went to Jimbocho today. Jimbocho is a short strip of used/old/antique booksellers situated near the Akihabara area. I discovered that one can easily drop a lot of money there through first-hand experience - I went to one store and was persistently presented with new items to gawk at by the owner/employee, and I apparently am not good at resisting these sorts of pitches. In the end, though, I got plenty of cool stuff. To whit:
- A map of Edo (old Tokyo) from the Edo Period (pre-1868)
- A ______________________ (this might be a "half-"present for someone who reads this blog, so its specifications will not be revealed for the moment)
- Three journals on the Russo-Japanese War from the period of said war (1900s or so); one journal contains some sort of map, possibly of the conflict area
At another store, I found old issues of Time magazine which I also purchased. Yet another store had some old Life issues, which I bought as well. I bought the magazines before everything else, but I had looked at the Russo-Japanese items (as well as a smaller version of __________) before that.
I got some prescriptions filled at a drug store today, and that itself was interesting. I was expecting that I had been directed to some Eckerd's-type place, but I instead ended up in a small pharmacy. It stocked not only pills, but all sorts of health supplements - roots, eel, etc. It was like a "fusion" pharmacy.
At dinner tonight, I found out that I could have gotten my Nintendo DS for a cheaper price at a place right near ICU. Damn. However, I was also reminded (not by that misfortune) that the Tokyo Game Show starts this week. It will last four days, with the last two days only being public-access. Apparently Nintendo doesn't typically participate, but, oh, well. I think I'll go anyway.
My plan for tomorrow is to go see the place where the famous 47 ronin of Japan are buried and to go to the Edo-Tokyo Museum. The latter actually falls into something I need to do for a class, but...more on that later.