発表 Research Talk

 

Well, folks, it is done. I completed a one hour talk on my research (in Japanese). It was hard, it was painful, but it is now over. I can't express what a huge relief it is to have this in the past! For weeks I've been writing and editing my text, about 12,000 characters total (I think about 30 pages if it were double-spaced English), which took me about an hour and ten minutes to read. I presented my work at the kenkyukai (research group) at the research institute, and received some really great and helpful feedback. For me, this was one of the most challenging tasks of my academic career thus far- I'm comfortable with speaking about my research in English, conducting research in Japanese, and speaking casually in Japanese, but having to present at a professional forum requires a different type of language, one which I don't often have to use. In any case, I had editing help from a few wonderful people, and in the end, it is finished! As is the standard for the monthly research forums, we all raised a glass for a congratulatory kampai when all was said and done. This beer tasted so fantastic. I'm sure it will take a few days to work all the stress out of my system, and as I always do, I keep thinking about the mistakes (why do we do this to ourselves?!?), but for now, a huge amount of pressure is off of my shoulders. Here's to a summer of feeling accomplished!

 

The Perfect Sunday Outing in Tokyo: Meiji Shrine and A to Z Cafe

 Entering the shrine.

Last week, my dear friend Emily came from the States for a visit. On her first day here, we headed down to the Harajuku-Omotesando area of Tokyo for what may be my perfect Tokyo outing: the Meiji Shrine and A to Z Cafe. We exited Harajuku Station with all the cool kids and hit up the shrine first- perfectly beautiful, verdant, and calm, despite the throngs of Sunday tourists. 

Shrine gate.

The Meiji Shrine is where Emperor Meiji (r. 1868-1912) is enshrined. It is also a huge shrine in the middle of Tokyo, includes two museums dedicated to Emperor Meiji, and is a large green space, making it a popular site with a variety of visitors. As it relates to the Imperial, and is a lovely natural escape from the concrete expanses of Tokyo, it is one of my favorite spots in the city.

 A small waterfall along the path.

 Pals.

 Sake barrels as donated by breweries.

 Little dude exhibiting proper ritual behavior at the shrine.

 Little dude goofing around (e.g., not exhibiting proper ritual behavior).

 The main area of the shrine.

 We saw a wedding!

 Shrine doors.

 On our way out.

After a bit of walking through Harajuku, and a quick lunch stop, we headed over to the Omotesando area, one subway stop away. If it had not been raining, and us not in the company of a tired-of-walking kiddo, the stretch between the shrine and Omotesando is a nice 15-20 minute stroll along streets filled with beautiful high end retail- in some ways a museum of contemporary material culture combined with the adjacent Harajuku fashion (read: youthful hip). Ultimately, our destination in Omotesando was the A to Z Cafe, which is a project of the artist Yoshitomo Nara.

 Seated.

 Sparkling wine and pumpkin coconut cake. Dreamy.

 Artist kid in a cafe created by an artist who addresses kids. Woah.

Yoshitomo Nara, long a favorite of mine, creates work that has a certain child-like quality to it. While many of his artworks are somewhat disturbing, others focus on the emotions of childhood, and the childhood experience. So, it was completely appropriate that little dude went straight for his blank-page book with his crayons. 

 

Lighting by the cafe entrance.

Research 研究

 

The moat of the Imperial Palace.

 Today was a beautiful spring day here in Tokyo, one which I spent the majority of indoors, in the basement of the archives of the Imperial Household Agency (Kunaicho). The archives are located at the Imperial Palace, so the walk from the subway along the large moat is lovely. The entrance to the Agency is through one of the north gates, verdant and reminiscent of the Palace's history.

 

 

The approach to the gate.

The process of using the archive began over a month ago, when I started searching the online database. After that, I had to make a desk appointment, and then fill out request forms for the materials I desired to see, sending the final hand-written request via post. With my appointment time set, I checked in upon arrival. All visitors to the Imperial Palace receive a check-in tag, in order to track how many guests are wandering the gardens or touring the museum, but as an archive user I received a special badge. This green badge allowed me to enter the Kunaicho building, which otherwise had a large sign labeling it as off limits (check the sign below!).

 

 

OOOOH, official.

 

 

Special green badge only!

Despite what might seem like tricky rules, the archive was actually quite usable. I was granted use of a small locker, and given special archive slippers (!), as well as pencils, as my mechanical pencils were deemed forbidden. As with most archives, I had to remove my rings and watch. I opted for no nail polish as well, knowing that this is sometimes a problem. I was pleased to have the opportunity to share my day with a fellow researcher pal, who made lunch all the better. At the end of the day, the lovely weather and blooming azaleas made for a nice finish to a productive day of research. I'll be back for more tomorrow. 

 

 

Research.

 

 

More fun with research.

 

 

A scenic end to a productive day. 

Asukayama Park Sakura 飛鳥山公園の桜

 Sakura at Asukayama Park.

 My love of sakura is becoming an obsession this week. I have now done hanami (flower viewing picnics) four times in the last three days. I know that the blooms won't last, and that it will be rainy for the next two days, so I'm trying to get in as much time under the pink fluff as possible. Yesterday and today (and actually the day before too, but that was after dark), I went to Asukayama Park to view the blossoms there. The park is actually quite close to my apartment, so it's really convenient. It's also one of the more famous sites in Tokyo to view sakura; the first cherry trees were planted there in the 18th century, and it was one of the first public parks in Japan, opening in 1873. Even Emperor Meiji did hanami there back in the 1880s.

 Emperor Meiji at Asukayama Park, late 19th c., by Chikanobu.

A Hiroshige print of Asukayama Park sakura, 1832-4.

 All the happy drinking people.

 All the fluffy puffy blossoms.

 Sakura flavored chuhai (rice liqour and soda). Yummy.

Hanami at night.

Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum 文化学園服飾博物館

 

Museum exterior.

 Today I headed down to Shinjuku to view the exhibition, Imperial Court Costumes of the Meiji, Taisho, and Pre-War Showa Era at the Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum. The museum had two large galleries, and an amazing mosaic of 1920s fashions installed in the lobby. The exhibition that I viewed covered court costume between the 1880s and 1990s, and contained men's military and ritual costumes as well as formal women's dresses in European styles of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and women's ritual costumes. The clothing was impeccably constructed, and the fabrics lush and impossibly luxe. Some of the women's European style dresses had amazingly detailed beading and embroidery, and the women's ritual costumes were constructed of more than ten layers of finely woven silk.

While it's one thing to view these types of dresses as artworks, and easy to desire such beautiful things for one's self, I think it would be quite another thing to have to wear them regularly. The photographs of the women in their lovely wears that accompanied the costumes didn't really exude a feeling of comfort, joy, or fairy tale. This is something I'm constantly thinking about in my own research- the members of the imperial family didn't really (and don't still) have much control over their own lives. Rather, they were (and are) representatives of the nation, and as such we can't really know who they were as individuals. Sure, they have seemingly infinite resources and material possessions that many look upon with envy, but they are also limited in their personal choices (career, marriage, social circles, etc.). Contemporary society has constructed a princess narrative that we sell to young girls and women in the form of Disney princesses and fairy tale weddings, but the reality of the lives of royalty doesn't really seem to me like something to envy. So where do we draw the line between an escapist have-it-all princess fantasy and a consideration of the reality? Is there harm in the princess narrative? Certainly I think the princess wedding is a cultural institution that we could do without, but what about for young girls? Shouldn't we be empowering them with realistic choices instead of fantasies of palaces and pretty dresses? As a mother of a little boy I am so grateful that I don't have to navigate that minefield of feminist issues within my own family, but I do think that we as a society need to consider the messages we are relating to women and girls.

 

 

The cover of the catalogue- beautiful things contained within!

 

 

 Walking through Shinjuku on the way back to the station. 

Imperial Palace 皇居

On Tuesday morning, Ti and I participated in the official tour of the Imperial Palace.

The tour is held two times a day on most days, but I had to submit an application about two or three weeks ago. Even with the reservation system, there were nearly 200 people on our tour, most of whom were retired Japanese people, but a few foreigners from other parts of Asia, Europe, Australia, and the U.S.

The Imperial Palace grounds are quite large, and are at the heart of Tokyo. The tour lasted for about an hour and a half, and was in Japanese, but there was also a small recorded English audio guide as well. The two tours were slightly different, with the English providing more historical context, and the Japanese providing more information on the architecture.

After providing our identification and reservation number, we started our tour in a large hall with a video introduction to the Imperial Palace, as well as information on what to expect (2 kilometers of walking, no food or drink, photos o.k., etc.). There was also a small shop with items emblazoned with the Imperial crest. Surprisingly (or not), there was very little security. No x-ray for bags, no metal detectors or pat downs, which are standard on the White House tour and at major U.S. monuments such as the Arch in St. Louis.

The first tour stop was Fujimi Yagura, which was part of the original Edo Castle. For some interesting information on the once gargantuan Edo Castle, of which only a small portion remains, click here.

 

Fujimi Yagura, as now dwarfed by modern Tokyo.

 

The next stop was the Imperial Household Agency.  This agency controls all information related to the Japanese imperial family, and runs the Imperial Palace, imperial family collections, and imperial family tombs. Also of interest, this building, which dates from 1931, was where Emperor Hirohito lived in the years immediately following WWII, when the Imperial Palace was destroyed.

  

The new Imperial Palace, built in the late 1960s.

More of the Imperial Palace.

The famous Nijubashi, or Double Bridge.

Another historic part of the grounds.

More of the Palace.

The large lotus pond, just beyond this is the rice field that the emperor ceremonially plants each year and the silk cultivation area where the empress participates in sericulture.

At the end of the tour, leaving through the Kikyomon.

Ti and I at the end of the tour.

Before each of us went of to our respective institutions for an afternoon of work, we had a lovely lunch near Tokyo Station, and got a great view of the newly restored building.