Saturday 26 November 2016

Museums

November 25, 2016

The topic for today's Weekend Linky Party is Museums/University/Library but I'm going to concentrate mostly on the first part of it.

In Japan, there are many old buildings, many of which are preserved and open to view.  I hope you will allow me to count some of these buildings as Museums.  They may not be exactly the kind of places that many of you are used to calling Museums, but they do provide a window to the past.

The first card would have been a good entry to last week's topic of Authors, but I forgot that I had the card.  A friend sent it to me a few weeks ago and I hadn't had time to scan it before last week.  This card shows Aomori-born author Osamu Dazai in front of a museum dedicated to his life.  He lived in the town for some of his childhood, and the building was built by his father. This is the Osamu Dazai Memorial Museum.


Below you see a Gotochi Card for Ouchi-Juku in Fukushima.  I was actually there this week! The village is nestled near the top of a mountain and due to the remoteness was allowed to remain as it was for centuries.  All the buildings have thatched roofs and it is an interesting, if touristy place to visit.  There is an actual museum set up there, the Ouchi-Juku Pavilion. This is a rebuilt inn that shows what life was like for visitors and workers alike in olden days.  I'm not sure which building it would be on the card, but I'm sure it is in there somewhere!


I enjoyed visiting Ouchi-Juku, but was a little saddened that almost every building sold souvenirs.  It was also very cold while we were there, and even snowed a little that day.

Another view of the town is below, from a postcard that I sent today!


I hope that you have enjoyed looking at these "museums" as much as I have.  Please visit the other members of the Weekend Linky Party and see what great cards they feature.  


9 comments:

Maria said...

Good to know you had an enjoyable trip albeit the earthquake Helen! Open for viewing houses that provide glimpses of what was are always nice to visit! Thanks for sharing these cards.

Mail Adventures said...

I have enjoyed your post, of course! :D

Helen said...

Thank you both!

Yes, Maria, the earthquake and the aftershocks were not my favourite part of my trip, but I'm lucky in the sense that I was able to leave the area soon afterwards. My friends that live in Fukushima are all fine and other Tohoku friends are okay as well.

Eva, I'm glad to hear it :)

John's Island said...

Hi Helen, I enjoyed your cards in this post. Ōuchi-juku is a place I would like to see in person. Nice work on putting these cards together for this week's theme. I had little to choose from.

Helen said...

Thank you! Ouchi-Juku was very interesting and worth a visit if you are in the neighbourhood!

I had trouble putting cards together too! Later I thought of a few I could use, but it was too late then!

Thank you for your comment!

MY POSTCARD-PAGE said...

Great postcards! And one showing a place where you have been is always a bit special...

Helen said...

Thank you Gerda! I agree with you about that.

Joy said...

I hadn't thought of historic houses, good idea. Love the contrast of the two village postcards. Never heard of Osamu Dazai, what a sad end.

Helen said...

I hadn't heard of Osamu Dazai either...and you are correct...what a sad end. It seems like his whole life was sad.

I'm glad that you liked the postcards! Thanks for posting!