Comments on: Edo-Tokyo Museum, Ryogoku

By: David Meyer

David Meyer — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 01:10:45 +0000

Just poking around the new interface.

This article’s category, “Structures”, doesn’t show up in the new site navigation links. Is that intentional, an oversight, or are you still in the process of migrating articles to the new style? I got to the category index by opening another category and typing “structures” over the relevant part of the URI by hand.

Also, this article itself, which for some strange reason I seem to want to look-up every few months, seems not to be listed directly in the Structures category index. I got here by following a link I happened to find in another article.

I miss the site search feature.

By: David Meyer

David Meyer — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 03:56:51 +0000

“The government of Japan has changed, and perhaps some of the culture of corrupt subsidized concretization will change too.”

Amen.

By: MJG

MJG — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 03:42:38 +0000

Jip- Fair enough, and I’ll not argue with you. I was coming from reading Alex Kerr’s rampage of a book decrying this sort of thing, so was definitely fuelled by that some. Looking back now I still think it’s kind of ugly, representative of a certain cultural insensitivity, but I wouldn’t rage about it. The government of Japan has changed, and perhaps some of the culture of corrupt subsidized concretization will change too.

By: Jip

Jip — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:20:35 +0000

The only reason I visit your website is this picture.
I googled: tokyo, concrete. And there it was.
Because I thought it was a marvelous building I clicked:D
Only to see you’ve only put it up here because it’s ugly.

Well, it IS not ugly:)
You might find it ugly, but I think it’s beautiful.
And it attracts people to your site, so a bit more respect:)

By: MJG

MJG — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 09:02:28 +0000

James Bruce- Thanks, I`ll see what other venom I can stir loose- though normally I`m a pretty placid guy. The phallus, hmm, I`d wager they hadn`t considered it would look weird. It only works if you think the building looks a bit like a dog- which I do- others don`t.

Orchid64- `See the sites`, right yeah, like the museum director says on his site- he wants this museum to be THE place tourists come to when they see Tokyo. I`d recommend against that. As for location- it`s actually directly behind the Kokugikan- sloppy placing really. The whole area just seems poorly thought out.

Kelly- The book is fascinating, really has turned me on to lots of issues I`d been only vaguely aware of before. As for history, true, it wouldn`t be hard to beat. I have a VCR older than probably 90% of the stuff in that museum.

Tony- Fair enough. I was definitely coming at it from a certain angle, biased against it from the start. Normally I`d be more forgiving / lower my expectations. Glad my post helped you remember your positive time there though.

K- David Bowie? Sounds like fun, wasn`t there when I went though…

By: K

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:45:01 +0000

Ahh I went there last year. As far as museums go…wasn’t too interesting. Funny that there was a huge billboard exibit devoted to David Bowie….I think it had to do with the fashion designer of his clothes…

By: Tony Mariani

Tony Mariani — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:47:10 +0000

I visited this museum back in 1995. I found it well thought out and educational. It takes you from Japan’s feudal past up to the present. You can criticize it all you want but some people may look at things and see nothing positive. I have good memories of this museum and having been my first time in Japan, it helped me better understand the people and the culture.

As far as the architecture of the museum itself, if you look at the castles in Japan, you will notice some design elements in common. Thanks for the article. It’s always good to visit and old friend and Edo-Tokyo Museum is a place I’d like to visit again someday.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:05:43 +0000

I’ll have to read that book, it sounds interesting!

I didn’t think it looked like a dog til you mentioned it…at first it reminded me of a big stone cash register! haha

I think i have more historical relics in my washitsu than that museum does!

By: Orchid64

Orchid64 — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 04:58:30 +0000

I’ve been to Ryogoku many times and the whole area is just really ugly and industrial. I don’t think many people go there for any reason other than sumo (which is why I’ve been there a lot). I wonder if this museum is just something put there to occupy people who get up very early and wait in line for several hours for the cheap tickets that are sold in the morning on the same day of the matches. After they buy their tickets, they can go home, watch the very low division bouts for hours and hours before makuuchi is up, or wander around Ryogoku checking out the “sites”.

I don’t think they invest much in these sorts of places because they don’t really expect many people to see them, but I could be wrong.

Incidentally, how far is this pace from the kokugikan?

By: James Bruce

James Bruce — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 01:19:05 +0000

Wonderful writing Michael, this is what I want to see more of! Let the venom loose!

Dogs to Demons certainly does force ones eyes open with a nasty bit of medical equipment and show you the real Japan; but like you say, it isn’t just Japan that is full of this kind of government funded waste – it’s simply that we are living here and therefore we care about happening.

With regards to that particular elevator though – do you think it was actually “designed” to a giant phallus sticking into the underbelly, or was that just a pleasant coincidence? Anywhere else I’d say it was accidental, but on this monstrousity, who knows?