Teien Metropolitan Art Museum

One of the great pleasures of Meguro is the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum. While now a museum, it was originally a house owned & lived in by members of the royal family. The timing of our visit was perfect, as usually you can't walk up into the rooms on the upper floors. Once a year during cherry blossom season they allow you to do this.

This year a special exhibit on Art Deco was on display. The museum used to be the residence of Prince Asaka, the eighth son of Prince Kuni, who lived here with his princess Nobuko, the eighth daughter of Emperor Meiji (not unlike many royal families, the Japanese Imperial household gets a little incestuous).

Anyway, it turns out that Prince Asaka & his wife were hanging out in Paris in the mid to late 20's and really loved the Art Deco scene. They commissioned some of the great artists of Europe, including Rene Lalique, to fit out their place. In traditional Meiji era style, the Western style grounds are counter-balanced with the moderating influence of a Japanese tea house on the grounds. The East meets West theme is further played out with a Western style garden giving way to a Japanese version. A very pleasant day. More photos here.

Meiji Jingu Shrine

Meiji Jingu is located in a beautiful nature preserve in the heart of Tokyo dedicated to the memory of the Meiji Emperor & his wife. The two were much beloved by the Japanese, and the shrine was built after their deaths in 1920.

The Shrine itself has an exterior courtyard, called the Gaien, with a broad, sweeping walkway leading up to the shrine. Broad trees mass into an arch overhead, adding drama to the walk. Huge tori gates made of Japanese cypress trees mark the entrance to the inner courtyard, called the Naien. One of the doors to the inner courtyard is shown here. It bears the Japanese family crest of the Toyotomi family, which features the go-san no kiri mon (five-three blossomed paulownia leaf symbol). So, I'm guessing either the Meiji Emporer or his wife was a member of this clan. The symbolism in these shrines is constant and a bit overwhelming; you scratch it, and it keeps coming at you. I'm always trying to learn, as it's all so fascinating. However, it's best sometimes to just let it all wash over you.

The Japanese aesthetic, which uses simple, natural materials, and treats them with such incredible craftsmanship, always blows me away. The swoop of the roofline of temple buildings is grace itself. Very moving. More photos of Meiji Jingu here.

Afterwards, we visited Yoyogi park, which was absolutely jam-packed with people laying out blankets and having picnics under the cherry blossom trees. It was truly spectacular... so many little things; a street performer, memories of playing with Forrest with a remote control boat, watching all the groups of Japanese get loose together.

Feeling very special about sharing these things with the kids.

A Japanese Wedding Ceremony

During our visit to Meiji Jingu, a Japanese wedding party formed a train and walked into the Naien (interior courtyard). Very special. In the ceremony, a Shinto priest purifies the couple, drinks of sake are taken, and the groom then reads the words of commitment. At the end of the ceremony, symbolic offerings are given to the kami (local gods). The couple here are dressed in traditional kimono.

After the ceremony, the couple welcomes all the guests, and a reception party is held. Usually the party is visited by about 20 to 200 guests among whom are relatives, friends, and co-workers of the bride and groom.

These affairs are extremely expensive. The bride's kimono might cost $3,000 to $5,000 to rent for one day. I can't imagine what it might cost to hold a wedding ceremony at Meiji-Jingu. This couple must be very well connected.

Cherry Blossoms Along the Meguro River

Meguro is an upscale neighborhood in the Western edge of downtown Tokyo. It's one of the 23 wards of Tokyo, and it has a lot of the foreign embassies in it. The Meguro river gives it its name, and cherry trees line its sides.

The Japanese love the coming of the cherry blossoms as they signal the arrival of spring. In the first weeks of April they attend matsuri (festivals) and hanami (cherry blossom viewing parties). The matsuri associated with Daienji Temple (the local Buddhist shrine by our apartment) will occur on April 8th, so we're pretty excited.

"Hanami" have been a Japanese custom since the 7th century when aristocrats enjoyed looking at beautiful sakura (cherry blossoms) and writing poems & haiku. Nowadays, everyone takes out blankets, gathers with friends in a par, brings out food & generally gets tipsy from wine & sake.

The blossom season is lasting an unusually long time this Spring, as the weather has dropped mid-way through the season. It's great fun to hang out by the river and view the blossoms at night. See some more photos here.

Apartment in Shima-Meguro

We got lucky on the apartment. We were going to pull the trigger on a serviced apartment in Meguro. Just before we did, we checked Craig's list and found Charlie, who was planning to leave for England around the same time two and a half week period we were coming to Tokyo. His flat in Shima-Meguro was near our first apartment in Kami-Meguro. Perfect.

Of course, all the kids care about is watching Japanese game shows and playing with the Japanese language Wii system. Sweet! The sun flooded apartment looks out at Daienji Temple, and we can look down on Cherry Blossoms. See some more pictures of the apartment here.