Thanks to Nakahara-san, a friend through Rotary, I have a Kansai Museum Grotto pass. There are discount coupons and free admission tickets to some famous museums and tourist attractions in the Kansai area. I decided to be a tourist for a bit so I went to Kyoto yesterday! I went to the Kyoto National Museum. It was great. I’d like to do a lot more sightseeing this month, as I am on Spring Break right now. I really like looking at artwork and artifacts!! I was planning to see two or three museums in Kyoto, but as usual I took a long time looking at all the interesting displays in the museum and didn’t have time to go anywhere else. I was in the museum for about five hours, from 12 to 5.

Since Girls’ Day (Hinamatsuri) was March 3rd, there was a special display of dolls. I think I actually learned quite a bit. I saw different types of dolls like Gosho dolls and Tachibana dolls. There were three grand doll sets that were very impressive, in addition to displays of individual dolls from different times in Japanese history. It was interesting to see the doll set from the Meiji period. I had never seen a doll set in which the Emperor and Empress were dressed in Western-style, military outfits! ( More about Kyoto National Museum! )