Just as we feared. It was raining... hard!
Art walked across the street to see if the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History was truly open.
It was! Oh happy day!
This was the sight out our hotel window.
It wasn't just raining. It was pouring and windy.
Even the short distance to the museum was a bit of a slog for mom.
But once we got there, mom was totally engrossed and loved every minute. The museum was almost empty with a lot of docents just waiting to talk to somebody. And here's an almost 90 year old lady who LOVES history. What more could a docent ask for?
And there was mom wanting to talk to everybody.
The samurai armor seemed a little small.
And here's another docent. They were amazed that she was from Hawaii. She had a LOT of stories to tell them about the trials and tribulations her family had endured and survived. They soon learned quickly enough that she knew about as much history as they did.
And here are more docents having fun with mom. Art and I wandered around the exhibits, allowing mom to immerse herself in her favorite topic of interest.
You could use an app on your phone to plug in numbers and hear English explanations which was very helpful. Art has hearing aids. He let me use one of them so we could both hear explanations of the exhibits.
We ate lunch at the museum restaurant that had servers with cognitive disabilities. When they learned that Art couldn't speak Japanese, they burst out laughing and loved serving us. They kept staring at us. I guess we were an anomaly. It was a meal filled with smiles and chuckles which added sunshine to a rainy day.
We had dinner at the same soba restaurant from the night before.
Unfortunately, when the cashier asked if we wanted the set menu, we thought we'd just have extra pickles and maybe miso soup.
Good grief!
Nope.
It was a whole another bowl of soba noodles!
That's on top of the oyako donburi (bowl of rice with an egg and chicken omelette on top).
Needless to say, I didn't finish my meal.
Lesson learned: Ask what a set menu comprises.
Back at the hotel, we packed for our move to the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
Art walked across the street to see if the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History was truly open.
It was! Oh happy day!
It wasn't just raining. It was pouring and windy.
Even the short distance to the museum was a bit of a slog for mom.
But once we got there, mom was totally engrossed and loved every minute. The museum was almost empty with a lot of docents just waiting to talk to somebody. And here's an almost 90 year old lady who LOVES history. What more could a docent ask for?
And there was mom wanting to talk to everybody.
The samurai armor seemed a little small.
And here's another docent. They were amazed that she was from Hawaii. She had a LOT of stories to tell them about the trials and tribulations her family had endured and survived. They soon learned quickly enough that she knew about as much history as they did.
And here are more docents having fun with mom. Art and I wandered around the exhibits, allowing mom to immerse herself in her favorite topic of interest.
You could use an app on your phone to plug in numbers and hear English explanations which was very helpful. Art has hearing aids. He let me use one of them so we could both hear explanations of the exhibits.
We ate lunch at the museum restaurant that had servers with cognitive disabilities. When they learned that Art couldn't speak Japanese, they burst out laughing and loved serving us. They kept staring at us. I guess we were an anomaly. It was a meal filled with smiles and chuckles which added sunshine to a rainy day.
We had dinner at the same soba restaurant from the night before.
Unfortunately, when the cashier asked if we wanted the set menu, we thought we'd just have extra pickles and maybe miso soup.
Good grief!
Nope.
It was a whole another bowl of soba noodles!
That's on top of the oyako donburi (bowl of rice with an egg and chicken omelette on top).
Needless to say, I didn't finish my meal.
Lesson learned: Ask what a set menu comprises.
Back at the hotel, we packed for our move to the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
Your mom is incredible. Standing and walking slowly to view a museum can be really taxing. She looks like she's holding up very well.
ReplyDeleteSo glad your mom enjoyed.
ReplyDeleteWhat a delight that she loved chatting with the docents. Almost seems like that museum and sharing her stories might have diminished the unpleasant parts of her past. Guess you didn't get hungry! I'm chuckling at the American parmesan cheese can, in Japan? Is that what we export to Japan? Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteI was having minestrone soup so the parmesan was probably for me. And I'm sure it's exported to Japan. There's even a lot of Hawaii stuff being sold there.
DeleteWhat a great trip - thanks for sharing this and bringing us along!! Awesome pictures!
ReplyDeleteAlways great when somebody has a great time.
ReplyDeleteWhat a full trip.
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing adventure, your mum is a trooper!
ReplyDeleteI find museums tiring, but mom doesn't seem daunted by all the standing around. :-)
ReplyDeleteI want to go there. What a wonderful museum. I would have to bring a walker to survive the standing.
ReplyDeleteSmithsonian natural history had some samurai armor in it.
ReplyDeleteWow oh wow - I want to learn Japanese history and I'm stuck reading e-books from the library and Amazon and it's sooooo boring! I get lost with the different clans that rose up to power. I asked my then alive mom but she always told me she didn't like history so never retained anything. Wish I could speak Japanese as I would love to hear your mom talk about it. I don't think there are a lot of Japan borns here who know the history, to me that's so priceless! -BB (BTW you should document your mom's oral history - I've read the few online like from UH - something future generations should know IMO)
ReplyDeleteHi BB! Actually we did document all of mom's (and her sisters') experiences and donated it to the Hawaii Japanese Cultural Center. I haven't looked to see how or where they put it though.
DeleteI’m happy that your mom did so well in the museum and liked it so much. Sounds like another successful day of you providing special opportunities for her.
ReplyDeleteAmazing how short the people of old really were. Even the WWII go fro broke heroes are short guys (though in their 80's and 90's they may have been taller at one time. GO MOM! LOVE you guys
ReplyDeleteWhat a great museum. Good for your Mom. Ah, the armor, people were smaller historically. Such beautifully made items though. I saw some that had traveled for display in Seattle once. Works of art each one.
ReplyDelete