Shitamachi Museum

Jay Dee's post on Ueno Zoo's Thai Pavillion and Japanese Architecture and the subsequent comments made there resulted in me thinking of one place that not many tourists seems to know or head to when they are at Ueno park's vicinity.

A glimpse of the shitamachi (low city) can be found at the Shitamachi Museum located at Ueno Park. A nostalgic visit to how old Tokyo looks like. I wanted to visit the museum again last year and had planned to take my friend who was tagging along with us; but she seemed a tad uninterested in museums and the like; so I scrapped the plan.

An old-fashioned penny candy store. Raimie was pretending to be the store owner and showing that everything on sale is good. ^^

Copper smith work place

Rub, rub, rub. Imagine doing your washing up at the communal well. Thank goodness for indoor plumbing and washing machine!

The boys trying out some traditional games.

A peek into a home. The black & white TV - a status symbol of the time.

If you are visiting Japan and Tokyo specifically, why not make a stop at this small museum. It has interactive display and friendly multi-lingual guides (or was it just bilingual?) Well, they do have English speaking volunteer guide there can provide oodles of fun for a short visit not to mention a chance to see how Oshin  lived when she was younger.