Our apartment is located on a hill just north of the main city of Morioka. I really like being just a little bit removed from the heart of the city, and it's super convenient because there's a bus terminal that's a 5 minute walk away. It kind of reminds me of being on Palatine Hill at Lewis & Clark, except the bus isn't free. In fact, the bus is pretty expensive. But worth it!
Anyway, turns out there's some pretty cool stuff up here on the hill. Including the Iwate Prefectural Museum!
The museum was so cool, for so many reasons! They had pretty much everything... starting with dinosaurs then moving on to early human tools and pottery, which I of course went nuts for, and got to dredge up some facts from my Japanese and Korean art history class! They had really cool displays about all kinds of inventions like iron mills, and castle construction. They had an awesome folklore and culture section. We had a little museum guidebook in English that we got from the front desk, and a few of the main exhibit signs were in English, so I could figure out what most things were about. And just when I thought it was over, the natural history continued with all kinds of modern fish and animals (mostly stuffed, but some live glowy fish that were really cool)!
Anyway, turns out there's some pretty cool stuff up here on the hill. Including the Iwate Prefectural Museum!
The museum was so cool, for so many reasons! They had pretty much everything... starting with dinosaurs then moving on to early human tools and pottery, which I of course went nuts for, and got to dredge up some facts from my Japanese and Korean art history class! They had really cool displays about all kinds of inventions like iron mills, and castle construction. They had an awesome folklore and culture section. We had a little museum guidebook in English that we got from the front desk, and a few of the main exhibit signs were in English, so I could figure out what most things were about. And just when I thought it was over, the natural history continued with all kinds of modern fish and animals (mostly stuffed, but some live glowy fish that were really cool)!
I will definitely be visiting the museum again. There was a TON to take in, and I know I'll just keep getting more and more out of it. For now though, here are some highlights from my first visit. It's mostly animal stuff, because I'm pretty sure you weren't supposed to take pictures of the artifacts.
This dinosaur. What is it?? Apprently an early coastal mammal. Pretty big and really weird. Cool.
A giant shark jaw!! It was at the entrance to the modern animal area.
At the entrance of the museum, there were vending machines with little souvenirs in them. Tyler chose the scary samurai sculpture vending machine, and I chose the early cultural artifact machine. We got these two little guys on the left! They now live with our plants. And the Wolfman gets to hang out too, since we're all about the whole East-meets-West thing here.
Here's me with the giant awesome sculpture at the museum entrance. Unfortunately, I've already forgotten what this sculpture represents. There was a lot to take in! I'll be sure to check when I go back. I'm sure it won't be long until my next visit!
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