Beyond the Tower of the Sun: the National Museum of Ethnology
From Shin-Osaka by Monorail
I come to Osaka for business trips all the time, but for once, this day was actually a trip for fun!
My first destination was the National Museum of Ethnology. From Shin-Osaka Station, where the Shinkansen arrives, I took the red Midosuji Line and then transferred to the monorail.
The nearest stop is Bampaku-kinen-koen Station. The big switching point is fun to watch.
At Expo ’70 Commemorative Park, I had to pay my respects to the Tower of the Sun first. No matter how many times I see it, it still feels huge.
The weather was bad, which gave the whole place a slightly ominous atmosphere… haha.
My destination was the National Museum of Ethnology.
Among Osaka’s tourist attractions, I’d say it ranks as the third hottest spot after Universal Studios Japan and the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan.
The National Museum of Ethnology is tucked far beyond the Tower of the Sun.
The building was designed by Kisho Kurokawa.
Inside, there’s a courtyard-like space with stairs and jars… I would have loved to go in and walk around, but unfortunately it wasn’t open to visitors.
Apparently it’s called “Future Ruins.” Huh, interesting.
Lunch Before the Exhibits!
I had lunch at the museum restaurant, which for some reason has a great selection of Asian dishes.
Massaman curry!
It was delicious. Thanks for the meal.
And now, finally, to the exhibits
The Minpaku Digital Guide as My Exhibit Companion
I borrowed the free “Minpaku Digital Guide,” and just like that, my trip around the world began.
The device is a PSP. Maybe a pretty old one… haha.
This is world travel. This is a World Showcase.
For anyone who loves Disney parks, the easiest way to explain it is this: it’s basically a “museum-style World Showcase.” After all, it stands on the site of a real world expo.
If I tried to introduce every exhibit, this article would never end—and if you really took the time to look properly, it would take days. It is the world’s largest museum of ethnology, after all.
So instead, I’ll just share a few things that stayed with me.
Exhibits That Stayed With Me
First, Oceania! When you think of Oceania, you think of the sea. The sea.
This is an outrigger canoe. I love the pattern.
And this is, unbelievably, a sea chart!!
Apparently you can tell the positions of islands and the ocean currents from it. Amazing.
From Southeast Asia, there were Rangda, the witch of Bali, and Barong, the sacred beast! You can really get up close and look at them.
The simple reason this one stayed with me is that I had been to Bali not that long before.
You can even actually play the gamelan, the instrument used in traditional Balinese dance.
And it even comes with guidance!!!! A true gamelan master!!!!
I could have played with it forever!!!!
From the Americas, this caught my eye: a replica of the Maya civilization’s “Sun Stone”! It’s really big.
It even came with an easy-to-understand explanation in Japanese. Much appreciated.
From West Asia, there was this enormous cloth called the Kiswah.
It’s an actual piece of the cloth that hangs on the Kaaba in Mecca, the holy site of Islam, and was donated at the time of the expo.
It’s that thing that comes up as an emoji when you type “Kaaba” on an iPhone. 🕋 ← part of that.
There were also lots of religion-related exhibits from South Asia. I think this one might be Vishnu…?
There were plenty of other fascinating exhibits too, but I’ll stop here. If you love EPCOT, you absolutely have to go???????
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