Independent Day in Kyoto
Today Kelly, Sharen, Kachina, Amy, Julie and I spent our free day in Kyoto exploring the Fureaikan (Kyoto Museum of Traditional Crafts) and Kyoto International Manga Museum.
At Fureaikan we learned about the many traditional crafts of Japan that artists are stilling practicing today. We saw how fans, kimonos and lacquer ware were made – just to name a few. There were artists at the center demonstrating their crafts and there were many videos explaining the process that are not available to purchase. We were very sad about this! Even though the museum was free we supported the local artists by purchasing many fine pieces of art.
We had a lovely Korean lunch along are way to subway station. The food was excellent, but our favorite part was the bathroom. When you flush the toilets that when you can wash your hands in sink on the lid of the toilet. See picture below. It is an engineering wonder!
Our final stop was at the Manga Museum. The only museum of it’s kind in the world. The museum was three floors of library/art studio/gallery/museum shop. It was filled with an array of diverse visitors. The different people we noticed were from India, France, Belgium, Korean, United States, and the UK. After viewing the exhibits a couple of our non-manga believers were converted and learned to appreciate Manga as art.
After a successful, stress-free train/subway ride there and back we treated ourselves to one of our favorite little desserts that only cost 150 yen. They are lusciously little doughnuts filled with vanilla ice cream. Yum!
Lisa Allswede
Julie O’Leary
Study Tour
