{Inter} Cultural Japan

From March 20 to June 17 the Tokyo National Museum will host The Mind of Leonardo, an exhibition with as its centerpiece The Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci. This exhibition is part of the Italian festival in Japan this spring called Primavera Italiana 2007. Not everyone in Italy was happy that this priceless work was leaving the Galleria degli Uffizi for a trip abroad - one senator even chained himself to the museum in protest. I don’t think he needs to worry: Japan has important art works from the whole world on loan all the time and takes extremely good care of those borrowed treasures.

Howard French of the New York Times has a nice article about Alps town Matsumoto and its huge, cavernous castle - an excellent option for a long weekend away from Tokyo. Matsumoto Castle has one of the best preserved historical donjons in Japan and is a “national treasure.” Besides the castle, Matsumoto features several excellent museums - to the ones mentioned by French (such as the great folkcraft and ukiyo-e museums), I would add the sleek Matsumoto City Art Museum which has a special gallery dedicated to Kusama Yayoi.

[Sculpture by Kusama Yayoi in the Matsumoto City Art Museum. Photo Ad Blankestijn]

Another New York Times article comments on the growing popularity of sake (nihonshu) abroad and gives some tips for sake tours in Japan (a subject I will be coming back on myself).

It has always surprised me that bicycles are allowed on sidewalks in Japan, where they can be a danger for pedestrians when speeding too fast (I am glad I live in Kobe where the slopes are too steep for bicycles!). With the number of accidents now growing, the traffic law is going to be revised, according to this Yomiuri article. Except in the case of children under 12 and in extremely dangerous situations, as “light vehicles” bicycles will have to go on the roads, as I understand it. That is not a real solution as it merely shifts the danger to the rider of the bicycle. I know there is not much space in Japan, but where possible municipalities should make separate lanes or paths for bicycles - as “bicycle country” the Netherlands has done.

Chinese search engine Baidu is according to this AsiaMedia article planning to expand to Japan, where it will not only have to take on Google, but also Japanese search engines as goo.