300 years of Japan in one place! - Tokyo Edo Open Air Museum part 2

This is part 2 of a series about the Tokyo Edo Open Air Museum.  You can find part 1 here.

Moving on from the beautiful old farmhouses, I came across what is the oldest structure in the museum, an old mausoleum built in 1652.

Walking up a little closer, you could see the colours really standing out and the incredible detail of the woodwork.

A little further on was a tiny koban (police box).  

These are dotted in every city all across the country and act as little neighbourhood police stations.  The police officers who man them are very friendly and always willing to help a lost tourist (if they are confident enough in their English!)

Moving on, I came to a couple of food stalls and decided it was time for a snack.  You just can't beat bacon!

I sat down to enjoy my bacon and was greeted with a beautiful sight.  A full replica of an old style shotengai (shopping street).

Quickly devouring my bacon, I started off down the shopping street.  The first building was an old kitchenware shop.

Next up was an old residential house with an old grocery store alongside it

complete with groceries!

Turning around, there was a stationery shop (on the left) and a flower shop (on the right).

Back on the other side was a soy sauce shop with a building alongside for storage of the soy sauce while it was fermenting.

Back on the other side again was a lovely old hotel from the mid 19th century.

Finally, right at the end of the street there was an old sento (public bath house).

Stepping inside, I moved into the changing area.  Here is where you would strip down before heading in to the bathing area.

Once inside the bathing area you would grab one of the little stools and one of the buckets,

then you would sit yourself in front of one of these little taps and wash away.

I was told by some of my students that images of Mount Fuji are a common image on walls in these bath houses.  I was also told that the middle wall that you can see there (which separates the male bathing area from the female bathing area) now goes all the way up to the roof.  This allows the women complete privacy to complain to the other women about their husbands and for the husbands to do the same about their wives on the other side!

Once fully cleaned and rinsed off, it would then be the time that everyone looked forward to, sitting yourself in one of these deep relaxing baths!

It was starting to get cool at this stage so I decided to head back to the office, grab my things and start back towards the station again.  As I made my way back I took a few more photos along the way.

Regrettably leaving the museum behind I left the park and mad my way back toward the station via a scenic route.  Suddenly I noticed that I was walking past an unusually high number of ramen shops.

One after another, they kept coming.

This was crazy!  It was really testing my resolve!

"Don't do it Jason" I told myself.  A salad will be much better for you.  But they just didn't stop!

My will was beginning to break......

One more, and I was going to give in to the temptation......

Thankfully, miraculously, a sushi shop appeared.

However, a little further on......

Damn it.........

Finishing up my wonderfully good bowl of ramen, I walked back to the station and made my way back home.

The museum had been everything that I hoped it would be and more.  If you are into traditional Japanese architecture, I fully recommend a visit.

And stay tuned for another post further in the future about another similar museum that a friend has since told me about (thanks Jason!).

Well, thanks again for reading.  Please leave a comment below and sign up on the tab on the right side of the page to get notified when I put up another post.  

Until next time, bye.