Open Air Museum (Osaka)
written by wil6ka
on August 21st, 2008
(1 vote)
One might has the feeling from afar, that Japan is only about Bling Bling, manga-figures with big breasts and salary men sleeping 2 hour a day, spending 4 hours a day and working 18 hours a day. This is one of the truths in Japan, certainly, but not the only one. This country celebrates modernism and tradition together, maybe like no other.
One location that depicts this very well is the open-air museum of old Japanese farmhouses in Osaka. Covering an area of 36.000 sq.m within the Hattori-Ryokochi Park it depicts 12 original old farmhouses. And if we talk original we mean original. The discovered those buildings in the several prefectures of Japan, dig them out and brought them to Osaka where they dig them in again. Most of the exhibits date back to the 17th-19th century and are truly inspirational. Taking the best from Feng Shui and budhismus, spiced up with some Konfuzism and the finest natural materials, et voila, there you have what a japan’s farmhouse is made from: an unity of nature and humanity. If you are fed up with the city-hassle you definitely should jump into Midosuji metroline, then you take the Kita-Osaka Railway and walk another 15 minutes towards the Park.
The museum is very neat and especially calm, hence it is surely no tourist-magnet. But, at what other place you would see so much living history in one place? There are some old grandpas volunteering in telling the visitors stories, very cute, but not very effective, hence their English is limited or shall I say not existing? I enjoyed the place, because it is perfect for writing diary or simple to meditate, because some kind of old spirit is lingering around. Oh by the way, you can’t bring your spirit along, though: Hence liquor is prohibited to bring inside the museum. Just a hilarious side note to this lomo-location.
Links: http://www.occh.or.jp/minka/?
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/japan/osaka/sights/82427
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