Day 9: Monet & The Zoo

Today, I decided to go see the Monet exhibit at the The National Museum of Western Art.

Originally from https://www.nmwa.go.jp/en/exhibitions/2024monet.html

I had thought that since I was going during a weekday and the exhibit had already been open for a few weeks, it wouldn't be too crowded, but I was really wrong. Monet is apparently mega popular. I think part of it is that some of the paintings on display had never been displayed in Japan before.

For most of the exhibit, photography isn't allowed. Luckily, there was one section that it was allowed. It had a really cool painting that had been put in storage and then found again many years later (I believe at the Louvre).

Overall, I liked the exhibit. It was interesting to me that Monet could paint the same bridge or scene many times and not get bored of it. To be fair, each painting had differences like the time of day, time of year, etc. Some subjects he returned to paint years later, which I thought was cool. I like Monet's Water Lilies series but nothing in the exhibit particularly called to me. I had been hoping that the Musuem of Modern Art in New York had lent them their Monet Water Lilies triptych but I actually think that's in their permanent exhibit so it might not have made sense.

My photo of my favorite Monet piece at the MoMA in 2016

Considering how crowded the exhibits were, I felt the price was a bit high at ¥2,300. The permanent exhibit is only ¥500, so I felt that was much more worth it. The permanent exhibit also had a Monet of it's own to view if you wanted!

One other cool thing was a small corner that talked about how art would be transported to and from the musuem. I was surprised at how well thought out everything was. They even have sensors inside the crates the monitor the relative humidity and temperature over time so they can determine if something went wrong and how to continue improving their processes. Apparently they've been doing that for the past 25 years!

One final interesting thing about the museum was that when I visited, I had to line up for about 10 minutes to buy a ticket. While I was in that line, I noticed a longer line at the other side of the entrance that I assumed I would have to get into in order to actually head into the museum. Basically thinking that they were trying to limit the number of people inside. After I got my ticket though, they ushered me right inside so I was a little confused. It turns out the line was actually just to enter the museum shop if you hadn't bought a ticket. I can't even imagine waiting in line for 20 minutes to buy museum merch for an exhibit I hadn't seen. Crazy!

After I left the museum, I decided to visit the Ueno Zoo since I hadn't been before. I'm not a huge fan of zoos in the first place for various reasons but thought I might as well check it out. Surprisingly, the zoo was not busy at all. The entrance fee was also only ¥600 so I can definitely imagine spending a whole afternoon here with like a family.

There were a few animals I was excited to see, since I couldn't remember if I had ever seen them before. Among them were the tigers!

Although the tiger was big, I was actually expecting it to be even larger for some reason. I think it might be a species difference. Either way, I wouldn't want to end up in a tussel with this guy.

There were also a few exhibits I didn't spend too much time at. For example, there were a couple pigeon exhibits but I was thinking I could see pigeons all over the park!

I also got to see a polar bear! I didn't expect it to be so dark up close but I think I remember something about their actual skin being black. So maybe because I saw it up close it was easier to tell.

There was also a giant panda exhibit, but I wasn't able to see them. I think it might be the most popular exhibit since it had its own line area that seemed pretty long. Unfortunatley by the time I had arrived, the queue had been disbanded for the day. If you want to see pandas, I think you need to go well before the park closes.

Luckily, I did get to see a Red Panda! That's the same right??

Jokes aside, there were also some other cool animals like Penguins, Pallas Cats, and Degus. Overall I think the zoo had some pretty cool exhibits.