Science with Caves

Rainy weekends call for indoor activities. The internet said Miraikan National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation was one of the top five museums in Tokyo. Science museums usually have cool toys to play with and the reviews said the displays were in English so we went to go check it out. The Miraikan Museum focuses on cutting edge technology. We saw robotic humans that were too creepy to photograph, and displays on geography, space, underwater exploration, and other things. Overall it was a bit smaller than I was expecting and the crowds made it difficult to play with all the toys. My favorite exhibit was this AI that gave us an individual avatar and would track your movements around a room and told you interesting tid bits about the brain. It even sang us songs.

The highlight of my day though with this GIANT Gundam a block away from the museum outside of a mall. Sadly you could not go in it and it did not move.

The next day still threatened rain so we stayed inside by checking out Taya Caverns in Ofuna. Ofuna is only a few train stops away from us but tourists must not come here very often. Nothing was written in English to assist us and locals seemed surprised to see white people. I think everyone assumed we were very lost. Well, we got pretty lost trying to find this Cavern but eventually made it. The cavern was carved out of a hillside by Buddhist monks from around 1200-1700 as a site for spiritual training. There is an extensive amount of tunnels circling all over with smaller passages connecting them. It's a complete maze. The ceilings and walls are carved with images of the Goddess of Mercy, Chinese zodiac animals, Sanskrit characters, landscapes, and of course statues of Buddha. It was quite spectacular and surprisingly empty of other people.