A Trip to the Meiji Era

AKP was nice enough to completely arrange and pay for a trip to a place called ‘Meji Village’ for all of its students and their host families, so that’s where I was today. Meiji Village is essentially a park in Mie prefecture where various buildings (sometimes the whole thing, but more commonly a representative sample) from the Meiji Era (1868-1912) where moved in an effort to preserve the feel of the period as a whole. They have all sorts of buildings too, from sake factories to doctors’ offices to homes of famous authors and politicians, meaning that there was actually far too much for us to see in just the 3 hours or so that we had. They also have preserved there streetcars from Kyoto and a little steam locomotive, both of which I rode, which lead you from ‘Kyoto’ to ‘Nagoya’ and then onto ‘Tokyo’, with the buildings in each area grouped loosely with regard to their original location. Luckily, today was a beautiful fall day, warmer than many days preceding and probably than most of the days that will follow, with beautiful fall leaves everywhere. One of our first stops was lunch at the cafeteria building, where my host sister and I dined on a style of box lunch that used to be sold at train stations, and were usually comprised of local products. After lunch we went down to road a bit to a photo studio that was set up to let tourists dress up in period clothing and have professional photos taken. For this, you could choose between very over-the-top Victorian-esque clothing and more traditional Japanese clothes. As tempted as I was by the plumed hats, my host sister convinced me to try the quintessential Meiji costume: that of the Meiji schoolgirl. During the early 20th century there was a big push for public women’s education, and since uniforms in Western styles were too expensive, the school board came up with an outfit that could be put together by pretty much any girl in her home. This comprised of a normal kimono top, men’s traditional hakama pants (which essentially look like a full, pleated, ankle-length skirt in heavier fabric) and ankle boots. So, I was talked into it, and after the professional photos were taken, the photographer, I think because she was amused at the novelty of a blonde girl in traditional dress, let us take pictures with our own camera in front of the building while we waited. After that bit of excitement we wandered around for a bit, finally stopping at a structure unlike any other in the park, and really unlike anything I would have expected to see there. For one, it looked like something from the 20’s, and for another it didn’t look in the least bit Japanese to me: it was stone and concrete, and highly detailed, with many windows and terrace-looking platforms. It was, in fact, the lobby of the Imperial Hotel, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, preserved for posterity in the middle of Mie prefecture hours away from its original home in Tokyo. It really was beautiful, too, and in my opinion it seemed influenced by decorations on Aztec temples. After all this we had to head back to the bus for our long drive back to Kyoto before it got too dark.
-Rest stops in Japan are NOTHING like ones in America: they are clean, well-stocked, have restaurants and gift shops that have things that you might actually want to purchase and food that will not make you sick.
-It was easy to think, while walking down sunlit streets lined with old buildings in perfect repair, that I would have enjoyed living during the turn of the last century, but a stop in at a doctor’s office, with all of its instruments and hand-made medicines reminded me that I really am lucky to be alive now.
-A train car used by the Meiji Emperor was on display as well, and when my host sister and I were telling my host mother how beautiful it was she grimaced and said ‘yes, and all our hard earned tax dollars went to making a car for one person to ride in’. That put things into perspective.
-When bread (‘pan’) first came to Japan during this time period, the Japanese, who didn’t see it as a staple food as they already had rice, didn’t quite know what to do with it. Their solution was to put red bean paste (‘an’) in it and call it ‘anpan’. It was a huge success and is still a staple of the student diet.