You had probably know by now how fascinated I am in the
Japanese culture that’s why every time I had the chance to attend an event (exhibit,
anime and cosplay conventions, seminars, workshops and the likes) that has
something to do with it, I always attend it. So last week, I went to the last
day of Japan: Kingdom of Characters, a travelling mini-exhibit at the
Metropolitan Museum and brought by Japan Foundation. More info here.
I know beforehand that taking photos is not allowed that's
why I didn't bring Zephyr, my camera and it's really disappointing. So to
compensate, I googled some photos of the exhibit to share with you guys so that
you have an idea what the exhibit looked like.
The exhibit was composed of a timeline of famous anime and
Japanese characters as well as significant events in Japan during the past
decades.
I want to have every Hello Kitty item on this one.
There were life-size displays of Ultraman, Neon Genesis Evengelion, Mobile
Suit Gundam, Hello Kitty which I seriously want to take home! There were also short
anime videos of the new forms of animations which I'm not really familiar with.
There were also mini-figures from Tenjou Tenge. Moreover, there were pictures
of how these characters affect the Japanese on their daily lives.
Random:
After an hour or so after I arrived, I heard a lot of noises
and when I turned my back, I was surprised that the exhibit was filled with
people, most of them students. It turned out that there was a field trip going
on. They even have mistaken me as someone from it. Haha.
The photos above were taken during the exhibit's opening night. I didn’t see this Doraemon mascot (?) when I went to the
exhibit. What happened?
Since it’s a travelling exhibit, I also found some photos of
the exhibit on other countries. This first one was taken from an Autrallian Museum. I also learned
that because of the anime characters’ prominence, they were also used by the
Japanese government for some of their projects. Some of the famous ones were Sentokun, Namisuke and Hikonyan. There were life size displays of Sentokun and Namisuke in the exhibit but Hikonyan was missing. The second to the last photo is Sentokun and the last one is a close up of Hello Kitty life-size display with Namisuke at the
back. I’m not sure where the last two photos were from though I provided
their links which are found below.
I did enjoy the exhibit because it takes you back to your
childhood. For a time, I became nostalgic and asked myself, “Has it been that long
already?.” On the other hand, I felt that it's an almost but not quite
enjoyment because it lacks some other famous characters like Dragonball,
Naruto, Sailormoon etc. that leaves a special room for the hearts of Filipinos,
especially those who practically grew up with them. The timeline is also not
updated. As you can see from the timeline photos, it ended in 2000s and a
decade had already passed. Apparently new anime had became famous such as Bleach, Death Note, K-On, One Piece among others.
Nonetheless I still enjoyed it. It’s worth the time and
effort. I also checked some exhibits inside Met and I really enjoyed looking to
all of them to the point that I was the last visitor who left. Haha. :) Until my next Japanese related event adventure. Sorejā.
