Edo-Tokyo Museum (by Kara)

Yesterday, we went to the Edo-Tokyo Museum, which explained 400 years of history of Tokyo (formerly called "Edo"). It was fun to see and hear about the different times in history. 

Replica of Kabuki Theatre

Here are three things I learned:

1. There was a period of four hundred years of peace in Japan with no war. Japan was involved in three wars in only fifteen years in the late 1800s and early 1900s. One war was with China, a second was with Russia, and then there was World War I.
2. Tokyo had a big earthquake in 1923 that caused a fire, which burned down the whole city.
3. Kabuki is a type of theatre. The actors at one time were all women, then all men.

Pulling Maura around in rickshaw

My sister, mom and I went on a tour with a very nice and patient woman. We went to a magic show at the museum, too. 

We learned that the Olympics were held in Tokyo in 1964 (only 20 years after it had been destroyed during World War II). The Japanese team won four big events during those Olympics. The summer Olympics will be held here in 2020, too.

Riding in style

In the museum, we crossed over a (replica of a) big bridge that stretches across the Sumida River that runs through Tokyo. We also got to play on bicycles, rickshaws and pretend to carry water from the city. There were lots of exhibits that you could touch, which was cool.

After we left, we walked around Kokugikan, the building where the Sumo wrestling tournament is happening. We saw some of the wrestlers after they finished for the day. You can watch the tournament streamed at this website. We will be going to a Sumo match later this week, so I will let you know what it's like.

Sumo wrestlers after their tournament on Sunday

We were exhausted after, so we went back to the apartment to rest. We fell asleep at 4 in the afternoon and got up around 3:30 in the morning. It's been hard to get on the schedule here, but we are trying. 

We are getting ready to go out for our third full day in Tokyo.