Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Tokyo Fire Musuem visit

If there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time, the insane asylums would be filled with mothers.  ~Edgar W. Howe


On that note, the 3.5 year old angel has no school this week Weds - Friday due to parent teacher conferences.  In an attempt to save my sanity, today we decided to explore the Tokyo Fire Museum.  One bicycle ride and 2 subway trains later, we arrived at the Yotsuya Sanchome subway stop in Shinjuku.  Conveniently you can enter the museum directly from the subway stop and better yet, it's FREE admission!


The museum consists of 6 floors that describe the different stages of Japan's firefighting history - beginning with samurai era firefighting on the top floor and descending to modern day equipment on the first floor.  Highlights include a firefighting helicopter that sits outside on a rooftop that you are allowed to crawl into and "drive", many interactive displays - in both English and Japanese, a fireman dress up area and then Mecca itself - the bottom floor with all the trucks.  Red and shiny - old and new, G was in heaven.  










After spending almost 3 hours in the museum, we headed up to the 10th floor where there is an observation deck with vending machines (and furniture circa 1975) to grab a juice box and take in an amazing view of the city before heading home.   All in all, a fantastic day and a museum that we will surely visit again.