May 3rd 2019
This morning we went to Siebold house, a museum dedicated to Japan. The founder of the museum, Philipp Franz von Siebold (1796-1866), used to be a physician in Dejima, a Dutch trade outpost in the early 19th century near Nagasaki in Japan. In those days Japan was closed for foreigners. They couldn’t enter or travel through the country. The Dutch were the only foreigners allowed to trade with the Japanese. But they weren’t allowed to leave the small island, save only for a happy few that were invited to court in Edo, the former capital of Japan, to honor the emperor. Siebold was allowed to travel to Edo, but was secretly entrusted with another objective by his superiors; to obtain as much intelligence as possible on that mysterious country. In Edo he obtained several maps of Japan, which was strictly forbidden that time. When the Japanese found out he was in possession of the maps, he was convicted of high treason and banished from Japan. But he didn’t leave the country without all his prized belongings. Illegally. The museum was his house where he used to display the objects and artifacts he brought with him from Japan.
We used to come here often but haven’t been here for a while, so it was fascinating to see the intricate works of art on display again. They also have quite a large bookshop dedicated to all things Japanese. Although we already have too many books aboard, we bought a book on how to make moss gardens. Making moss gardens seems to be an ancient in art form in Japan and to have developed from the art of making Bonsai trees. It was so peculiar we just couldn’t resist.
Jeroen’s mother came to visit later that day. Together we took a walk through town in search for a restaurant to have dinner together. The weird thing about traveling is that you start to see things that normally you would just walk past. We’ve been here often, Jeroen even lived here for many years, and nevertheless we saw things today that we hadn’t noticed before. Maybe it’s because you’re not rushing from A to B, but just take your time to soak up everything that you start noticing things hidden in plain sight.
