Shigureden Museum

Making our way south of Tokyo, we visited Kyoto and headed over to the Arashiyama region to visit the Shigureden Museum.

The owner of Nintendo created this interactive museum featuring Ogura Hyakunin Isshu (Ogura Anthology of 100 Poems by 100 Poets). As soon as you enter and pay the fee, you are asked to remove your shoes . When you walk into the exhibit you are given a Nintendo DS which acts as your navi. Be warned, that the exhibit is in Japanese only. We were lucky to have one of the staff members who spoke a little english approach us and offer an explanation the games and how to ‘play’ them.

The room is darkly lit and you immediately notice the digital panel squares on the floor. The first “game” asks you to step on the screeens and immediately, your DS reacts and greets you! The grid floor morphs into a aerial view of Kyoto.

The screen on the DS navi then becomes a list of locations (again, in Japanese). Once you make a selection, a little animated bird appears on the floor by your feet that waits for you to “follow”. Pointing your DS in the same direction, you follow your bird to the destination you selected on the navi. How sweet!

Don’t want to spoil the rest of the exhibit, as there are several other exhibits to interact with.

Note: We went by the directions on the website, which basically said, get off the train at the station and walk 15 minutes…grab a map by the shrines in Arashiyama and ask for directions. It’s kind of in the cutty.

~ by Meca Isa on October 29, 2007.