I Went to The Ancient Mexico Exhibition

Misaki Tsutsui

This summer, the Ancient Mexico Exhibition was held in Tokyo National Museum. This exhibition is special. This is because “Red Queen” is exhibited. “Red Queen” is so rare and “Red Queen" was brought to Japan for the first time. This exhibition was held only between June 16th and September 3rd  in Tokyo National Museum. If you would like to go to the Ancient Mexico Exhibition, you have to go to Fukuoka or Osaka. Same exhibition is scheduled to be held between October 3rd and December 10th in Fukuoka. In Osaka, it will be held from February 6th to May 6th.

  There are two major attractions of this exhibition. First, There are detailed explanations about exhibits. At the entrance, a paper with a detailed explanation is distributed. I recommend reading this paper on the bench before you enter the exhibition. You do not have enough time to read this paper when you start watching the exhibition. In addition there are explanations of three civilizations. This exhibition separates 4 sections. There are the whole of ancient Mexico, Teotihuacan, Maya, Aztec Empire. There are rough explanations, maps and movies of each civilization.  Second, the audio guide is so interesting. Mone Kamishiraishi (one of  the popular actresses in Japan) and Tomokazu Sugita (one of the popular voice actors in Japan) explain knowledge of these exhibits. This guide can be rented at the venue for 650 yen. Applications made for this exhibition can be installed for 700 yen. I felt like a quarter of the people who came to this exhibition were wearing this guide. This option make you more excited. There is one point to note. When you go to the Tokyo National Museum, you should wear sneakers. This museum is near the Ueno station but this museum is very spacious.

 Moreover if you are Aoyama Gakuin University students, you can go to Tokyo National Museum free of charge (special exhibitions need additional charge). This system is called the “National Art Museum Campus Members system”. The National Art Museum Campus Members system is a wonderful system. About 114 universities participate in this system. So most university students can enter museums for free.

Next special exhibition in Tokyo National Museum is ”Yamato-e: Traditions of Beauty from the Imperial Court”. This exhibition will be held between October 11th and December 3rd. Why don’t you go there too?

This information is based on each official homepage.