Press the Red Button

Edo Museum images.  I had to go back and check that they really didn’t say anything about the war from after the 1923 earthquake it seemed a straight shot over to the U.S. bombing raids.  Disingenuous.

That ultimate and for the city pivotal rendering is still as powerful as I remember it.  The map that illustrates the progression over a few months.  I pressd the button and watched and thought what it meant to have a city destroyed. There goes Queens.  There goes lower Manhattan.  The Bronx is now gone.  And finally half of Brooklyn and upper Manhattan. 

I heard young Chinese people discussing the exhibit to my right.  I told them to be sure to try the this one.  You should press the red button.”  I said in Chinese.  They didn’t not acknowledge my entre it as anything other than normal, which was pleasant and also somewhat cold at the same time.  They ran it.  I asked them rather presumptuously to consider if it had been amajor Chinese city.   They moved on. 

I have a memory of this museum as one of my favorite. Going back there were some things that were indeed wonderful and some which disappointed.  The historical omissions were unfortunate but I suppose to be expected.  I’d forgotten just how many of the exhibits were dense text and largely in Japanese.  I had intended to bring my kids out here, but upon reengaging I wondered if they wouldn’t have been bored by the way in which the exhibits were laid out.

To the side was a machine you could press to show a film reel shot by a U.S. service man stationed in Tokyo after the War.  It is in grainy color, which makes it oddly modern and shows the complete devastation of the city.  Japanese are working to rebuild things.  GIs walk about from one place to another, undeniably unbelievably in charge. 



Thursday 4/27/17