Today The Boy and I decided to go see the exhibit on the Ainu at the Kyoto Museum. I had studied the Ainu people in college but did not know much about them.
It was a really interesting exhibit. There was no English so I took what I could from it, but I really enjoyed seeing how the Ainu lived. They are from the Hokkaido region which is far north and therefore very cold. It was amazing to see they ways they devised to avoid the cold and also their jewelry and tools.
The most shocking thing however came toward the end of the exhibit. I was looking at a few formal necklaces when I saw one with a very large silver pendant. It seemed a bit out of place so I looked closer.
Then, I saw that it was actually a large coin. A coin with the phrase "You Gotta Show Me, I'm From Missouri" engraved on it.
I was floored.
There I was, in Kyoto, JAPAN and there was a pendant from the indigenous people of Japan that had a coin from Missouri. It turns out that a group of Ainu had visited Missouri in 1904 for the St. Louis Worlds Fair.
I just thought that was the coolest thing ever. I really wanted to take a picture but there were too many people around (T_T)
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