Japan 3 - Hakone & Tokyo

Wednesday, 13 May 2026

Today we returned to Tokyo to join the remainder of the participants on the main tour.

Hakone Open Air Museum

What a delight. This small by U.S. standards (only 17 acres), but large by Japan standards, sculpture garden could have occupied the whole day. Unfortunately, we only had two hours. Here's a sampling.

"A Grand Story", Giuliano Vangi

"A Grand Story" This sculpture looked completely different on each of the four sides.

"Fugue Fusante", Antoine Poncet

"Symphonic Sculpture", Gabriel Loire - outside. (Pieces attached to the outside are by Atsushi Imoto.)

"Symphonic Sculpture" - inside.

"The Dwelling", Ossip Zadkine

The museum is also a garden.

The sculptures are constantly being cleaned and maintained. As we were leaving, "The Dwelling" was being cleaned.

Asakusa Temple (Senso-ji)

After returning to Tokyo, we stopped by the Asakusa Temple (Buddhist) before returning to our hotel.

The main gate and shops lining the path to the temple.

Incense burner - typical feature of a Buddhist temple.

Instead of a stupa, Japanese Buddhist temples have a 5-story pagoda.