journal features

the toy museum

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Tokyo, 2010.04.10

What a fine day Kenny had today. We went to an interactive toy museum!

They had a lot of toys from decades ago, and they were very well presented in low display cases ideal for children. It was fun to see all of the inventive and original stuff that we've discarded over the years in favour of electronic fighting games and cheaply made plush toys related to TV shows.

But it was the interactive bits that captivated Kenny and the other children, of course. Kenny seems to have an interest in music, and spent a fair bit of time with the toys that made sounds. Mari showed me how to play "The Frog's Song" on a giant floor keyboard.

Curiously, the place was all but empty the whole time we were there. In a city of 200,000 in a prefecture of 600,000, you'd think that there would be more kids to take to such a place. Not that I'm complaining!

rand()m quote

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.

—Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.