Day 4: part 4 - Museum of Contemporary art, and Manga Library

114, 117, 84 After the feeling of contentment with all in the world overwhelmed me, I marvelled at how the accident of taking the wrong train could lead to an amazing outcome. Maybe I should not rush this trip through Hiroshima as I had originally intended.

There was a sign very near the temple as I left that directed me towards the Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art. I had know that this museum was here, but I did not intend to go. Then I reflected on the course of events that led me to the temple, and I remembered how much I loved contemporary art. (In fact, one specific movement in contemporary art is one of the main focuses of my trip to Japan; but more on that later.) So I decided to go 500 meters out of my way towards the art museum, and see what it had to offer.

They had a special exhibition entitled SITE, which focussed on the potential for space and location to contribute, influence, and participate in art. This seemed to fit well with this museum since its permanent collection was focussed on the site and time-space location of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. I was elated when I saw a work of art by Japanese-American artist Isamu Noguchi that would fit right in with the outline to my proposed research, and how it is related to other works of art in Germany that I hope to analyze. (Because it was part of a special exhibit, I could not photograph it, so I included a photo of a totally unrelated sculpture above.)

After leaving the art museum, I saw another sign that pointed towards a manga library about 100 meters in the opposite direction that I had intended to go. It was here, and so was I, so I might as well check it out while I can. It was a small library, about the size of a small public library in a suburban town, but this only lent to its charm. All of its shelves were filled with Japanese comics, and they even had some behind glass that were very old, and rare. There were maybe less than two dozen people inside, each reading whatever they were interested in. One thing that surprised me was that they had a small room devoted to foreign comics, or Japanese comics translated into other languages. What startled me even more about this room is that they had several American comic books like Spiderman and Batman. I felt a connection with this place because in their limited selection of American comics, I found a few issues that I own and enjoyed as a kid.