Museums

Jaclyn and I went to the Silk Museum, and the Doll Museum today. The first picture is the cocoons that the silkworms are in. It takes 9000 cocoons to make one Kimono! The cocoons are floated in water while the machine slowly spins the silk off, the worm dies in the process. The next picture is live silkworms before they build their cocoon. The silk is then dyed using different plants to get the colors they want for each design.

The Doll Museum had dolls from every country. It was interesting to see the different culture styles this way. There was a special exhibition room that talked about the "Friendship Dolls" that U.S.A. had delivered to Japan schools 4 yrs before Pearl Harbor bombing. The dolls all had blue eyes and blond hair. Japan sent Japanese dolls back to U.S.A. as a thank you, but it was very expensive, and Japan economy was already struggling. There was elaborate celebrations for the receiving of the dolls on both ends. Japan found out that some of the dolls that they sent were missing their hand fans that had been made especially for each doll, and it upset Japan that the fans were not replaced. I am wondering if this disrespect is what the final straw was for bombing Pearl Harbor!