Tabata Writers' Village Memorial Museum I visited with my wife on Friday, February 27, 2026 at 10:00. I went to see the special exhibition "~Her Choice~ Women Who Lived in Tabata~", period: Tuesday, February 17, 2026 – Sunday, May 24, 2026, free admission. A short walk from Tabata Station, you can see the museum just past the traffic light. If you look at Google Maps you won't get lost, but this place is one where you won't get lost even without Google. When you enter, right in front of you is a map of Tabata Writers' Village showing the people this museum covers, and it's very easy to understand. However, you can't tell from the map who was connected with whom and from when to when, so you can only check each person's chronology. If the former is the expanse of space, the latter is maybe the expanse of time. The Tabata Writers' Village Memorial Museum introduces the cultural figures, centered on Akutagawa Ryunosuke, who gathered here from the Taisho era until before the war (the whole Tabata area burned down in the air raids of Showa 20). I was surprised that people from textbooks like Muro Saisei, Hagiwara Sakutaro, and Kikuchi Kan had gathered here in Tabata. If I'd come here even a little, my elementary school grades might have been a bit better. Until the middle of the Meiji era, Tabata was a quiet farming area of thickets and fields, but apparently you could walk between Tabata and Ueno in about 30 minutes along a continuous plateau without going up and down any slopes. I was told that when Tokyo University of the Arts opened in Ueno in Meiji 22, painters and art students who avoided pricey Ueno gradually moved to Tabata where rent was cheap, and that was the beginning of "Tabata Writers' Village". I'd love to say Tabata, where writers, tanka poets, potters, and painters lived in a small area, is "the Montmartre of Tokyo", but apparently no artists live there now, so it's hard to say that. (lol) In the reconstructed model of Akutagawa Ryunosuke's house in Tabata, there was a model of the house with a figure climbing a tree in the garden, and a camera went inside the rooms, showing footage on a monitor as if you were inside the real house. There was the handwritten manuscript of "The Spider's Thread" on 200-character manuscript paper, and I was surprised that his handwriting was unexpectedly easy to read. Come to think of it, I was struck by how the feel of his handwriting suited his straightforward prose that appears in textbooks. I also heard that an Akutagawa Ryunosuke Memorial Museum is scheduled to open in July 2027 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his death. Apparently Kita City, Tokyo was able to secure about half of the former Akutagawa residence site, and it seems they'll reconstruct the area where Akutagawa climbed the tree mentioned earlier. I'll go explore it in July 2027. It will be the first museum in Japan dedicated solely to honoring Akutagawa. Kita City seems to be planning various events. However, here too it's kept dim to protect the works and such from light, so things are hard to see. Why is the Louvre so bright? The darkness of Japanese exhibits, to the point of feeling off, is at the highest level. I mainly went to see Ikeda Shoen (1886-1917) in the special exhibition "~Her Choice~ Women Who Lived in Tabata~". There was a letter by Akutagawa Ryunosuke on display writing about Shoen's second-class silver prize-winning work "Omoide" (later retitled "Shinobu Mukashi"), and I thought it really showed this museum's distinctive character. On the way back, the spot where my great-great-grandfather lived, a 5-minute walk behind the museum, had been marked, so one of the researchers guided me there. Perhaps by some twist of fate, there stood a house by Asahi Kasei Hebel, the same construction company as my own house. It sent a little chill down my spine. I remembered that my great-great-grandfather made it a daily habit to check the Tohoku Line train operations from this spot, and I looked around recalling old photos; now buildings block the view so I couldn't see, but I think back then you could. From "Todai Bridge" you can still watch the JR lines (Tohoku Shinkansen, Tohoku Line, Yamanote Line, Keihin-Tohoku Line) just like back then. I received the "Norakuro" manhole card on the way out, thank you very much. I had the impression that the lines and colors of "Norakuro" had faded over time, but I was surprised that the card's colors were vivid. I could imagine that it originally looked like this. As you'd expect, this museum isn't for toddlers or kindergarteners; I think it's a facility for upper elementary school kids and up. Also, since it's Japanese only, the hurdle is high for foreigners, but I think that's fine. No photos inside the museum. This time I got permission from the museum, so I took photos discreetly. On the way back I had lunch at "Aburyanse Hyakkan Atre Vie Tabata". I think it's tasty and cheap. Finally, to the director and the researchers, thank you for this special exhibition.

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They had an exhibit on Akutagawa Ryunosuke. It was interesting. …It made me want to read his work again after a long time. I got to learn a little about the history of Tabata. Looking forward to the Akutagawa Ryunosuke memorial museum that's going to be built later. It's not that big, but you can enjoy it for free. …I went on a Friday afternoon, and it was quiet.

【May 6, 2025☔】 In the special exhibition, Iwata Sentaro's illustrations for "Osaka-jo Monogatari" (author: Murakami Genzo) were amazing! So dynamic! Ikegami Shin'ichi's collection of bento wrapping papers was fun too! They even have the Eizan moss that was in Muro Saisei's garden! 🌟For the garden stones, GO to nearby Warabe-bashi Park! The permanent corner introduces heartwarming episodes about Itaya Hazan, Akutagawa Ryunosuke, Muro Saisei and others, it's fun What stuck with me most today was the story of Itaya Hazan's daughter who needed chrysanthemums but had no money to buy them… I won't write it because I don't want to spoil it😃 Also the story about how when female guests came over, Itaya Hazan would secretly… beforehand… (lol) So nice✨ There's a video of Itaya Hazan, and that was good too! You can also see Akutagawa Ryunosuke climbing a tree! A wonderful memorial museum! 3 hours flew by!

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📅March 2025 Visited to get a manhole card. Materials on literary greats connected to Tabata were on display. (No photography inside.) The manhole card design is 【Norakuro】, which I loved too when I was little❣️🐕‍🦺 The back of the card mentions that the creator once lived in Tabata. It's a 10〜15 minute walk uphill to where the manhole is. The greeting-promotion posters on the wall of Tabata Elementary School warmed my heart🍀😊

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It's right across the traffic light from Tabata Station. Apparently it's under renovation until the 17th, so they weren't handing out manhole cards right now.