The Northern Culture Museum (Hoppou Bunka Hakubutsukan / 北方文化博物館) is a part of the Ito Estate, the former home of one of Japan's largest landowners; the Ito family. The museum was established in 1946 as a donation in the same year as the Land Reform Act was officially proclaimed. Today the estate is open all year around for visitors from all over the world.

The elegant Meguro Gajoen has a history that stretches back to 1931, and is a must-see for visitors to Tokyo who want to experience a piece of Japanese history hidden behind the metropolis’ towering skyscrapers. The Gajoen is a relatively hidden gem among tourists as well; The old building complex surprisingly remains disregarded from the list of top destinations to visit in Tokyo, and even my friend who has lived in Tokyo for 8 years hadn't heard about it until I brought her along with me. 

After some nice days in Yogyakarta it was time to leave for a new destination again, and this time we were heading towards the famous tourist-island Bali. We had decided to go there by bus, and left Yogyakarta the same afternoon as we had gone sightseeing to Borobudur and Prambanan temple. The trip was rather long though: it took us over 20 hours until we could finally leave the bus in Denpasar, Bali. And from there we took the taxi for about half an hour to get to Kuta beach, where we had decided to stay while in Bali.

A Shiva-statue in the garden

A group picture with John's wife, our driver, me and Yuma.

 Blanco's property also had a big garden where we spent some time. Seems Blanco must have really liked birds, because there are still a lot of birds being kept in cages here, along with some parrots who are tamed. We got to hold them too, they were soo cute:)

Nice parrots!

Yuma + parrots

After a trip around the garden we went to see the main museum where Blanco's paintings were. The entrance to the museum had a very special gate: a big statue of Blanco's logo, which he apparently made based upon his own autograph.

The entrance to Blanco's art gallery

A dragon statue at the entrance to the gallery

 Unfortunately it's not alowed to take any photos inside the main gallery, but for those interested in Blanco's paintings I suggest that you check out the homepage of the gallery.

A statue on the roof of the main gallery

A painting surrounded by tools in one of the rooms in the galleri

Entrance to Azami Restaurant

Oyakodon

Itadakimasu!

Parfait with an alcove in the background

The Japanese garden inside the Museum of Kyoto

More details from the restaurant

A close-up of the alcove

One of the other dining rooms of the restaurant

Another photo showing the Japanese garden

..And for those who'd rather prefere the izagaya-setting they do have that too!

The Museum of Kyoto is having a special exhibition displaying paintings by Hokusai from February 1st - March 25th for those interested!

Inside the Museum of Kyoto there are a couple of traditional streets with restaurants and stores selling souvenirs

We left Thailand by plane going straight to Vietnam's capital Ho Chi Minh (formerly known by the name Saigon) on the 18th of March. The weather was nice and the city looked appealing, but even though we arrived early in the afternoon I had caught a fever, and did not feel like doing much that day. But after some rest and a good nights sleep we were ready to check out the city!

One of the first sights that met us in the capital, was one of the many Vietnamese people wearing their traditional  hat and carrying their baskets with mostly food or beverages.

On our exploration of the city we also decided to stop by the Vietnamese War Museum. And the first thing that met us was the sight of some huge American aircrafts..