The Delightful Cephalopodic Playgrounds of Japan

I’m not sure I would plan an entire trip around playgrounds - especially a major trip to a faraway land like Japan.  However, it’s one of the first things I look into whenever we go anywhere - it’s just good to know where we can go blow off steam and run around if we need to.  

Japan looks to have some awfully neat playgrounds worth keeping an eye out for - and a surprising number of them incorporate one of my favorite cephalopods - the octopus!  The play structures, most of which were built by the Maeda Environmental Art Co., are common and are typically found in neighborhood parks - nothing spectacular about these sites.  But sometimes a little stop at a neighborhood playground is just what you need when you’re on the way to something more spectacular!

There's a lot to love about these structures. The organic, amorphous shapes are very conducive to sliding, climbing, and slithering.  The faces of some these creatures are alternately slightly scary, poignant, or goofy.  While clearly octopi, the structures do not demand that the nature of your play be aquatic - they're suggestive but open-ended.  For more examples (and there are many, many more), click here.

Japan: The Hakone Open-Air Museum

We’ve been dreaming about traveling to Japan lately.  One child-friendly place I don’t want to miss is the Hakone Open-Air Museum.  Visiting a conventional museum can be tricky, but this is a museum where my child can wander and play and explore to his heart's delight.  And so can I!

The art is varied and fantastic; the focus is modern and contemporary sculpture.  Pieces are rotated seasonally.  There is also a large (indoor) collection of work by Picasso, featuring mainly ceramics but also including paintings, sculpture, and more.

"Floating Sculpture" by Marta Pan (1969)

"Miss Black Power" by Niki De Saint Phalle (1968) 

"Engraved Wind" by Flow Masayuki (1979)

The museum is particularly child-friendly. They offer a special map for children incorporating a finding game; it includes a stylus which “reads” the name of each piece when it’s pointed to on the map.  

Interactive Children's Map

Children are also admitted for free on Saturdays. Many of the sculptures are interactive, including an indoor play area, a big outdoor maze, a spiral staircase enclosed by stained glass and glitter, and a giant sculpture made from colorful netting. 

Forest Castle Bubble (left) and and The Net (right)

I love The Museum's description of The Net (as translated by Google):

“Let me play with abandon play sculpture that is felt in the whole body, the senses and the sense of color modeling through play.”

Sounds good to me!