2/2 Ehime Science Museum

This is day 2 of the ski trip. In the morning we all sat together at the hotel's breakfast buffet. I have no idea what I ordered but I remember it being okay. We discussed our plans for the day, which included going to the Ehime Prefecture Science Museum, the Imabari Towel Museum, and heading home.

We got on the road and drove almost into the mountains for the Science Museum. We bought our tickets and headed inside. We first went into this rock/mineral area which showcased which ones were actually found and mined in the prefecture. There was a big old meteorite too!

Next we went upstairs to some time and space exhibit which I could not understand. The room next to it, however, was the insect and animals area. Outside of the entrance was this display showing "kamemushi" and how they look like faces. See below! In the animal exhibit I got to see my favorite Japanese animal, the extinct river otter. There were some other animals like weasels, civets, badgers, martens, tanukis, and the Shikoku bear. We then proceeded into the next room which was all about dinosaurs, and the giant mechanical t-rex was doing radio calisthenics along with some staff and kids. It was pretty funny.

Towards the exit there were some displays on machines used in the prefecture where I learned how fishermen use different netting methods to catch fish. They also had a replica Botchan Train.

We went to the store and I found some astronaut ice cream. I asked my tutor Rin if she had ever had some and she said no, so I decided to buy it so that everyone can try.

Next we drove to get lunch at my favorite type of restaurant, a "food court" type place. They have many different kinds of food ready which you take and put on your tray, and then they ring you up at the end.

After the short pit stop we arrived at the very fancy looking Towel Museum. The city of Imabari is famous for towels that are very good at absorbing moisture, so thus there is a museum. When we got there we first went outside, because apparently they are famous for strawberries and so we wanted to see if we could find any. We walked through the very fairy-tale-esque courtyard into these greenhouses where they were selling plants. We did find the strawberries, but there were no fruit ready to be picked. We walked back in defeat and along the way I got a picture of the character "Groke" from the Moomins. We bought our tickets and went inside. The first room was this long hall displaying how the towels are made, along with some very cool decorations. 

The second floor was all Moomin themed, and along the hallway wall was a many-yard towel displaying every character from the Moomins. Now, the Moomins are a book series written by Finnish author Tove Jansson. The books are very popular in Asia, but especially in Japan. In a separate room, there were displays showcasing the book "Who Will Comfort Toffle?" All of the pages were displayed along with the corresponding pictures, but I was surprised because they were in English. It turned out that the words rhymed, and so I started reading it out loud, making sure to put as much personality and color into the words as possible. My classmates came to listen to me read it, and we read the entire book together.

On the next floor was an area dedicated to Peter Rabbit. I didn't really understand this area as it seemed that there was no connection to the towels. Maybe it is a temporary exhibit to capitalize on the fairy-tale architecture. But it was short, I learned that Peter's father was baked into a pie, and then we went home!