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Tokyo (dpa) - An exhibition entitled "Einstein in Japan - a travel diary" opened Monday in Tokyo's Mitsuo Aida Museum, showcasing a significant part of Albert Einstein's life - his 1922 trip to Japan.
The exhibition, lasting until February 26, focuses on Einstein's personal experience of a country that he visited only once, but eventfully.
The show follows presentations as part of the Einstein Year in Germany, Switzerland and the United States expounding on Einstein's scientific work and his significance for the history of science.
Einstein's trip to Japan had a lasting influence on German- Japanese scientific relations. During the visit from November 17 to December 29, 1922 and in the company of his second wife Elsa, he gave several lectures on relativity theory, attended by thousands.
While aboard ship, he received the news that he was to be presented with the Nobel Prize for Physics. He arrived to frenzied greetings everywhere, and was impressed by the unfamiliar culture.
The exhibition, as part of the German Year in Japan, was created with "great imagination and skill", Aude Einstein, the wife of Albert Einstein's grandson told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa in Tokyo.
At the opening, she said: "That would have pleased Albert Einstein greatly," adding with a knowing smile: "He was a little vain."
The exhibits include for the first time his leather jacket, a watch and a lithography of Einstein lent by a private owner.
Einstein's life and work are depicted in an overview, while the main part of the exhibition shows Einstein's day-to-day experiences in Japan and his reactions.
Copyright 2005 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
