The last rotation of Snoopy Museum Tokyo opened Friday, April 20‎. The show, Friendship in Peanuts, reviews the many friendships chronicled in the strip, from Charlie Brown and Shermy in the early days to the classic boy-and-his-dog relationship that Charlie Brown and Snoopy refined over the years.

I am posing with the Onodera family behind the iconic wall which serves as a photo op in the first gallery. Miki Onodero, on the right next to her husband, Hidenori, was a volunteer at the Schulz Museum from the opening of the Musuem to 2004 when Hidenori worked for Agilent Technologies in Santa Rosa. Mana, on my left, was in school here and is now working in Tokyo.

The show is once again bookended by two 4-minute silent animations ‎created by the talented crew at Robot Communications, Inc., with music composed by Haruna Karasuda. I noticed the music accompanying the first animation segment and was struck by how well the piece fit both the animation and the Peanuts characters on the screen. I was happy to meet Ms. Karasuda at the end of the preview and tell her how well I thought it suited the story being told by the animation.

I love the idea that this little girl will be taking these friends home with her to watch whenever she wants a friend to be with.

The exhibition design carries the theme of the iconic wall that Charlie Brown, Linus and others stand behind; the wall which seems to bring out everyone’s philosophical side.

To me, ‘brick road,’ which is the creation of Shin Sobue, designer of each of the exhibitions after the first rotation, reminded me of a labyrinth in which one begins with the simple friendships in the early days of the comic strip such as Charlie Brown and Shermy. As you wind your way through to the end, you realize that these characters are your friends, too.

Daisuke Kusakari, the Creative Director of Snoopy Museum Tokyo joins me as I describe to the press the many complexities of Lucy pulling the football, and how it mirrors many aspects of Sparky’s life.

 

Snoopy joins Daisuke, Paige Braddock of Creative Associates, and me at the exhibition opening.

 

Paige and I were asked to sign the Schulz Museum wall in the exhibition. Paige is fortunate to be a talented artist and included a drawing of Woodstock with her signature.

Friendship in Peanuts will be on view at Snoopy Museum Tokyo through September 24 of this year.

–Jean Schulz