?My first experience to the Bowers Museum on Wednesday January 14, 2015 has been an inspiring and enlightening visit. The sculptures on the anterior of the museum in the “Sculpture Garden” were exquisite, including the water fountains aligned in a row making it a serene environment. The front lobby lady was very informative and showed me a map of where everything is located, as well as the security guard there who said if I needed anything to let him know. Although I was having a difficult time walking through the museum, because I am in a medical walking boot from a broken foot. I pleasantly was inspired by every piece of artwork and artifacts I saw. I enjoyed gazing at the incredible Mandala artwork in the Leo Friedman Foundation Galleria, each one was with precision. I visited the gift shop which is directly across from the Tangata Restaurant; the gift shop offered a variety of wonderful products. They have everything from ancient history to present day. I was a little disappointed because they had a few places that were closed off due to maintenance and I couldn't view much in the museum. I heard much great hype about Bowers Museum, and since I have never been here before I thought I would give it a try. I was surprised how small the museum was, some exhibit rooms were small compared to other exhibits. For instance, the California Legacies: Missions and Ranchos, First Californians and Pre-Columbian Ceramics rooms were small with beautiful findings but not many. I think if they didn’t close off a few places in the museum, I would have enjoyed more of what they have to offer. The first room I saw when I walked in the museum is called the Spirits and Headhunters: Art of the Pacific Islands, in this room were masterworks from cultural regions of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. Mostly focused on New Guinea, land of the headhunter and the artistic traditions into daily and ritual life. There were larger than life masks, finely crafted feast bowls, Sepik River men’s house, shell and feather currency, tools of the shaman, weapons of warfare and hum trophies taken in retribution. The Wasekaseka Necklace from Fiji, Polynesia made from Sperm whale tooth and fiber was one of my favorite things I saw there. Pacific Islanders wore this necklace as a symbol of honor, wealth and power. These were people of high-status individuals who in many cases received them as gratitude for an alliance or for their political support or as a token of solidarity. It was extremely rare to obtain a whale beached on shore in the 18th century. I was surprised to find this out because I received a replica of a wasekaseka from a friend of mine who is Samoan. The next exhibit I came across was a room with ancient horses, the Stirrups of the Heian Period, 794-1185 AD in Japan made of iron and lacquered wood was interesting. I am Japanese and this was something new to me, these stirrups but also known as abumi, and the Japanese abumis appear rather unwieldy, but would have represented a great leap forward for the mounted samurai. The slipper style of stirrup is visible on the small incense burner in the form of a horse. I knew the samurai’s been speedy and could control their weapons while on the horses. But I never knew that it was because of their slipper style stirrups. The next exhibit I saw were West Mexican Ceramics which included one that I particularly enjoyed one piece because I am a dog lover, the Comala Phase. Colima, West Mexico from 200 BC – A.D. 300 made from fired clay. The people of Colima created pottery vessels in the form