Who is that guy* giving the finger to a virgin? Well, it is not just another painting, it is young Leonardo da Vinci’s first masterpiece. A senator in Florence, where it is usually displayed, even chained himself to the museum gates to protest that it would be flown to Tokyo. Ladies, and gentlemen, minna-san, it has arrived. Annunciation is encased behind a bulletproof crystal window shielding it from the outside world, and its steel case is designed to survive an earthquake. Tokyo National Museum has more information.

Dan Brown’s novel and the movie The da Vinci Code were so successful in Japan that there was even a digital exhibition called The Da Vinci Code Museum in Roppongi Hills, central Tokyo, where visitors could view a life-sized projected image of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper and other works.

* That’s Gabriel, just an ordinary angel. The wings are a bit off, don’t you think. I mean, how could he fly with those? Straight Dope has more about angels, in case you are interested.

Here in Tokyo, Kazuyoshi Ito, one of the workers who carried the thing, said to Reuters: “What makes us most nervous is the officials, always telling us to be more careful.”

“Art like this is all right, but what I really like is small Buddha statues.”