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Yokohama Bayside

■Yamashita Park

Like much of Yokohama's modern waterfront, Yamashita Park is built on reclaimed land. The long, narrow park was built using debrisfrom the Great Kanto earthquake of 1923, which devastated the city. Opened in 1930, the park is a pleasant stripof green affording good views of the Bay Bridge and oceangoing traffic on thewater. A pier extending from the parkis home to the Hikawa-maru, nicknamed the "Queen of the Pacific," the lastsurvivor of Japan's ocean liner fleet, now permanently berthed here. The ship is presently closed, but scheduledto reopen in Spring of 2008, when visitors will again be able to enjoy her fineart deco interiors and the onboard historical museum.

>>Access
JR Ishikawa-cho station====(10 min. on foot)====Yamashita Park

JR Kannai station====(15min. on foot)====Yamashita park

JR Yokohama station====(20 min. by city bus No. 8, 20, 26, 58, 125)====Chukagai Iriguchi bus stop====(15 min. on foot)====Yamashita park

■Yokohama Doll Museum

This is another of Yokohama’s narrowly themed museums (along with a tin toy museum and the Anpanman Children’s museum, among others) but for anyone with even a passing interest in dolls, the museum is just astounding. Bisque, papier-mache, china, cloth and celluloid dolls all crowd side by side here, waiting for the appreciative visitor.

You’d be crazy to try and count all the dolls on display here, and the museum is constantly adding to the collection, but according to the English language brochure there were 12,926 dolls from 140 countries here as of March, 2004. The dolls range from 16th century wooden European examples right up to the latest Pokemon figure.

The museum does a good job of explaining both the many methods of crafting dolls as well as their purposes. From early wax dolls used in religious contexts to cheap mass-production sawdust and paper compound dolls made in the United States in response to declines in French and German doll production after the first World War, visitors will come away knowing more about dolls than they ever thought possible.

There are also stuffed animals and an assortment of antique dollhouses, and be sure to check with staff for the puppet show schedule. A good museum for both children who love dolls and adults in whom such a child still lives.

>>Access
18 Yamashita-cho, Naka-ku, Yokohama-city, Kanagawa

JR Yokohama station====(7 min. by Minato Mirai line)====Motomachi/Chukagai station====(2 min. on foot)====Yokohama Doll Museum

>>Hours
Exhibition 10:00 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Theather 10:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.

>>Fee (Admission)
Adult (over high shcool student): 500 yen
Child (elementary/junior high shool student): 150 yen

>>Website
Yokohama Doll Museum (English)　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

-Matt Mangham

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