Today was supposed to be our all-day tour to Mt. Fuji, but the forecast is for rain and high winds all day, so yesterday we messaged our tour provider who very nicely changed the tour to tomorrow in better weather.  Now we have all day in Yokohama – museum day!  But first…the gym.  Yep, there is an Anytime Fitness 2 blocks away, where we spent our morning – thank you Silver Sneakers! 

Later in the morning, we made our way to the Doll Museum that we had missed on our previous trips.  Wow, what a place.  Really interesting with displays of all sorts of dolls from all over the world, which were quite frankly fascinating.  We found dolls from so many of the countries we have visited – all so representative of the culture in those areas. 

We really loved the friendship dolls – they have passports!  And there was a whole Doll Travel Bureau created to issue passports and then review entries into the country to make sure the dolls were official.  Dolls were exchanged all over the world, many to America in the 1920s and 1930s.  Then the war began, and the so-called “blue eyed dolls” were ordered to be destroyed as “enemy dolls.”  Many people hid and “sheltered” the dolls, believing the “dolls are innocent.” In 1973, a new program called the “Puppet Messenger Mary” led to the discovery of blue-eyed dolls all over Japan, bringing them back as messengers of peace.   

There was a big doll house with the most exquisitely detailed rooms – a tiled bathroom with tiny black tiles, a sunken tub and furry toilet seat cover and rug; a fully-stocked kitchen; a toy room; Christmas dinner on the dining room table. Cute little stuffed animals, including an Olympic Bear, and adorable little rabbits all lined up outside a door. 

A fantastic exhibit by Hirata Goyo who created costume dolls – totally realistic and amazing artistry.

A whole cat display special section as well as some very interesting war sculptures and old photographs of the artist and his family.

And then a Special exhibition with porcelain dolls, creations of Kawamura Melodi on the140th anniversary of his birth – interesting and pretty, but definitely not worth the extra cost.

The final area was a section on Ritual Vessels created from feathers, shells, driftwood and branches, each piece of material capable of attracting and concentrating spiritual presence.  Sort of creepy, but cool in their own way.

Done with dolls, we headed toward the Iwasaki museum, our route taking us through Harbor View park – in the drizzle. But no matter, it is a really pretty park where the old French consulate was once located (destroyed now), some interesting statues – the Loving Mother and Children, commemorating the 3 civilians killed when a US military aircraft crashed in 1977; the mother wished to see the sea during her lifetime, so the statue was placed here overlooking the water – some really pretty gardens and viewpoints over the port.  A nice little walk even in the rain. 

We arrived no worse for wear at the Iwasaki museum, located in an old college building – a college dedicated to dressmaking education.  The museum was really interesting – but no photos allowed, which was a bummer.  We walked through the 2 floors of exhibits, marveling at dolls dressed in all sorts of different clothing that the school taught students to make.  Our favorite though was the special exhibition of beer steins – absolutely amazing. But again, sadly no pictures.  Although the docent did allow me to take a picture of the information sheets that explained the history of the beer mug, the differences between mugs, steins and tumblers and the different materials used to make the vessels, so I could translate it!  One fascinating factoid – the lidded Stein was designed in the 16thC after the Black Death epidemic to improve hygiene and protect against infection.   

Then back out into the now steady rain to try to find some place for lunch.  We were definitely in the wrong area.  There was nothing around, except an Italian restaurant.  Um, no.  When in Japan, we are eating Japanese – every day, all the time! Finding a promising area about 10 minutes away, we walked down through a cemetery which was really cool…..

….and into a shopping area where we walked around and around and finally ended up at Jo’s Burgers and Cheesecakes of all places.  But had awesome Kaarage – called chicken fingers and fried chicken sandwich…..still…..it was true Kaarage no matter what it says on those plates!

From there, we went back to the hotel to dry off.  Then, testing fate, we ran off in between the raindrops to the NewsPark, a museum dedicated to the newspaper profession.  Best buy ever. Super cheap and a fascinating look at newspaper publishing history here in Japan.  There was a whole room on Press Photos, along with great translated materials that helped us navigate through the different displays and explaining some of the stories that journalists have been exposed recently – global organ trafficking, destruction of records on the Kobe serial child murder case (with a really great exhibit that displays the reporters notes and edits, along with quotes from the interviews he conducted), irregularities with a welfare corporation.  All totally interesting.  

The last area held a miniature model of Yokohama, along with a timeline of city’s development, and a fun WII type game you could play about building the streets.  Plus, bonus!  We got a personalized newspaper with our picture in it!  Too fun.

We managed to make it back to the hotel before the rain. And then just hung out there as it poured. Torrential rain, wind.  We had planned to go to Chinatown for dinner, but no way we were going in that mess. We did brave the storm, though, managing to get to the little grocery store we found across from 7-11 without getting too wet, where we got sandwiches and potato salad.  Then, we ran across to 7-11 for chicken nuggets and more wine for a picnic in our hotel room with the gorgeous lights of Yokohama blurred by the rain in the distance.