Yamato Museum Kure Hiroshima

Yamato Museum Kure Hiroshima 大和ミュージアム

When launched in 1940, the battleship Yamato was the biggest warship in the world. 263 meters long, with a displacement of 65,000 tonnes, she had numerous unique and innovative features, including the biggest naval guns in the world that fired 1.36 tonne shells from its 18.1 inch barrels, but it was also largely obsolete as the day of the battleship had passed to be replaced by aircraft carrier groups.

The Yamato saw very little action, and was sunk by U.S. Navy aircraft in April 1945 on its final mission, a suicide mission to defend Okinawa from American invasion that cost the lives of almost all its full complement of 3,000 crew. Yamato Museum, Kure, Hiroshima In 2005 the movie "Yamato" (Otoko-tachi no Yamato in Japanese) was released and was very popular. Like almost all Japanese World War II movies it focused on the suffering and sacrifice of Japanese, and not on their victims. In April 2005, on the anniversary of the sinking of the Yamato, a new museum opened in Kure, Hiroshima, once the largest naval shipyard in the Orient, and where the Yamato was built. Interior of the Yamato Museum in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture

Displays

Outside the museum are artifacts taken from the wreck after it was discovered in 1985, including one of the huge guns and a propeller, but the centerpiece of the museum is a 1:10 scale model of the battleship. At 26 meters in length, it is impressive, and cost 200 million yen, being built by the same company that built the original. The museum also has displays on the history of shipbuilding in Kure, a floor of mainly interactive displays on the science and technology of ships, a room including a 2-man kamikaze sub, a Mitsubishi Zero, and other war materials. Mini submarine, Yamato Museum, Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture Incidentally, this is an almost exact copy of a room at the museum in the infamous Yasakuni Shrine. There are also models and displays on the hugely popular anime series Space Battleship Yamato, wherein the Yamato is resurrected and converted into a spaceship and used to defend Earth. The original anime was more popular in Japan than Star Wars.

Access - Getting There

Kure-shi Kaiji Rekishi Kagakukan 5-20, Takaramachi, Kure City Hiroshima, 737-0029 Tel: 0823 25 3017 www.yamato-museum.com The Yamato Museum is a 5 minute walk from JR Kure Station, which is 32 minutes from Hiroshima Station on a JR Kure Line Rapid Liner. Furthermore, the museum is one minute on foot from Kure Chuo Sanbashi ferry terminal. It is also approximately 45 minutes by bus from Hiroshima Bus Center. Closed on Tuesdays, entrance is 500 yen for adults. Hours are 9am-6pm. Adjacent to the Yamato Museum is the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force Museum. Entrance is free, and the highlight is entering the Akishio, a 76 meter long Yushio Class submarine built in 1985. Happi Coats Japanese For Busy People Japanese For Busy People II