Minato Mirai 21 Area

Minato Mirai 21, an urban redevelopment in Yokohama overlooking Tokyo Bay.

Monday March 14, 2005

Minato Mirai 21 is the name of a project launched with an intention to dramatically transform the metropolitan area of central Yokohama. Until two decades ago, large shipbuilding docks and port facilities were located here. Under the Minato Mirai 21 project they were moved to another part of the city, and the open space and reclaimed land were redeveloped to revive central Yokohama.

The name of the project was selected from over 2000 suggestions proposed by the people of Yokohama back in 1981. The name incorporated an image of building a port town (Minato) of the future (Mirai). It was partly chosen for its uniqueness in using hiragana (the Japanese alphabet used to express the sound of genuine Japanese words), rather than katakana (the Japanese alphabet used to express the sound of words imported from foreign languages), which seemed to be inundating the Japanese language at the time.

A party boat floats at its mooring.

The Nippon Maru, a 75 year old merchant marine vessel now open to the public. It is also used for sail training by the navy.

An interesting building seem from the side in the first picture becomes even more interesting from the front - it looks like a ship, that is awesome!

Some docks still exist here, used mainly for ferries.

Cosmo Clock 21.

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I was there with you! Love you!

Posted by Mom on April 14, 2005 04:35 PM