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  6. NYK Hikawa Maru

[Hikawa Maru] (Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture, former province name: Musashi)



On April 25, 1930, a huge ship was completed at the old Yokohama dock, now known as "Minato Mirai 21," where the sailing ship Nippon Maru has its mast. This luxury passenger ship, the Hikawa Maru, was built by Nippon Yusen with the full force of the company. Boasting a total length of 163m and a gross tonnage of 11,000t, this ship was built for the purpose of sailing on the route between Yokohama and Seattle, and has entered history as a symbol of Japan's international maritime trade. In order to protect against the wind and waves on the Seattle route, which is hit by rough winter storms, the ship was built with an unusually sturdy structure for a passenger ship, while the interior was designed by Mark Simon & Co., a pioneer of the Art Deco style, and was designed to be suitable for entertaining first-class guests from around the world. The arrival of this luxury liner attracted worldwide attention, and when it first arrived in Seattle in May of that year, it was welcomed with a grand audience of more than 30,000 people. Nicknamed "Haikawamaru" (a mispronunciation of HIKAWAMARU by an American announcer reporting the ship's arrival), it gained immense popularity and contributed to the development of Seattle, which was a newly emerging port city.

The passenger list of the Hikawa Maru includes many great people whose names have been engraved in world history. Charles Chaplin (1889-1977), who visited Japan with his family in 1932, used the Hikawa Maru on his return journey to Seattle. Due to its fame, Japanese and American steamship companies were actively trying to attract Chaplin, but it is said that the deciding factor in his choosing the Hikawa Maru was the food. Nippon Yusen, having received information that Chaplin had liked tempura during his stay in Japan, sent a crew member in charge of cooking to train at Chaplin's favorite tempura restaurant in Tokyo, where he learned the techniques, and was a great success in attracting customers. Meanwhile, in 1938, Jigoro Kano (1860-1938), the "father of Japanese judo," boarded the ship on his way back from an International Olympic Committee visit to Egypt. However, Kano developed pneumonia on board and passed away two days before arriving at Yokohama Port.
The Hikawa Maru thus became the stage for a human drama full of joys and sorrows, but when the Pacific War broke out in 1941, it was requisitioned by the military as a "hospital ship." The passenger cabins were converted into treatment rooms and operating rooms, and the sight of the ship, painted pure white and with a large red cross hanging on its hull, inevitably brought the horrors of war into the viewer's mind. The Hikawa Maru mainly traveled between the battlefields of the South Sea Islands and Japan, taking in many wounded soldiers each time. International law stipulated that hospital ships were not to be attacked, but most of the Nippon Yusen-registered ships had sunk during the war, so it was almost a miracle that the Hikawa Maru was able to end the war safely.

The Hikawa Maru, which greeted the end of the war in Maizuru Port, continued to sail without rest as a "repatriation ship" from the South Sea Islands and Manchuria. After completing its mission, it returned to service as a passenger ship, and in 1953, it arrived in Seattle for the first time in about 11 years. Although the United States had been an enemy country until just eight years earlier, the people of Seattle had never forgotten the "Haikawa Maru" and warmly welcomed its arrival in port. In 1960, the Hikawa Maru's final voyage was also to Seattle. On the afternoon of September 17th, as the Hikawa Maru was leaving Seattle, local residents brightly colored its wake with balloons, and several ships in the harbor accompanied it for several miles, as if to bid it farewell.

After completing its service, there was heated debate over the future of the Hikawa Maru, including whether to dismantle it or preserve it, but due to strong wishes from Yokohama City and its citizens, it was decided to moor it 50 meters offshore from Yamashita Park and preserve it. Inside the ship, the first-class stateroom where Chaplin once stayed and the first-class social room that became the main hall still remain, and you can see their magnificent decorations with your own eyes. There is also a well-equipped reference room that carefully explains the turbulent history of the Hikawa Maru. In recent years, it has been designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan, and you can experience its true value.

In the evening, if you go out to the outdoor deck and turn to the starboard side, you will see many famous buildings that have colored Yokohama throughout its history, such as Minato Mirai, the Yokohama Three Towers, and the Hotel New Grand. Looking at the orderly, yet elegant and imaginative cityscape, Yokohama is the greatest masterpiece of modern Japanese planned cities, and behind this lies the enlightened spirit of quickly adopting foreign cultures, and the attachment of its citizens to the city that has been cultivated through overcoming earthquakes and war damage. And as symbolized by the Hikawa Maru, the pride and responsibility cultivated by being at the forefront of exchange with the world is what makes this city proud to have served as the one and only "gateway to Japan."

《Thank you so much for all the likes, follows and comments this year》

Recommended for solo travelers: ★★★ (There are quite a few people, but it's a large place so it doesn't bother me)

Visited: 2nd Sunday in November around 3pm

Access: About 3 minutes on foot from Motomachi-Chukagai Station

#Hikawa Maru #Motomachi Chinatown #Yamashita Park

Post by hanakin_kozakura | Dec 31, 2024

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