Yokohama 150th Anniversary
This year marked the 150th anniversary of the 1859 opening of the Port of Yokohama.
To commemorate this anniversary, Expo Y150, a grand exposition focusing on the history and attractions of the city, was held between April 28 to September 27, 2009.
Against Yokohama’s distinctive backdrop of the sea and the port, the Bayside Area was the focal point for the Y150 celebrations and was separated into several different zones.
Y150 Hajimarinomori (Forest of Beginnings)
The main attraction of the Y150 celebration was the French ENEOS La Machine, a massive spider approximately 12 meters tall. Watch out, it even spewed water!
The Yokohama Monogatari exhibit featured the history of Yokohama.
Y150 Tomorrow Park (Shinko District Block 7)
The Tomorrow Park Stage featured several different live performances, singing and dancing.
Highlighting global environmental issues, the giant earth balloon, about 20 meters in diameter, floated in the night sky above Yokohama, reflecting a dynamic display of light, sound and visuals.
Nissan Y150 Dream Front
Aiming to expand caring environmental activities on a worldwide scale, Nissan Motor Company sponsored a large interactive pavilion focusing on the theme of children and the environment.
PIVO 2 is an electric car born of concern for the earth built by Nissan.
Visitors were allowed to write caring messages in small paper leaves which were placed inside one of the earth balloons in Kotoba Park.
Red Brick Site
The Red Brick site offered lots of shopping and restaurants.
The official Tanemaru (Y150 mascot) store was also located here.
Hey, you copied me! Actually, no you didn’t. So, you finally got your pictures up
But I have a video of La Machine!
Yes, I should have just copied your post
. I did take a video of La Machine, but was using my old non-digital camcorder and have not processed it yet. I really should buy a new digital video recorder.
Oh, I see. My camera isn’t a great one, and 10 minutes of video is all it can hold…and that’s all the batteries can take. I need a digital video camera that can take still photos and compensate for a shaking camera. I’ve ruined so many good pictures by moving the camera.
Anyway, I updated my blog with many pictures while you were gone
I was in Yokohama during Obon yasumi and I missed pretty much everything that you’ve got photos for. But, I was mostly interested in the big park and part of the bay, so I didn’t mind. A co-worker was in Yokohama 1-2 weeks ago and she was complaining about the cost of the event compared to small amount of entertainment value she got from it. And then, there was an article in one of the papers saying that the mayor of Yokohama is being chewed out for failing to meet his promised target numbers (about half of the predicted tourists and only 2/3′s of the predicted revenue) as of the end of the event. One visitor had been quoted as saying that since the ticket price was so high, it’s not surprising that few people would want to come to Yokohama for it.
Many people I’ve talked to have said the same thing. They found it wasn’t very interesting. I got in with a small discount, since I got a package ticket with the Undersea Egyptian Treasures exhibition (which was excellent). The ticket for the Y150 Expo actually can be used as a coupon for several businesses.
Thanks for the comments. Entrance fee was 2,400 yen.
I paid 4600 yen for the combined ticket. I believe the discount was only about 200 or 300 yen.
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