Yumeminato Pavilion

 

Attached to the Yumeminato Tower in Sakaiminato, Tottori, is the Yumeminato Pavilion.

They are both remaining structures from an Expo that was held here in 1997.

In front of the pavillion are several sculptures. They take the form of metal boxes with holes in the shape of Yokai.

Sakaiminato is a Yokai capital in Japan as it is the birthplace of Mizuki Shigeru, a manga artist responsible for reviving many traditional yokai and for creating many ne yokai. Similar statues can be found in the Yumeminato park that runs from here down the coast a ways, and along Mizuki Shigeru Road.

When we visited on this trip, about 20 years ago, the lower floor was devoted to sales of souvenirs and local specialities

On the upper floor was an exhibition that included a full size Mongolian yurt.

There was also a collection of national costumes of countries of East Asia available for visitors to try on and be photographed in.

I was unsure why the focus on Asia, but then I later learnt that a Japanese anthropologist who specialized in Iran and Mongolia and the Silk Road, was born near here.

Later I was to visit a large, but decaying, museum near here dedicated to him.

Yokai made their presence known a little around the building, but at that time I was more interested in the  geometry and light and shadow of the architecture.

The previous post in this series was on the Yumeminato Tower.

If you would like to subscribe by email, just leave your email address in the comments below. It will not be published or made public. I post new content almost every day, and send out an email about twice a month with short descriptions and links to the last ten posts.