MSDF museum to put spotlight on submarine

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Daily Yomiuri Online
January 30, 2006


A Maritime Self-Defense Force museum now under construction here will put a 2,250-ton submarine on exhibit.

The three-story museum, which will open to the public in April 2007, will have a total floor space of 3,600 square meters.

Akishio, a submarine that regularly docked at the MSDF's Kure base until March 2004, will be exhibited at the museum.

Visitors will be able to enter the 76-meter-long submarine's operation room, housing the helm and periscope. A land mine and torpedo will also be on display.

The museum will be located next to the Yamato Museum, a municipal museum exhibiting a one-tenth scale replica of the Yamato, a battleship sunk in the East China Sea during World War II. It hopes to attract 500,000 visitors in the first year.

The Kure municipal government believes the new MSDF museum will bring more tourists to the city.


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