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mphotographies (1976) 2006-10-23 23:29

Hey Koyama,

Interesting city, creatively developed!

Added some more info about "MM21":

Many people have come to know the spectacles of Minato Mirai 21 (MM21), which include Japan's tallest building, Yokohama Landmark Tower, a large Ferris wheel called "Cosmo Clock 21" which made many appearances on TV commercials, and the city's new landmark, Yokohama Akarenga (Red Brick Warehouse). Although many have probably enjoyed the beautiful view of MM21, only a handful of people may be familiar with its history and background.

Minato Mirai 21 is the name of a project launched with an intention to dramatically transform the metropolitan area of Yokohama. Until two decades ago, large shipbuilding docks and port facilities were located in the central part of Yokohama, with Tokyo Bay stretching out in front. We have worked to relocate the shipbuilding docks and other facilities to another part of the city, and the open space and the reclaimed land were joined together for new development, along with the neighboring towns to revive central Yokohama to a totally new form. This mega development is the MM21 Project.

The name of the project was selected from almost 2,300 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), and was chosen for its uniqueness in using hiragana (Japanese alphabet to express the sound of genuine Japanese words), rather than the katakana (Japanese alphabet to express the sound of words imported from foreign language), which seemed to be inundating the Japanese language at the time.

The name Minato Mirai was approved as the name of the town and the residential area in 1989, and has become very familiar as part of the Chuo ward of Yokohama city. Minato Mirai is changing its form everyday, as a new metropolitan area with many attractive features encompassing functional business environment, commercial buzz, taste of culture and feeling of relaxation.