This weekend I visited Kuroishi city near Hirosaki where there is an onsen (hot spring) that is also home to the Kokeshi doll museum. Probably about a thousand Kokeshi dolls from all over Tohoku can be found inside. You can also watch wood carvers make Kokeshi dolls as you peruse the gift shop. Kokeshi dolls are made only in the Tohoku region of Japan and the ones in Tsugaru are classified as "NURUYU" Kokeshi, whatever that means. While I was given a piece of paper with some English on it, information about the dolls was pretty lacking. The Nuruyu dolls were created by a famous Kokeshi artist named Mori Hidejirou. His signiture doll (pictured here), which I like to call "Jenny" after a former Hirosaki ALT by that name, can be found all over the museum. Giant 20 feet tall versions can also be found all over Kuroishi town and in front of the place. You can even buy sake at the local Justco department store that comes in a Jenny shaped bottle. The much more interesting attraction at the museum however was one that is rarely even mentioned in the literature about the place, that is the 1.9 million dollar gold and silver Kokeshi dolls.

After visiting the museum I was treated to a big Thanksgiving turkey dinner at the home of a English professor named Tony Raush that many Hirosaki ALT's are friends with. At the party I learned more about these mysterious Kokeshi from a former ALT who's been living in the area for 15 years. Apparently during more prosperous times, Kuroishi ordered up a solid gold kokeshi for ?100 million and a solid silver one for ?90 million as a means of promoting the area. The idea was that after displaying the dolls for a few years, during which time the price for gold and silver would presumably appreciate, Kuroishi intended to melt them down and sell them at a profit to help pay for various civic improvements. Unfortunately after 5 years the prices for these precious metals plummeted and the dolls still sit there to this day. The museum has absolutely no security from what I could tell and anyone can walk right up to the gold and silver idols and touch them (and presumably walk out with them too if they are strong enough). It's only a matter of time I think until some gangsters or hooligan teenagers get the idea to abscond with them. For information about other Japanese tourist attraction ideas gone wrong, check out this site.