Two major Asian metropolises are set to offer their residents a feast of maritime history.
Tomorrow, Mitsui OSK Lines’ “Funeshiru Museum” will open in Osaka, featuring interactive exhibits that allow visitors to see, touch, and play while exploring the world of ships.
The museum boasts the world’s first 310-degree LED screen maritime simulator open to the public, a 30-meter-wide immersive theater (pictured) showcasing various giant vessels, and an interactive art wall where visitors’ drawings of ships come to life. The museum is adjacent to Mitsui OSK Lines’ “Sunflower” ferry terminal.
In a press release, the Japanese shipping company stated: “Through interactive exhibits, Mitsui OSK Lines aims to help more people understand the scale of the shipping industry, the role of ships in daily life, the nature of maritime work, and the future of the sector. This initiative seeks to cultivate fans of Mitsui OSK Lines, promote maritime education, and raise environmental awareness.”
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Maritime Museum today announced the completion of its “Hong Kong Maritime Museum Jockey Club Anchor Garden” (pictured). Funded by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, the plaza’s centerpiece is the 36-ton, 7-meter-high anchor from the largest cargo ship in history, the *Seawise Giant*. The plaza also features an immersive art and technology gallery and interactive screens, creating a new interactive public learning space that highlights Hong Kong’s rich maritime heritage.
This anchor was originally fitted with 20 shackles of chain and installed on the *Seawise Giant*, which had a deadweight tonnage of 657,000 tons. Owned by Hong Kong shipping magnate C.Y. Tung, the colossal vessel was decommissioned after 35 years of service and dismantled on a beach in Gujarat, India, in 2010.
Richard Hext, Chairman of the Hong Kong Maritime Museum, said: “We eagerly await the opening day, when visitors from Hong Kong and around the world can experience the city’s precious maritime heritage firsthand.”
