John Lennon Museum, Saitama (closed 2010)

The John Lennon Museum was an exhibition inside Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, north of Tokyo. It opened on 9 October 2000, Lennon's 60th birthday anniversary, and showed objects from Yoko Ono's collection. It closed on 30 September 2010 when the ten-year licence with Ono ended. The space has been an event hall called TOIRO since 2012.

A ten-year licence, then closure

Taisei Corporation's group ran the museum under a licence agreement with Yoko Ono. At the time of the closure announcement in February 2010, Japanese press described it as the only Lennon museum in the world that Ono had authorised. Taisei gave one reason for closing: the ten-year contract was about to expire.

Visitor numbers had also fallen. AFPBB reported 124,000 visitors in the first year and about 30,000 a year by the end, with a running total of around 550,000 when the closure was announced. Ono's statement at the closure spoke of Lennon's spirit leaving at the ten-year mark for its next journey.

What was inside

The museum filled parts of the arena's fourth and fifth floors. About 130 objects were on show, among them guitars, stage clothes and lyrics in Lennon's handwriting.

A visit began in a small theatre with a short film narrated by Ono in Japanese, with English audio on headphones. The route then followed Lennon's life through nine zones, from "Childhood Memories" and "The Beatles" to "Love and Peace" and "Household Husband". It finished in a reflection room where chairs faced a slide show of words and images, followed by a gift shop. Each December, close to the 8th, a table for flowers was set up in a space on the second floor.

What is there now

Nothing of the museum can be visited today. After the 2010 closure the rooms were refitted, and in April 2012 they reopened as TOIRO, a multi-purpose space for concerts, seminars and exhibitions. Some travel listings still describe the museum as if it were open.

For permanent Lennon collections that still take visitors, see the Beatles Museum in Halle or The Beatles Story in Liverpool. In Asia, the Beatles Ashram at Rishikesh is open to visitors.