A lesson in port citizenship

Abstract

This article applies the framework of François Hartog’s regime of historicity to a comparative and historical study of three successive maritime museums in postwar Yokohama, Japan. Each museum was operated by the city to educate its citizens about Yokohama’s maritime identity, though through different affectively-laced temporal organizations that reflected evolving conceptions of municipal identity. The article distinguishes between “scientific universalism” in the Marine Science Museum (1961-1988), “romantic futurism” at the Maritime Museum (1989-2009), and “nostalgic presentism” at the Port Museum (2009-). As evidence of each historical regime, the article uses the form and content of exhibits, architectural changes to the museum building, and fieldwork when possible. Over the course of time, the spirit of the museum shifted from the natural sciences to romanticism and, lastly, nostalgia. These museums show how temporality-infused historiography has implications for the politics of identity.