Japan Football Museum, Sports museum in Hongō, Japan
The Japan Football Museum occupied three floors of the JFA House in Hongō: the ground-floor "Upper Stand", basement 1 "Lower Stand" and basement 2 "Pitch". A long dark blue display wall carried four illuminated panels of players in blue, and a green sign above the gallery opening read "The Virtual Stadium". The museum closed on 26 February 2023.
The museum opened on 22 December 2003 in the Japan Football Association building, a project decided in September 1996 at the JFA's 75th-anniversary event when chairman Ken Naganuma called for an own building and vice-chairman Shunichiro Okano asked for a museum. It closed on 26 February 2023 after the JFA sold the building; its successor, blue-ing!, opened in Tokyo Dome City on 23 December 2023 without displaying the stored collection.
The museum's name was chosen at a September 1996 gathering marking the JFA's 75th anniversary, when vice-president Shunichiro Okano asked for a museum, however small. Its address gave the name to the crossing of Hongō-dōri (Route 17) and Kuramae-bashi-dōri. The mascot Tobi-maru of the disbanded Yokohama Flügels stood on the first floor.
The museum closed permanently on 26 February 2023, so there is nothing to visit at the JFA House site in Hongō. Its successor, blue-ing!, opened on 23 December 2023 in Tokyo Dome City, Bunkyō ward, but does not display the collection kept here; instead, a 3D scan of the museum's interior just before closure is published online. The former site is a 6-minute walk from Ochanomizu Station on the JR and Marunouchi lines.
The museum closed permanently on 26 February 2023, and its successor, blue-ing! in Tokyo Dome City, does not display the collection. Instead, the interior was recorded as 3D data just before closure. The building's address gave its name to the intersection of Hongō-dōri (Route 17) and Kuramae-bashi-dōri.
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