‘Saipan a small island with a huge history’

Saipan’s wax museum owner Akio Kaneshima was so impressed with the island’s history that he made it a personal goal to build a tangible reminder of it—a wax museum.

Kaneshima, who immediately bought a suite and started a restaurant business on island since first coming here 20 years ago, set aside over $2 million for his ambitious history project, a sign of his genuine fondness for the place.

He initially worked on it in 2004. Last week, he accomplished his goal when he led the inauguration of the “Wax Museum of Saipan,” a first of its kind in this part of the world. The whole project cost him some $2.3 million.

“Saipan is a very, very small island with a very large history to tell the world,” he said in an interview.

The driving force behind the project, he said, is not business but something deeper: a longing to share the rich history of the islands with its residents and visitors alike.

“I was not thinking of business when I made this. …The reason why I really made this museum is to open the hearts of people from different countries who come here as visitors. My hopes and purpose are for people to come here and to experience and understand and to study the [islands’] history,” said Kaneshima.

Main points of history

Kaneshima said the museum presents history objectively, as it should be.

The museum’s World War II scenes give a graphic account of the Japanese people jumping off cliffs when the Americans captured the islands during the war. The suicide scene shows Japanese, including young children, about to throw themselves down the cliff.

“History is based on facts. We simply put on display everything based on the history of the islands,” he said.

Since it was not possible to include all key historical facts, the museum only carries the primary points of history, he said. These include the arrival of the Spaniards, Catholicism, Japanese occupation, World War II and arrival of U.S. forces, and peace.

The museum has a special viewing window that gives visitors a peek at a Japanese goddess of peace, which changes in seconds into a different figure, the Statue of Liberty.

“It represents peace and liberty. The message is peace and liberty for the entire world. Those are two images that represent both countries [Japan and the United States],” Kaneshima said.

The two-floor museum, located on Ginger St. in downtown Garapan, consist of over 15 display areas.

The first room contains a diorama of a Taga hut, a collection of historical photographs and two life-size waxworks of Halloween figures: Frankenstein and the Werewolf. These two figures serve as a contrast to what people would see inside the museum, said the owner.

These two horror characters are the only 100 percent wax figures in the museum. The rest are mannequins that have wax coatings.

Kaneshima said it would be very difficult to make all the figures in wax owing to the hot temperature on the island.

“It’s difficult to maintain, especially in the tropics so only particular figures are made of wax. But basically, the process by which we made them is very similar to how you make the wax figures,” he said.

Japanese movie and stage play director Kazuto Kawashima was in-charge of the technical presentation in the museum. Kawashima was present during the inauguration.

The museum has a room on the second floor showing all the past and present governors and lieutenant governors of the CNMI.

It also has an exhibit room serving as a gallery of paintings. This month, watercolor paintings of local painter Debbie Winkfield depicting ancient and historical fashion of local women are on display.

Donation

The Wax Museum of Saipan, which is located across the GIG in Garapan, is open daily.

Admission fee is $20 for adults with ages 13 to 54; senior citizens aged 55 and above, $18; students with valid ID, $15 each; child age 6 to 12, $10 each.

Local and group discounts are available.

Museum general manager Nahoko Ishida said local residents get a 50-percent off the regular price.

“We would like to extend this special discount to the local residents,” she said.

The museum can be reached at 233-7447.

Kaneshima said portions of the admission fees will be donated to different schools in the CNMI.