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John Lennon Museum Opens in Japan
(Entered October 9, 2000)
Photo By Kimimasa Mayama/Reuters: Thanks to Larry McGahey-Lowpockets Radio TOKYO, Oct 9 (AFP) - In spite of a driving rain, 2,400 fans poured into the John Lennon Museum in Japan on what would have been John's 60th birthday. "We are overwhelmed by the enourmous influence of John Lennon," said Junichi Akutsu, a spokesman for the John Lennon Museum, located in Yono, Saitama, 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of Tokyo. "Given we had heavy rains today, we expected some 500 people might come here," Akutsu said. "On the contrary, we were stunned to find already 1,200 people lined up before the opening, including 30 people who stayed overnight here," he said, adding the museum expected 350,000 visitors a year. John's wife, Yoko Ono, joined the opening ceremony, saying her late husband would be delighted to see such a museum in Japan. The museum features some 130 items associated with the life and career of Lennon, including his guitars, handwritten lyrics of "Imagine," a worn-out white T-shirt and his favorite round spectacles. "I am a big fan of the Beatles. I went to Liverpool and New York but there was no place like this museum. I am really happy," said a visitor in her late 40s. During the opening ceremonies last week, Yoko had told the press that she and John "felt we were somehow bridging east and west. And because we were promoting peace, we didn't have any borderline. We felt we were part of the global village." One of the items on exhibit in Japan is a diary John wrote in 1952 that featured poems and drawings. "I want people to know that John's life was full of tension, like a storm," Yoko said. The museum was opened to the press just four days before John Lennon would have turned 60. Yoko on Thursday (October 5) told journalists about the anguish her husband's killing had caused, and how she eventually managed to carry on. "It was a great shock when John left all of a sudden. For the first month or two, my heart was trembling and I didn't know what to do," she said. "But I tried to preserve the work we together aimed to leave in the world and his soul started talking to me."
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