Former Shipbuilding Site Conveys History, Heritage of Japan’s Shipbuilding Industry; Uraga Brick Dock in Yokosuka, Rare Dry Dock in Japan
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An audience watches Olta perform “The Japanese Ideology Chapter 7” at the Uraga Brick Dock in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Dec.14. The performers moved from place to place during the performance, while the audience walked around the site to watch the show.
13:12 JST, January 12, 2025
YOKOSUKA, Kanagawa — An open-air performance of the play “The Japanese Ideology Chapter 7” was recently held at Uraga Brick Dock in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture.
The play, which lasted for about an hour, was performed by a group of artists called Olta and is a continuation of the group’s previous “The Japanese Ideology” shows. Japan’s modernization was the theme of the play.
The performers from Olta moved from stairs to puddles at the dock, while the audience walked around them, enjoying the show at a variety of distances and angles.
“It was a performance that effectively made use of the unique location,” said a male company worker in his 40s from Yokosuka.

A performance in a puddle at the dock
Uraga is the birthplace of modern shipbuilding in Japan. It is where the Edo shogunate built the first Western-style sailing warship Ho-o Maru, after a U.S. fleet led by Commodore Matthew Perry appeared on the seas off the coast of Uraga in 1853.
The dock was built in 1899, and more than 1,000 ships were constructed and repaired at the dockyard where the dock is located until its closure in 2003. Destroyers for the Imperial Japanese Navy were among the vessels built there before World War II. Among those built there after the war are the Mashu Maru I, a ferry connecting Hakodate and Aomori; the sailing ship Nippon Maru II; and Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyers.

People walk around the dock before the performance.
The dockyard led the country’s shipbuilding industry from the 1950s through the 1980s, when Japan was said to have been the world’s top shipbuilding nation, and the area was reportedly bustling with workers engaged in shipbuilding.
In 2003, however, the historic dock was closed due to changes in shipbuilding demand and Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd., which owned the dock, had undergone a business reorganization, among other factors. In 2021, the dock was donated to the city of Yokosuka.

People go down the stairs at the dock
According to the city, there are only two large brick-built dry docks in Japan, and only the one in Uraga can be seen with no seawater at all times. There are said to be very few similar docks in the world.
Ships are built or repaired at dry docks. Water gates close before the water is drained, and the ships are set afloat again when the dock is refilled with seawater.
Uraga Dock is about 180 meters long, 25 meters wide and 10 meters deep. Many bricks are still found on the sides of the dock, and the blocks where ships were placed are lined up on the floor. More than 2 million bricks are said to have been used in its construction.

Former Shipbuilding Site Conveys History, Heritage of Japan’s Shipbuilding Industry; Uraga Brick Dock in Yokosuka, Rare Dry Dock in Japan
The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry has designated the dock as a facility of industrial heritage for modernization, as it recounts the history of the shipbuilding industry. Recently, it has been called the Uraga Brick Dock.
The city of Yokosuka hopes to convey the pride and history of the area around the dock and its prosperous shipbuilding history while capitalizing on its potential as a new tourist resource.
The dock is only open to the public during events or for guided tours.
“The Japanese Ideology Chapter 7” was performed as part of the “Sense Island / Land 2024” art festival, which was held from October to December 2024 in various places around Yokosuka, including on the uninhabited island Sarushima.
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