HOME | DD

Description
Yokohama Ma Zhu Miao temple in Yokohama Chinatown, in Japan. Also known as Yokohama Masobyou in Japanese. This is a very new temple opened in 2006.

Apparently the place where the temple now stands was initially going to be the location of an apartment block, but the Yokohama Chinatown Development Association decided that an apartment block there would have a negative impact on the cultural landscape and could trigger the decline of Chinatown, which is the fifth most visited neighbourhood in Japan.

After negotiations, with money raised through contributions from all over Japan, they bought the land from the developers (at a price of 990 million ¥ - approx. 11 million $) and they built the Ma Zhu Temple.

Ma Zhu, or "Holy Mother of Heaven," is a sea goddess widely worshipped in coastal areas of China. She is said to protect commercial ships from natural disasters and plagues.

Here you can read all the arguments against the construction of the apartment block which convinced the developers not to go on with the project [link]

Description
Yokohama Ma Zhu Miao temple in Yokohama Chinatown, in Japan. Also known as Yokohama Masobyou in Japanese. This is a very new temple opened in 2006.

Apparently the place where the temple now stands was initially going to be the location of an apartment block, but the Yokohama Chinatown Development Association decided that an apartment block there would have a negative impact on the cultural landscape and could trigger the decline of Chinatown, which is the fifth most visited neighbourhood in Japan.

After negotiations, with money raised through contributions from all over Japan, they bought the land from the developers (at a price of 990 million ¥ - approx. 11 million $) and they built the Ma Zhu Temple.

Ma Zhu, or "Holy Mother of Heaven," is a sea goddess widely worshipped in coastal areas of China. She is said to protect commercial ships from natural disasters and plagues.

Here you can read all the arguments against the construction of the apartment block which convinced the developers not to go on with the project [link]