DETROIT CHILDREN’S MUSEUM | Century Old Japanese Friendship Doll’s Home Museum Receives New Doll “Ichiko”
Posted on July 17, 2026 by Cultural News
DETROIT (Japan Cultural Development) July 2026 — The Detroit Children’s Museum was forced to close following the bankruptcy of the City of Detroit in 2013, and during the long years that followed, it also faced the hardships brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many staff members left during that difficult period.
At last, after more than a decade, the museum is preparing for a new beginning in summer 2026. For nearly one hundred years, the museum has carefully preserved Akita Fukiko, one of the Japanese Friendship Dolls sent from Japan in 1927.
Thanks to the efforts of Senior Curator Don Bogart of the Detroit Children’s Museum, the collections have also welcomed the doll Sugio in 2019 and the blue-eyed American doll Sally, whose presence has helped support and enrich the story of Akita Fukiko.
Akita Fukiko had also come to require conservation treatment. In November 2025, her condition was successfully restored by Tokyo-based conservator Masaru Aoki, bringing renewed health to the doll.
On June 18, 2026, in celebration of the museum’s upcoming public reopening, the Japan Business Society of Detroit (JBSD), with the generous support of woodblock print artist Nobuko Yamasaki in Michigan, jointly donated an Ichimatsu doll named Ichiko. Mr. Bogart affectionately gave her the nickname “Ichigo-chan,” and she has become a charming younger sister figure within the museum’s doll family.
Ichiko was created by doll artist Kokan Fujimura, who carries on the artistic lineage of Koryusai Takizawa, the maker of Akita Fukiko, making this donation feel especially meaningful and connected by fate. Next year marks the milestone of the 100th Anniversary of the Bonds of Japan-U.S. Friendship through the Friendship Dolls exchange, and commemorative events are planned across the United States and Japan.
We are confident that Akita Fukiko will continue to play an active role alongside the other Friendship Dolls throughout America. While Akita Fukiko is traveling for exhibitions, Ichiko, together with the other dolls, will watch over her home museum in her absence.
Beginning August 2025, Akita Fukiko will travel to Indiana University for a long-term exhibition. After returning to the Detroit Children’s Museum, she will then participate in the 2027 Centennial Gathering in Virginia, beginning in October 2027. So please check exhibition schedules at the Detroit Children’s Museum before you go to see Akita Fukiko.
The Japan Cultural Development (JCD), is a group under the Japan Business Society of Detroit (JBSD) that began working at the end of 2016 to plan and execute events related to Japanese culture with the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) as its main partner. Starting with the Hinamatsuri (Girl’s Day) in March 2017, the Japan Gallery Opening Event in November 2017 was a memorable event that surprised and impressed many local residents. Since then, JCD continued to promote friendly exchanges between Japan and the United States through culture, organizing annual Hinamatsuri events and performances by Japanese cultures.