Japanese friendship dolls (友情人形, yūjō ningyō) or Japanese ambassador dolls and the American blue-eyed dolls (青い目の人形, aoi me no ningyō) were programs of goodwill between Japan and the United States. American Sidney Gulick, a missionary in Japan, initiated an exchange of dolls between children as a way to ease cultural tensions in 1920s. Japanese Viscount Eiichi Shibusawa responded by initiating a program to send 58 dolls to American museums and libraries.
The Immigration Act of 1924 prohibited East Asians from immigrating to the United States, which increased tension between the US and Japan. Dr. Sidney Gulick was a former missionary who spent time in Japan between 1888 and 1913. He was familiar with how important dolls are in Japanese culture, and to promote goodwill between the countries he initiated a program to send dolls from the US to children in Japan. Gulick participated in forming a group called the Committee on World Friendship Among Children. In 1927, the first project was to organize the sending of 12,739 friendship dolls, also known as American blue-eyed dolls to Japan. These dolls arrived in time for Hinamatsuri, the annual Japanese doll festival.
Inspired by this act of goodwill, Viscount Eiichi Shibusawa led a collection in Japan to reciprocate for this gift. The best doll makers in Japan were commissioned to produce 58 friendship dolls. Each doll was 32-33 inches tall and were dressed in beautiful kimonos made of silk. Each doll also came with unique accessories. These Japanese friendship dolls represented specific Japanese prefectures, cities or regions. The dolls were sent to libraries and museums throughout the United States.
Denny Gulick, grandson of Sidney, has tried to revive the doll exchange idea.
Over the years, a few dolls were lost or are missing, but many are still on display today. Those whose locations are known include:
Miss Aichi, sent to Nashville, Tennessee, present location unknown
Miss Akita at the Detroit Children's Museum in Detroit
Miss Aomori, in a private collection
Miss Chiba, sent to Riverside, California, present location unknown
Miss Chosen at the Brauer Museum of Art in Valparaiso, Indiana
Miss Dai Nippon (Miss Japan) at the Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
Miss Ehime, at Gulfport, Mississippi, destroyed in Hurricane Camille and replaced in 1988
Miss Fukui, sent to Salt Lake City, present location unknown
Miss Fukuoka at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in Eugene, Oregon
Miss Fukushima, sent to Houston, now in a private collection
Miss Gifu at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland
Miss Gunma, sent to Brooklyn, present location unknown
Miss Hiroshima at the Baltimore Museum of Art in Baltimore
Miss Hokkaido at the Putnam Museum of History and Natural Science in Davenport, Iowa
Miss Hyogo at the St. Joseph Museum in Saint Joseph, Missouri
Miss Ibaraki (Tsukuba Kasumi) at the Milwaukee Public Museum in Milwaukee - the Messenger of Friendship is again on display due to the tsunami and earthquake in Japan
Miss Ishikawa at that Montana Historical Society in Helena, Montana
Miss Iwate at the Birmingham Public Library in Birmingham, Alabama
Miss Kagawa at the North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, North Carolina
Miss Kagoshima at the Phoenix Museum of History in Phoenix, Arizona
Miss Kanagawa, sent to Eugene, Oregon, present location unknown
Miss Kanto-shu, sent to Manchester, New Hampshire, now in a private collection
Miss Karafuto, sent to Wilmington, Delaware, confused with Miss Nagano
Miss Kobe-shi, sent to Stamford, Connecticut, present location unknown
Miss Kochi at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh
Miss Kumamoto, sent to New Orleans, present location unknown
Miss Kyoto-fu at Boston Children's Museum in Boston
Miss Kyoto-shi at the Arkansas Museum of Discovery in Little Rock, Arkansas
Miss Miyazaki, at the Hennepin County Library in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Miss Mie at the University of Nebraska State Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska
Miss Miyagi, sent to Topeka, Kansas, now in a private collection
Miss Nagano, sent to Providence, Rhode Island, now at the Delaware Historical Society in Wilmington, Delaware
Miss Nagasaki (Tamako) at the Rochester Museum and Science Center in Rochester, New York
Miss Nagoya-shi at the Atlanta History Center in Atlanta
Miss Nara at the Idaho Historical Museum in Boise, Idaho
Miss Oita at the Springfield Science Museum in Springfield, Massachusetts
Miss Okayama at the North Dakota State University Textile Collection in Fargo, North Dakota
Miss Okinawa at the Cincinnati Art Museum in Cincinnati
Miss Osaka-fu, sent to Newark, New Jersey, now at the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus, Ohio
Miss Osaka-shi at the Newark Museum in Newark, New Jersey
Miss Saga, sent to Philadelphia, present location unknown
Miss Saitama at the Charleston Museum in Charleston, South Carolina
Miss Shiga, sent to Miami, present location unknown
Miss Shimane at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis in Indianapolis
Miss Shizuoka at the Kansas City Museum in Kansas City, Missouri
Miss Taiwan at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in Los Angeles
Miss Tochigi, sent to Charleston, West Virginia, present location unknown
Miss Tokushima at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, Washington
Miss Tokyo-fu, sent to Richmond, Virginia, present location unknown
Miss Tokyo-shi, sent to New York City, present location unknown
Miss Tottori at the Museum of the South Dakota State Historical Society in Pierre, South Dakota
Miss Toyama at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky
Miss Wakayama at the Nevada Historical Society in Reno, Nevada
Miss Yamagata at the Maine State Museum in Augusta, Maine
Miss Yamaguchi, sent to Chicago, now at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Miss Yamanashi at the Wyoming State Museum in Cheyenne, Wyoming
Miss Yokohama-shi, at the Denver Public Library through the 1990s when it was entrusted to Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls and Toys after being restored
In 1927, children in the United States sent over 12,000 dolls to Japanese elementary school children as a gesture of friendship. Displayed with their own passport, only 334 dolls survived WWII and are now are preserved with the best care in Japan.
