ASHIKAGA, Tochigi -- Fans of legendary British rock band Queen and its late front man Freddie Mercury have taken to making "pilgrimages" to a museum in Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture, once visited by the singer.
The Kurita Museum, which exhibits pottery and porcelain works of art, started attracting a new crowd in the wake of the smash hit success of U.S. biopic "Bohemian Rhapsody."
Mercury (1946-91) visited the museum on an incognito trip to Japan in September 1986.
The museum's director, Toshihide Kurita, 58, said, "I hope visitors will look at the artworks, while letting their imagination roam freely as to which of them Freddie was most fond of, and discover the charms of pottery and porcelain."
The four members of Queen made their first visit to Japan in 1975 and performed in the country several times later. The band were fans of Japanese culture, and Mercury, in particular, was known for his appreciation of Japanese artworks.
Kurita learned of Mercury's visit more than 30 years ago, but no other details.
His father, Hideo, who was the director at the time, gave Mercury a tour of the museum, which has a collection of about 2,000 Imari ware and Nabeshima ware items.
As the visit was made during a private trip, Hideo, who died in 1996, spoke little of the star's visit afterward.
However, Mercury's male partner documented the visit in his memoirs.
Mercury, who had initially been in a bad mood, regained his high spirits immediately after looking at the objects on display. He later asked the director to sell some of the works to him.
Hideo politely declined the request and instead gave Mercury a photo book of the museum's collection, which pleased the singer. Mercury died in November 1991, five years after his visit to the museum.
After the movie was released in Japan in 2018, the museum became a talking point on social media as "the last place Freddie visited in Japan."
The attraction, which had previously been favored mainly by elderly people, then experienced an influx of Queen fans, young and old, with a growing number of visitors asking questions such as "Did Freddie come here?" and "This place held happy memories for Freddie, didn't it?"
Photos taken when Mercury visited the museum have been on display since late last year, with many visitors taking pictures in front of them.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
