＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49) on X
(Reference) Original article in Japanese
Previously, as a “simple question,” I introduced how to put and remove the marble from ramune (Japanese soda). This time, I’d like to answer the simple question: “How are bottle ships made?”
1. What is a Bottle Ship?
“Bottle ship” is a Japanese-made English term; in English, it’s called “ship in a bottle.” It refers to a craft where a model of a sailing ship or similar vessel is placed inside a bottle with a smaller opening.
His history dates back to around 1800, when a sailor, bored during a long voyage, made one using only empty liquor bottles and materials found on his ship. It was introduced to Japan in the early Taisho era.
During World War I, Japan fought against Germany as an Allied power in Qingdao (Tsingtao) in China and the South Pacific Islands. It is said that bottle ships made by German soldiers at the Narashino Prisoner of War Camp, where German prisoners of war were held, still exist today.
2. How to Make a Bottle Ship
(1) Pull-Up Type: The hull (excluding the mast) is assembled outside the bottle, and the mast is raised inside the bottle. This method has the disadvantage of limiting the size, as the hull must be either disassembled into several parts or small enough to fit inside the bottle.
(2) Disassembly and Assembly Type: This method involves disassembling the hull into even smaller parts than the pull-up type and reassembling it inside the bottle. Because the parts are small, a large ship can be built even in a bottle with a small opening, but this method requires advanced skills and is very time-consuming.
(3) Fake Bottle Ship: A completed ship is placed inside the bottle by cutting out the bottom and inserting a pre-assembled model, then gluing the bottom back on. This is often seen in cheap products.
3. Bottle Ships as a Hobby
Some people make bottle ships as a hobby. Some even turn their hobby into a “life’s work,” striving to master bottle shipmaking. It just goes to show that anything can be incredibly deep when pursued to its fullest potential.
There are also “enthusiast clubs.” These include the long-established “Japan Bottle Ship Association,” a nationwide organization, as well as regional groups such as the “Yokohama Bottle Ship Enthusiasts’ Club,” the “Chubu Bottle Ship Enthusiasts’ Club,” and the “East Japan Bottle Ship Enthusiasts’ Club.”
Exhibitions and introductory bottle ship making workshops are held throughout the country, primarily organized by these bottle ship enthusiast groups.
Many participants seem to be middle-aged and older men, which may be an extension of their childhood hobby of building plastic models of battleships like the Yamato or Zero fighters.