On This Day in 2010, Yoko Ono Closed the World’s First John Lennon Museum (And Her Reasoning Makes Sense)

On this day in 2010, the world’s first John Lennon museum closed its doors for good. 

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The John Lennon Museum, located just outside of Tokyo, Japan, first opened way back in October 2000 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Lennon’s birthday. The museum was first established to preserve the life of John Lennon as well as his musical career. 

Launched by Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, the museum featured quite a bit of personal and musical memorabilia straight from Ono herself. Specifically, fans were able to look at nearly 130 items belonging to Lennon, from artifacts from his childhood to guitars to handwritten notes to costumes worn by the former Beatles member.

The John Lennon Museum was actually the world’s only authorized museum dedicated to the former Beatle. It’s a shame it closed. According to reports at the time, the museum was shut down on this day in 2010 because the exhibition contract between the museum itself and Ono had expired, as Ono had opted not to renew it. In a statement released by Ono at the time, she noted that “what we’d thought would be five years became 10.” Clearly, the museum had lasted longer than even she was expecting.

Likewise, a spokesman for the company Taisei Corp, which ran the museum, noted that the number of visitors had dwindled from 124,000 in 2000 to about 30,000 around the time the exhibition closed. However, according to Ono, there was another reason why the museum shut its doors. And I can understand it perfectly.

Why Yoko Ono Closed the World’s First John Lennon Museum in 2010

The John Lennon Museum simply came to its natural end as an exhibition. However, Yoko Ono also noted that she was fine with the museum closing because she wanted Lennon’s spirit not to be stuck there.

“John Lennon’s destiny spanned the whole world,” said Ono in a now-lost interview with Spinner. “His spirit came alive through movement, and without movement, it dies. If the Museum which houses his spirit never moved, it would be a grave, not a Museum. John does not have a grave. When he passed on, I publicly announced that I would not be holding a funeral for him. I did so because I knew his spirit would live forever.”

In a way, I can understand this. I can’t imagine how strange it would be to have a museum dedicated to one’s deceased love, even if Ono was the one to launch the museum in the first place. I can understand the fear of that person’s essence becoming “trapped” there, even in a relatively non-spiritual sense.

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