Wave of Queen Mary Mania Builds in Japan

TOKYO — To Japanese promoters, it’s an irresistible combination: the Queen Mary’s fabled history and high-brow exclusivity, the Japanese public’s penchant for booms and brand names, and the hottest destination spot in Tokyo.

As a result, major corporations here are vying to join in Queen Mary mania in hopes that the Long Beach City Council will allow the ocean liner--which has been moored in Long Beach since 1967--to cross the Pacific and operate as a hotel and entertainment center in the trendy Tokyo Bay waterfront area for up to five years.

“The fact that this voyage will mark the first time the Queen Mary has crossed the Pacific will set off a huge boom in Japan,” said Ryozo Nomura of Pentel Corp., a leading Japanese office supply maker.

But the proposal suffered a setback last week when Long Beach City Manager James C. Hankla cited the ship’s importance to the city and recommended that the City Council refuse to sell or send it temporarily to Tokyo.

With several members of the nine-member council already cool to the idea, Hankla’s report could be the deciding factor on the issue, set for debate at today’s council meeting.

If the council does gives its approval, Pentel wants to develop two lines of Queen Mary pens, stationery and office paraphernalia. The firm makes similar products for Burberry and Disney and predicts millions of dollars in sales and royalty payments to the RMS Foundation, which operates the ship.

Nomura is not alone in his excitement. Backers here are billing the possible tour to Japan as a sensational cultural event rivaling the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. They project that the ship would bring in hundreds of millions of dollars more than it could make in Long Beach, and they have amassed an imposing array of investment commitments, media contracts and royalty agreements.

All told, promoters say, the tour would raise $40 million for badly needed repairs, ensure the ship’s future with a $20-million endowment and bring a new stream of well-heeled Asian tourists to Long Beach. A marketing survey by one Tokyo firm showed that fewer than 1% of people in the Pacific Rim knew of the Queen Mary, but the Tokyo project would raise the city’s profile through a Long Beach promotional office aboard.

Although skepticism about the financial claims appears widespread in Long Beach, documents presented to The Times showed millions of dollars in commitments, draft offers and letters of interest from major Japanese sponsors.

They included $80 million in low-cost financing by well-known banks and financiers, a January memorandum of understanding from the Tokyo metropolitan government offering a substantial commitment to provide mooring facilities, and millions more in minimum guarantees for licensing rights and other tie-ins.

An array of planned activities includes:

Developing Queen Mary brand products that would provide royalty payments even after the ship returned to Long Beach.

A major beverage maker, for instance, is contracting to develop a Queen Mary milk tea to sell in its 890,000 vending machines throughout Japan. Japan’s largest watchmaker plans to develop an exclusive line of Queen Mary products, in 1930s Art Deco style, including a commemorative watch for as much as $12,000. And two leading breweries are vying for rights to develop a Queen Mary beer.

* Publicizing the ship through extensive media activities. TV Asahi, a leading Japanese network, is considering documentaries, TV dramas using the ship as a location and a video record of the ship’s stay in Japan.

“Japan is an old culture, and Japanese people like old things,” said Hitoshi Sakai, a TV Asahi senior managing director. “If the Queen Mary, as a symbol of older Western culture, comes to Japan, people will be really interested.”

* Marketing live musical performances--ranging from jazz and big band to Latin and pop--on the ship’s 12 stages. An FM station aboard the ship would broadcast four programs a day featuring the musical performances and interviews with the artists. Promoters also hope to air the concerts on TV and sell Queen Mary performance CDs.

In one of many promotional tie-ins planned, Japan’s largest maker of gaming equipment has signed a letter of intent to provide millions of dollars for the ship’s renovation and 1,000 slot machines for the gaming quarters.

Even the British royals are involved. Prince Michael of Kent has agreed to participate in the grand tour to help raise money for the storied ship.

Launched in 1934, the Queen Mary reigned for more than a decade as the fastest ship in the world. It carried Winston Churchill while he signed the Normandy invasion plans, inspired Adolf Hitler’s highest bounty for any German U-boat captain who could sink it, and still holds the world’s record for the largest number of passengers--16,800 when it functioned as a troop carrier during World War II.

To momentarily escape their stressful lives and tiny homes for the elegant fantasy world of the 1934 ship’s bygone era, Japanese guests would have no problem plunking down room charges of $800 to $2,400 nightly, backers here say. The charge would include such touches as a smoking jacket, leather house shoes, an in-room stylist and a dinner show. A $16 admission fee would be charged those who simply wanted to come aboard for the restaurants, music, gaming or tours.

Already, more than two-thirds of the ship’s 365 rooms have been spoken for by major corporations and wedding promoters, according to an official close to the project here.

Notwithstanding the ship’s glamorous assets, Japanese backers say a major reason for their optimism is the ship’s planned location: Odaiba, a newly developed waterfront area that now draws more people than Tokyo Disneyland.

Not everyone welcomes the prospect of having the Queen Mary nearby. Ask Tadahiko Isshiki, spokesman for the Hotel Nikko Tokyo, about the ship and he slumps back in his chair and slaps his hand to his forehead in consternation. The vessel would dock directly in front of his hotel--obscuring the view, generating garbage and pollution, and stealing customers, he frets.

“We are very fearful. We will never welcome the ship,” he said, adding a plea to Long Beach: “Please support us.”

To Queen Mary backers, however, the hotel’s fear is only one more vote of confidence in what they view as a sure-fire success.

“If [a product] has authenticity, credibility and awareness, that combination has never failed in Japan,” said one official close to the project here. “And since we’re coming into a built-in destination spotlight, it’s an exciting prospect.”