Sōya: First Ship of the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition

The Sōya has had a long history but is now a museum ship in Odaiba Tokyo. The museum is free to enter and not far from the Museum of Maritime Science. I filmed this video a long time ago when the Museum of Maritime Science was closed fro renovations. I am uploading it now as I plan to go to see two more surviving Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) ships that have become museums. As a side note she is Japan’s first government-backed Antarctic research vessel. An earlier private venture had happened in the Meji Era.

She was built as an ice-breaking cargo ship in what was then the Soviet Union and launched in 1938 for a Japanese shipping company. She had a short life as a civilian cargo ship. In 1939 she was requisitioned by the IJN to serve as a cargo ship. The IJN renamed her Sōya.

She survived the war and afterward was part of the repatriation fleet tasked with bringing Japanese citizens back to Japan. the Sōya visited Guam, Shanghai, and Tinian but most of her trips were to Sakhalin. During her time she repatriated around 19,000 individuals. In 1949 her duties with the repatriation fleet ended and she came under the command of the Maritime Safty Agency (now known as the Japanese Coast Guard)

At first, she was used to resupply remote lighthouses in the north of Japan. However, that mission did not last long as in 1950 she started to undergo refits to become an Antarctic research vessel. From 1956 to 1962 Soya worked as Japan’s first Antarctic research vessel. In 1958 she evacuated the personnel at Showa station, however, the expedition’s Sakhalin huskies were left behind. To everyone’s surprise, two brothers Taro and Jiro survived the harsh winter.

After its service in the Antarctic, the Soya was stationed in Hokkaido as an ice-breaking rescue ship. In 1978 the Soya’s last mission was a goodbye tour before coming here to be a museum ship.