Japan has pride of place in a museum that is the legacy of German-born Philipp Franz von Siebold. Between 1823 and 1830 von Siebold collected 5,000 varied objects from a Japan that was still closed to the outside world, except for the Dutch trading post on Deshima island in Nagasaki Bay, where he was post physician. From this basis, the collection has grown to take in much of the world outside of Europe. Von Siebold differed from other collectors by his passion for understanding and identifying with the Japanese way of life, which adds a social dimension that has been continued for other lands and cultures.