Replicas of the Statue of Liberty in Jerusalem called "New York Square," there is an abstract skeletal replica of the statue. The French Statue of Liberty from the Île aux Cygnes came to Odaiba, Tokyo, from April 1998 to May 1999 in commemoration of "The French year in Japan". Because of its popularity, in 2000 a replica of the French Statue of Liberty was erected at the same place. Also in Japan, a small Statue of Liberty is in the Amerika-mura ("American Village") shopping district in Osaka, Japan. Another replica is in Oirase near the town of Shimoda south of Misawa in Aomori Prefecture, where the
Statue of Liberty the Eiffel factory in the nearby Parisian suburb of Levallois-Perret. The change in structural material from masonry to iron allowed Bartholdi to change his plans for the statue's assembly. He had originally expected to assemble the skin on-site as the masonry pier was built; instead he decided to build the statue in France and have it disassembled and transported to the United States for reassembly in place on Bedloe's Island. In a symbolic act, the first rivet placed into the skin, fixing a copper plate onto the statue's big toe, was driven by United States Ambassador to France Levi P.