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Miss Wakayama is by the noted artist Hirata Gōyō II. Her kimono bears the kikusui (chrysanthemum on water) crest.
Miss Wakayama travelled extensively in the Western States and participated in the important International Sunday School Convention in Los Angeles, Califoria in July of 1928 where 8 of the Friendship Dolls were exhibited. Along with Miss Wakayama, these included: Miss Kagoshima, Miss Nara, Miss Tokushima, Miss Fukui, Miss Taiwan, Miss Yamagata, and Miss Kanagawa. She was finally sent for permanent placement to the Nevada State Historical Society in Reno, Nevada in January of 1929, where she remains today.
She retains a largely complete set of accessories, missing only her original display base, passport and ship ticket, her lanterns, some of her tea ceremony elements, and her US-made travel trunk.
Through archival photographs she has been determined to be the original Miss Nara.
Miss Wakayama/Nara is one of only five dolls created by Hirata Gōyō II for the Friendship Doll exchange. Each of these dolls was considered to be among the best of all of the Friendship Dolls. As a consequence, they were assigned to important locales: Miss Kyoto-fu, Miss Osaka-fu, Miss Aichi (representing the prefecture surrounding Nagoya), Shizuoka, and Nara, which, of course, is the ancient capital of Japan.