Wednesday, March 05, 2014

National Museum of Nature and Science 国立科学博物館



Museum entrance.

This past Sunday was a very rainy and chilly day, the perfect day for a museum outing in Ueno. We chose the National Museum of Nature and Science as our destination this time, and thoroughly enjoyed this amazing museum. 

 Tickets. Free for little dude and my mom, only Y600 for me ($6). I love how his hand holding the map mirrors mine holding the ticket.

 Ocean diorama.

The museum was comprehensive and huge- it filled six floors of a new building, and three floors of the 1931 structure. The new building was devoted to global science, and the exhibits in the old structure covered the natural history of the Japanese archipelago. We spent four and a half hours exploring, and could easily go back again. What really struck me about the museum was how aesthetically pleasing everything was. For as long as I can remember I have loved the nature dioramas at natural history museums (like my beloved Field Museum), but all of the exhibitions at this museum were stunningly arranged and designed.

 Examining a cow's intestine.

Butterflies in the tree of life section.
 
 Shells!

There were many interactives throughout the museum, and most were aimed at all ages or smaller visitors.

 Scientist at work.

Playing with interactives in the giant experiment room.

The mammal bone exhibits were quite impressive- especially the mammoths and prehistoric sea mammals. The dinosaur bones were also quite cool, especially the t-rex and ankylosaurus.

 Mammoth.

 Observing the many teeth of the prehistoric sea monsters.

We spent the majority of our afternoon in the global exhibitions, but did check out the Japanese exhibits which were housed in the beautiful original 1931 structure before we left.

 The atrium of the Nihonkan.

 More aesthetic science.

Bones!

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