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The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, known as Miraikan, is a fascinating museum, worthy of any 'Tokyo must-see' list. It opened in 2001 and has a variety of educational displays, most of which are interactive.
Opening times and admission
Open from 10 am to 5 pm. Closed on Tuesdays and from the 28th of December to the 1st of January.
Admission is 630 Yen for the permanent exhibitions and 940 Yen if you want to see one of the movies at the Dome Theatre (210/310 for 18 y/o and under and free for preschoolers).
It takes 2-3 hours to visit.
How to get there
2-3-6 Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan
From Tokyo Station, I took the Ueno-Tokyo Line to Shimbashi Station (2 minutes). From there I took the Yurikamome Line to Tokyo International Cruise Station (7 stops, 16 min) after which I walked for about 7 minutes to reach the Miraikan.
The Yurikamome Line proved to be a way more exciting journey than I anticipated as it allowed me to have a great view of some of Tokyo's districts/neighbourhoods.
From Tokyo Station, a one-way journey was around 600 Yen.
You can purchase the tickets in advance, online on their website, or on the day of your visit.
The museum has 7 floors, with two of them being atriums - 2F and 4F.
On the first floor (1F), you can find the museum shop, a special exhibition zone, lockers and toilets.
On the third floor (3F), you have permanent exhibitions such as 'Hello Robots' and 'Curiosity Field'.
As I walked in, on the right-hand side I saw two robots, one of which could mimic the actions of the person who stood in front of it - mainly arm and head movements.
The sounds which you can hear in the video below are mainly from the interactive displays from the other side of the robot exhibition, not the robot itself.
After interacting with the robot, I went straight ahead to Songs of Anagura, an interactive experience part of the spatial information science area.
Another robot displayed was the Therapeutic Robot 'Paro', a cute baby harp seal, for which research and development started in 1993.
Between 3F and 5F you can see the Geo-Cosmos - a sphere on which various videos are being projected, with the main one making it resemble the Earth and its up-to-date weather.
There is a circular walkway that goes around the Geo-Cosmos, allowing for a better view and connecting the third and fifth floors. If you don't want to use this walkway, there is the option of exiting the third floor and using the escalators to go to the fifth one.
On the fifth floor, as you exit the walkway, you can find a scale model of the International Space Station (ISS) living quarters.
Some of the other exhibitions you can find on this floor are: 'Understanding the Universe through Neutrinos', 'Earth, Environment and Me' or 'Planetary Crisis'.
In the same area as the above-mentioned exhibitions you can also see the LE-7A Rocket Engine.
After seeing everything this floor had to offer, I made my way to the 6th floor where the Dome Theatre is located. There were 2 or three movies to choose from, either 2D or 3D, all taking around 30 minutes. They were all in Japanese but an English audio system was provided.
The ticket saying exhibition + dome theatre gives you access to one of the movies shown. If you want to watch more than one, you will have to pay a fee for each additional movie (310 yen for adults and 100 yen for children)
If you happen to be in Tokyo's Odaiba district, you might want to pair the visit to Miraikan with a quick visit to Gundam, which is only a 10-minute walk from the museum.
Overall I found it to be an absolutely fascinating museum, highly worth a visit when in Tokyo.
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I hope life is treating you well.
Take care.