The is in the northeast corner of

Ueno Park is a spacious public park in the Ueno, Tokyo, Ueno district of Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. The park was established in 1873 on lands formerly belonging to the Buddhist temples in Japan, temple of Kan'ei-ji. Amongst the country's first public parks, i ...

in Tokyo. The museum has exhibitions on pre-

Meiji Meiji, the romanization of the Japanese characters 明治, may refer to: Japanese history * Emperor Meiji, Emperor of Japan between 1867 and 1912 ** Meiji era, the name given to that period in Japanese history *** Meiji Restoration, the revolution ...

science in Japan. It is the venue of the taxidermied bodies of the legendary dogs

Hachikō was a Japanese Akita dog remembered for his remarkable loyalty to his owner, Hidesaburō Ueno, for whom he continued to wait for over nine years following Ueno's death. Hachikō was born on November 10, 1923, at a farm near the city of Ō ...

and

Taro and Jiro Taro (タロ; 1955–1970) and Jiro (ジロ; 1955–1960) were two Sakhalin Husky, Sakhalin Huskies who survived for eleven months in Antarctica after being left behind by the 1958 Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition. Due to poor weather co ...

. A life-size

blue whale The blue whale (''Balaenoptera musculus'') is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of and weighing up to , it is the largest animal known ever to have existed. The blue whale's long and slender body can ...

model and a

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

are also on display outside.

History

Blue whale Life size model. Opened in 1877, it has had several names, including Ministry of Education Museum, Tokyo Museum, Tokyo Science Museum, the National Science Museum of Japan, and the National Museum of Nature and Science as of 2007. It was renovated in the 1990s and 2000s, and offers a wide variety of natural history exhibitions and interactive scientific experiences. It was completed as the main building of the Tokyo Science Museum in September 1931 as part of the reconstruction project after the

Great Kanto Earthquake Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" * Artel Great (bo ...

in Neo-Renaissance style. Designed by Kenzo Akitani, an engineer of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Building Division. The building is the most visited museum in Japan, and looks like an airplane when viewed from above. In addition to the exhibition hall, it has facilities such as a dome for astronomical observation and an auditorium. It is designed to withstand earthquakes of the Great Kanto Earthquake class, and it is said that there is no problem in light of the current Building Standards Act standards. In 2021, the museum organized the Pokémon Fossil Museum, a

travelling exhibition A travelling exhibition, also referred to as a "travelling exhibit" or a "touring exhibition", is a type of exhibition that is presented at more than one venue. Temporary exhibitions can bring together objects that might be dispersed among sever ...

based on the ''

Pokémon is a Japanese media franchise consisting of List of Pokémon video games, video games, Pokémon (TV series), animated series and List of Pokémon films, films, Pokémon Trading Card Game, a trading card game, and other related media. The fran ...

'' franchise, in collaboration with

The Pokémon Company , simply known as Pokémon is a Japanese company responsible for brand management, production, publishing, marketing, and licensing of the ''Pokémon'' franchise, which consists of video games, a trading card game, anime television series, f ...

. The exhibition opened at the

Mikasa City Museum opened in Mikasa, Hokkaidō, Japan in 1979. The collection documents the natural history and history of the area and is renowned for its ammonites as well as for the Yezo Mikasa Ryū type fossil, discovered in 1976 and designated a Natura ...

Mikasa, Hokkaido is a city located in Sorachi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. As of 1 October 2020, the city has an estimated population of 8,040, and the density of 27 persons per km2. Geography The total area is 302.64 km2. It is bordered on three sides ...

, Japan, on 4 July 2021, and remained there until 20 September. It has since been hosted by several other museums across Japan, including the National Museum of Nature and Science, which hosted it from 15 March to 19 June 2022. A

virtual tour A virtual tour is a simulation of an existing location, usually composed of a sequence of videos, still images or 360-degree images. It may also use other multimedia elements such as sound effects, music, narration, text and floor map. The phras ...

of the exhibit as it appeared in the museum was also made available online.

Materials in the collection

Number of materials

5,004,294 items (as of FY2022). Of these, approximately 14,000 are on permanent display. Others are stored and researched in the Tsukuba area.独立行政法人国立科学博物館概要2012
/ref> * Animal Research Department – 2,346,747 items * Department of Botany – 2,110,147 items * Geology Department – 353,270 items * Humanity Research Department – 163,315 items * Department of Science and Engineering – 38,815 items About 100,000 items are newly collected each year.

Designated Cultural Properties

Terrestrial Globe and Celestial Globe 17th century Japan

The following items in the collection are designated as national Important Cultural Properties. * Celestial Globe and

Globe A globe is a spherical Earth, spherical Model#Physical model, model of Earth, of some other astronomical object, celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but, unlike maps, they do not distort the surface ...

Shibukawa Shunkai born as Yasui Santetsu (), later called Motoi Santetsu (), was a Japanese scholar, Go (game), go player and the first official astronomer appointed of the Edo period. He revised the Chinese lunisolar calendar at the shogunate request, drawi ...

(with two old pedestal boards) :

Myriad year clock The , was a universal clock designed by the Japanese inventor Hisashige Tanaka in 1851. It belongs to the category of Japanese clocks called '' Wadokei''. This clock is designated as an Important Cultural Property and a Mechanical Engineering ...

made in 1695,

celestial globe Celestial globes show the apparent positions of the stars in the sky. They omit the Sun, Moon, and planets because the positions of these bodies vary relative to those of the stars, but the ecliptic, along which the Sun moves, is indicated. ...

made in 1697. *

Hisashige Tanaka was a Japanese businessman, inventor, mechanical engineer, and rangaku scholar who was prominent during the Bakumatsu and early Meiji period in Japan. In 1875, he founded what became the Toshiba Corporation. He has been called the "Thomas ...

Toshiba is a Japanese multinational electronics company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, elevators and escalators, electronic components, semiconductors ...

: Made in 1851. Owned by

. In 1931, it was deposited at the Tokyo Science Museum (predecessor of the National Museum of Nature and Science). Exhibited on the 2nd floor of the Earth Pavilion. *

Astronomical telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observe dista ...

(8-inch flexure equatorial mount) made in UK. : Made by Troughton & Sims. The first full-scale and largest telescope imported to Japan. Used by the

NAOJ The (NAOJ) is an astronomical research organisation comprising several facilities in Japan, as well as an observatory in Hawaii and Chile. It was established in 1988 as an amalgamation of three existing research organizations - the Tokyo Astron ...

until 1967. * Milne horizontal pendulum

seismograph A seismometer is an instrument that responds to ground displacement and shaking such as caused by quakes, volcanic eruptions, and explosions. They are usually combined with a timing device and a recording device to form a seismograph. The out ...

(Appendix: Earthquake Record Vol. 41) : The oldest existing seismograph in Japan. It was installed in 1899 on the

Tokyo Imperial University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public university, public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several Edo peri ...

campus. Invented by Milne, a mining engineer and

seismologist Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes (or generally, quakes) and the generation and propagation of elastic ...

from England. * Sogeograph (tin foil

gramophone A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding physic ...

), made in England (attached: wooden box) : The first phonograph introduced to Japan. On 16 November 1878, at the Hitotsubashi laboratory of the

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

Faculty of Science, the first sound recording was made in Japan. * Former Tokyo Science Museum Main Building : Construction of the building was completed in September 1931 as the main building of the Tokyo Science Museum as part of the reconstruction project following the Great Kanto Earthquake. It was designed in the

Neo-Renaissance style Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of ...

. Designed by Kenzo Kasuya, an engineer in the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

Minister's Secretariat's Architecture Division, the building was designated an Important Cultural Property on 9 June 2008.

Exhibition buildings

Nihonkan (Japan Gallery)

The theme of the Ueno Main Building is "Aiming for the coexistence of humankind and nature," and consists of two exhibition halls, the Japan Pavilion and the Earth Pavilion. File:Zalophus japonicus2.jpg , ''

Zalophus japonicus The Japanese sea lion (''Zalophus japonicus'') (, ) was an aquatic mammal that became extinct in the 1970s. It was considered to be a subspecies of the related California sea lion (''Z. californianus'') until 2003. They inhabited the western Nort ...

'' File:Futabasaurus.jpg, ''

Futabasaurus ''Futabasaurus'' is a genus of plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Fukushima, Japan. It was described and named in 2006, and was assigned to the family Elasmosauridae. The genus contains one species, ''F. suzukii''. Description ''Futabasa ...

'' File:Nipponites.jpg, ''

Nipponites ''Nipponites'' is an extinct genus of heteromorph ammonites. The shells of ''Nipponites'' (primarily ''N. mirabilis'') form "ox-bow" bends, resulting in some of the most bizarre shapes seen among ammonites. The ecology of ''Nipponites'', as wit ...

ammonite Ammonoids are extinct, (typically) coiled-shelled cephalopods comprising the subclass Ammonoidea. They are more closely related to living octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish (which comprise the clade Coleoidea) than they are to nautiluses (family N ...

s File:Meteorites fell in Japan.jpg,

Meteorites A meteorite is a rock that originated in outer space and has fallen to the surface of a planet or moon. When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical interactions with the atmospheri ...

fell in Japan File:Japanese Crested Ibis.jpg, Japanese

crested ibis The crested ibis (''Nipponia nippon''), also known as the Japanese crested ibis, or Asian crested ibis, is a species of ibis, native to eastern Asia. It is the only member of the genus ''Nipponia''. In Japan, where it has special cultural signi ...

(''Nipponia nippon'') File:Amami rabbit Stuffed specimen.jpg, ''

Amami rabbit The Amami rabbit (''Pentalagus furnessi''), also known as the Ryukyu rabbit, is a dark-furred species of rabbit which is found only on Amami Ōshima and Tokunoshima, two small islands between southern Kyūshū and Okinawa in Japan. Often calle ...

'' File:Japan Wolf Skelton.jpg,

Honshu wolf The Japanese wolf (, , or , below]; ''Canis lupus hodophilax''), also known as the Honshū wolf, is an extinct subspecies of the gray wolf that was once endemic to the islands of Honshū, Shikoku and Kyūshū in the Japanese archipelago. It was ...

(Japanese wolf) File:Hachiko Stuffed specimen.jpg,

File:Silurus biwaensis Stuffed specimen.jpg,

Silurus biwaensis ''Silurus biwaensis'', the giant Lake Biwa catfish, is a large predatory catfish species endemic to Lake Biwa in Japan. Description The giant Lake Biwa catfish is very similar to wels catfish, which it is closely related to. It has an elongated ...

File:Paleoparadoxia Skeleton.jpg, ''

Paleoparadoxia ''Paleoparadoxia'' ("ancient paradox") is a genus of large, herbivorous aquatic mammals that inhabited the northern Pacific coastal region during the Miocene epoch (). It ranged from the waters of Japan (Tsuyama and Yanagawa), to Alaska in the no ...

'' Skeleton File:Roosters - National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo - DSC07125.JPG, Roosters File:Foucault pendulum in the National Museum of Nature and Science P2157428.jpg, Foucault pendulum File:Terrestrial Globe by Shibukawa Shunkai.jpg, Papier-mache

terrestrial globe A globe is a spherical model of Earth, of some other celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but, unlike maps, they do not distort the surface that they portray except to scale it down. A model globe ...

, created by

in 1695.

Important Cultural Properties of Japan An The term is often shortened into just is an item officially classified as Tangible Cultural Property (Japan), Tangible Cultural Property by the Government of Japan, Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs (Ministry of Education, Cul ...

File:Troughton & Simms Astronomical Telescope - Joy of Museums - National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo.jpg ,

Troughton & Simms Troughton & Simms was a British scientific instrument firm. It was formed when Edward Troughton in his old age took on William Simms as a partner in 1826. It became a limited company in 1915 and in 1922 it merged with T. Cooke & Sons to form ...

astronomical

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption, or Reflection (physics), reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using len ...

, 19th century.

File:Milne Horizontal Pendulum Seismograph.jpg, Milne horizontal pendulum

File:Tsurigane-Dokei.jpg, Tsurigane-dokei (hanging bell-shaped clock) File:Elekiter replica.jpg, The ''Elekiter'' (replica) made by

Hiraga Gennai was a Japanese polymath and ''rōnin'' of the Edo period. He was a pharmacologist, student of ''Rangaku'', author, painter and inventor well known for his '' Erekiteru'' (electrostatic generator), ''Kandankei'' (thermometer) and ''Kakanpu'' ...

File:Clockwork, view 1 - National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo - DSC07404.JPG, Clockwork File:Clock exhibit - National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo - DSC07212.JPG, Clock exhibit File:Clock exhibit - National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo - DSC07215.JPG, Clock exhibit

Chikyūkan (Global Gallery)

The theme is "History of Earth Life and Mankind". The exhibition area is 3 floors above ground and 3 floors below ground. The first phase of construction was completed in 1998. The permanent exhibition will be open to the public from 24 April, the following year. Grand opening on 2 November 2004 after the completion of the second phase of construction. The renovation work of the north exhibition hall started in September 2014, and the construction was completed the following year, and the grand opening was held on 14 July. File:Japanese Wolf.jpg,

(Japanese wolf) File:Thylacine Stuffed specimen.jpg,

Thylacine The thylacine (; binomial name ''Thylacinus cynocephalus''), also commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf, was a carnivorous marsupial that was native to the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and the islands of Tasmani ...

File:Giant panda Fei Fei and Tong Tong.jpg,

Giant panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear or simply panda, is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its white animal coat, coat with black patches around the eyes, ears, legs and shoulders. ...

s named "Fei Fei" (left) and "Tong Tong" (right) File:Myriad-Year Clock, made by Hisashige Tanaka, 1851, with western and Japanese dials, weekly, monthly, and zodiac setting, plus sun and moon - National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo - DSC07407.JPG,

, 19th century.

file:Dunkleosteus.jpg , ''

Dunkleosteus terrelli ''Dunkleosteus'' is an extinct genus of large arthrodira, arthrodire ("jointed-neck") fish that existed during the Late Devonian period, about 382–358 million years ago. It was a pelagic fish inhabiting open waters, and one of the first verteb ...

'' File:TeaAutomatAndMechanism.jpg,

Karakuri ningyō are traditional Japanese mechanized puppets or automata, made from the 17th century to the 19th century. The dolls' gestures provided a form of entertainment. The word has also come to mean "mechanisms" or "trick" in Japanese. It is used to ...

File:Hayabusa restoration model 2.jpg,

Hayabusa was a robotic spacecraft developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to return a sample of material from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa to Earth for further analysis. ''Hayabusa'', formerly known as MUSES-C ...

model File:A6M2b Zero at Tokyo-NSM.jpg,

Mitsubishi A6M Zero The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" is a long-range carrier-capable fighter aircraft formerly manufactured by Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. It was operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) from 1940 to 1945. The ...

(Zero Fighter) Model 21 File:Zero Fighter Plane Model 21.jpg, Zero Fighter Plane Model File:YS-11 Wind tunnel model.jpg,

NAMC YS-11 The NAMC YS-11 is a turboprop airliner designed and built by the Nihon Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation (NAMC), a Japanese consortium. It was the only post-war airliner to be wholly designed and manufactured in Japan until the development of t ...

wind tunnel model File:Space Flyer Unit.jpg,

Space Flyer Unit The was a spacecraft which was launched by Japan on March 18, 1995.
Main Reference

Technical dat ...

File:Saltwater crocodile Stuffed specimen.jpg,

Saltwater crocodile The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats, brackish wetlands and freshwater rivers from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaland to northern Australia and Micronesia. It ha ...

File:Exhibition of National Museum of Nature and Science.jpg, Skeleton of

sperm whale The sperm whale or cachalot (''Physeter macrocephalus'') is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the Genus (biology), genus ''Physeter'' and one of three extant species in the s ...

File:Animal collection National Museum of Nature and Science.jpg , Animal collection File:Giant Squid Specimen.jpg, Specimen of

giant squid The giant squid (''Architeuthis dux'') is a species of deep-ocean dwelling squid A squid (: squid) is a mollusc with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight cephalopod limb, arms, and two tentacles in the orders Myopsida, Oegopsida, ...

file:Indricotherium.jpg, ''

Paraceratherium ''Paraceratherium'' is an extinct genus of hornless rhinocerotoids belonging to the family Paraceratheriidae. It is one of the largest terrestrial mammals that has ever existed and lived from the early to late Oligocene epoch (34–23 ...

'' File:Protypotherium Fossil.jpg, ''

Protypotherium ''Protypotherium'' is an extinct genus of Notoungulata, notoungulate mammals native to South America during the Oligocene and Miocene epoch (geology), epochs. A number of closely related animals date back further, to the Eocene. Fossils of ''Prot ...

'' File:Triceratops Raymond National Museum of Nature and Science.jpg, Fossil of ''

Triceratops ''Triceratops'' ( ; ) is a genus of Chasmosaurinae, chasmosaurine Ceratopsia, ceratopsian dinosaur that lived during the late Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous Period (geology), period, about 68 to 66 million years ago on the island ...

'' named "Raymond" File:Mola mola Stuffed specimen.jpg, largest taxidermy of ''

Mola mola The ocean sunfish (''Mola mola''), also known as the common mola, is one of the largest bony fish in the world. It is the type species of the genus ''Mola'', and one of five extant species in the family Molidae. It was once misidentified as th ...

'' File:Basilosaurus and Tylosaurus.jpg, ''

Basilosaurus ''Basilosaurus'' (meaning "king lizard") is a genus of large, predatory, prehistoric archaeocete whale from the late Eocene, approximately 41.3 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). First described in 1834, it was the first archaeocete and prehisto ...

'' and ''

Tylosaurus ''Tylosaurus'' (; "knob lizard") is a genus of Russellosaurina, russellosaurine mosasaur (an extinct group of predatory marine Squamata, lizards) that lived about 92 to 66 million years ago during the Turonian to Maastrichtian stages of the Late ...

'' File:Nantan Meteorite National Museum of Nature and Science.jpg, The largest fragment of

Nantan meteorite The Nantan meteorite is an iron meteorite that belongs to the IAB group and the MG (main group) subgroup. In 2000, pieces of the meteorite were included in an art installation for The BullRing Shopping Centre in Birmingham, England. A plaque no ...

File:Tyrannosaurus rex Bucky - National Museum of Nature and Science.jpg, ''

Tyrannosaurus rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' () is a genus of large theropoda, theropod dinosaur. The type species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' ( meaning 'king' in Latin), often shortened to ''T. rex'' or colloquially t-rex, is one of the best represented theropods. It live ...

'' File:Moon rock National Museum of Nature and Science.jpg,

Moon rock Moon rock or lunar rock is rock originating from Earth's Moon. This includes lunar material collected during the course of human exploration of the Moon, and rock that has been ejected naturally from the Moon's surface and landed on Earth ...

File:Displays - National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo - DSC07503.JPG, Taxidermy Displays

National research facility

Museum research facility *

Tsukuba Botanical Garden The is a major botanical garden near the University of Tsukuba at 4-1-1 Amakubo, Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. It is open daily except Mondays; an admission fee is charged. As a research branch of the National Museum of Nature and Science, ...

Other National research facilities *

Ueno Zoo The is a zoo, managed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and located in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. It is Japan's oldest zoo, opened on March 20, 1882. It is served by Ueno Station, Keisei Ueno Station and Nezu Station, with convenient access from ...

Tama Zoo The is a zoo, owned by the government of Tokyo Metropolis, and located in Hino, Tokyo, Japan. The Tama Zoo was opened on May 5, 1958, originally as a of the Ueno Zoo. The zoo aims to use its large site – 52 ha, compared to the 14.3 ha of the Ue ...

Tokyo Sea Life Park is a public aquarium located in Kasai Rinkai Park, Edogawa, Tokyo, Edogawa Ward, Tokyo. Its predecessor was the Ueno Aquarium in the Ueno Zoo. The building was designed by Yoshio Taniguchi. The aquarium is accredited as a museum-equivalent facil ...

Access

Ueno Station is a major railway station in Tokyo's Taitō ward. It is the station used to reach the Ueno district and Ueno Park—which contains Tokyo National Museum, The National Museum of Western Art, Ueno Zoo, Tokyo University of the Arts and other ...

Uguisudani Station is a railway station in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The name relates to a valley where formerly many Japanese bush warblers (''uguisu'') were found. The station is to the north of the Tokyo National ...

Keisei Ueno Station is a railway station in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Keisei Electric Railway. It is the terminus of the Keisei Main Line and is a short distance from JR Ueno Station. Layout The station is underground bene ...

References

External links

National Museum of Nature and Science
– official site in English
National Museum of Nature and Science on Google Cultural Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:National Museum Of Nature And Science Ueno Park Museums in Tokyo Dinosaur museums in Japan Fossil museums in Japan Science museums in Japan National museums of Japan Natural history museums in Japan Museums established in 1871 1871 establishments in Japan Buildings and structures in Taitō Neoclassical architecture in Japan Art Deco architecture in Japan Hachikō