Osaka Science Museum
Encyclopedia
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Science museum
A science museum or a science centre is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in museology have broadened the range of...
in Naka-no-shima, Kita-ku
Kita-ku, Osaka
is one of 24 wards of Osaka, Japan.-Economy:West Japan Railway Company has its headquarters in Kita-ku. Nihon Bussan has its headquarters in Kita-ku. Dentsu and Yomiuri Shimbun have branch offices in Kita-ku. Mazda has an office in the Umeda Sky Building Tower East. Air France has an office on the...
, Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. The museum is located between the Dōjima River and the Tosabori River, above Osaka's subterranean National Museum of Art
National Museum of Art, Osaka
The is a subterranean Japanese art museum located on the island of Nakanoshima, located between the Dōjima River and the Tosabori River, about 5 minutes west of Higobashi Station in central Osaka....
. Opened in 1989, the museum was constructed to mark the 100th anniversary of Osaka City. The construction was funded through a 6.5 billion yen donation toward building costs from Kansai Electric. Its theme is "The Universe and Energy" and it was opened in 1989. Before the war a similar museum opened in 1937. It was known as the Osaka City Electricity Science Museum and it was both the first science museum
Science museum
A science museum or a science centre is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in museology have broadened the range of...
and the first planetarium
Planetarium
A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation...
in Japan.
The Science Museum's primary permanent exhibition consists of four floors of mainly interactive science exhibits, totaling 200 items, with each floor focusing on a different theme. There is also a live science show with science demonstrations several times per day. Like the rest of the museum, these demonstrations are in Japanese only and visitors may require prior scientific knowledge to enjoy them.
The two secondary exhibits, both available separately from the primary exhibit, are a planetarium
Planetarium
A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation...
, which has a dome with a radius of 26.5 meters, the fifth largest in the world, and an Omnimax
Omnimax
Omnimax may refer to:* A variation of the IMAX film format that is projected on an angled dome* A shorthand expression for a deity that is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and/or omnibenevolent...
theatre, which projects the images of the heavens. In July 2004, the planetarium reopened after a renovation displaying the entire night sky as a next-generation digital image.
The museum also houses a collection of scientific resources, including
- Japan's first planetarium (a Carl Zeiss II model)
- the Cockcroft-Walton acceleratorParticle acceleratorA particle accelerator is a device that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to high speeds and to contain them in well-defined beams. An ordinary CRT television set is a simple form of accelerator. There are two basic types: electrostatic and oscillating field accelerators.In...
- resources related to Seimikyoku, Japan's first full-fledged chemistry laboratory
- pre-war electrical measuring devices
Its collection of books and magazines for a general audience, largely on astronomy, is the most comprehensive in West Japan.
The science building is the place where Hideki Yukawa
Hideki Yukawa
né , was a Japanese theoretical physicist and the first Japanese Nobel laureate.-Biography:Yukawa was born in Tokyo and grew up in Kyoto. In 1929, after receiving his degree from Kyoto Imperial University, he stayed on as a lecturer for four years. After graduation, he was interested in...
created his theory on meson
Meson
In particle physics, mesons are subatomic particles composed of one quark and one antiquark, bound together by the strong interaction. Because mesons are composed of sub-particles, they have a physical size, with a radius roughly one femtometer: 10−15 m, which is about the size of a proton...
s, for which he was awarded a Nobel prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
. At the time this building was part of Osaka University. It was also the first place in Japan where cosmic waves were measured.
Construction history
- Founded— 1989
- Completed— 1989
- Design— Takenaka CorporationTakenaka Corporationis the biggest architecture, engineering, and construction firm in Japan. Its headquarters is in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture.The company's website also claims it to be the oldest firm of that type anywhere in the world, since the demise of Kongō Gumi which was substantially older...
- Total floor area— 8,920.79m²
- Address— 4-2-1, Naka-no-shima, Kita-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka-fu 530-0005
Curatorial History
- Tadao Nakano (first curator, former Osaka City UniversityOsaka City University, abbreviated to , is a public university in Japan. It is located in Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka City.- History :OCU's predecessor was founded in 1880, as the Osaka Commercial Training Institute with donations by local merchants. It developed into Osaka Commercial School in 1885, then was municipalized in...
professor) - Noriaki Takahashi (current, former Osaka UniversityOsaka University, or , is a major national university located in Osaka, Japan. It is the sixth oldest university in Japan as the Osaka Prefectural Medical College, and formerly one of the Imperial Universities of Japan...
professor)
Hours of operation
The Science Museum's official hours of operation are 9:30am to 4:45pm. It is closed on Mondays, but makes exceptions for national holidaysHolidays of Japan
Public holidays in Japan were established by the of 1948 .A provision of the law establishes that when a national holiday falls on a Sunday, the next working day shall become a public holiday, known as . Additionally, any day that falls between two other national holidays shall also become a...
. It is also closed for maintenance between December 28th and January 4th.
Transport access
- Keihan Electric RailwayKeihan Electric Railwayis a Japanese railway operator in Osaka, Kyoto, and Shiga Prefectures. It is known as , or .-History:Keihan started its operation between Osaka and Kyoto in 1910. It was the first electric railway to connect these two cities, and the first line on the left bank of Yodo River...
Nakanoshima LineKeihan Nakanoshima LineThe is a railway line operated by the Keihan Electric Railway in Osaka, Japan. It opened on October 19, 2008.-Services:The following services operate on the Nakanoshima Line, through-running to/from the Keihan Main Line...
Nakanoshima StationNakanoshima Station (Osaka)is a train station on the Keihan Nakanoshima Line in Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan. It opened on October 19, 2008...
— Around 300m east - Osaka Municipal SubwayOsaka Municipal Subwayis the metro network in the city of Osaka, Japan, forming an integral part of the extensive mass transit system of Greater Osaka , having 125 out of the 1,108 rail stations in the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto region. In 2010 the greater Osaka region had 13 million rail passengers daily of which the Osaka...
Yotsubashi Line Higobashi StationHigobashi Stationis a train station on the Osaka Municipal Subway Yotsubashi Line in Nishi-ku, Osaka, Japan.-Connecting line:*Keihan Railway Nakanoshima Line -Layout:There is an island platform with two tracks on the second basement.-Surroundings:...
— Around 500m west - Hanshin Electric RailwayHanshin Electric Railwayis a Japanese private railway company of Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group that links Osaka and Kobe. It also owns the Hanshin Tigers baseball team.The second character for Osaka and the first character for Kobe combine to form the company name, 阪神, which can be read Han-shin.IC cards are accepted when...
Main Line Fukushima StationFukushima Station (Osaka)is a railway station in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Japan, on the West Japan Railway Company Osaka Loop Line and the Hanshin Electric Railway Main Line...
— Around 800m south - West Japan Railway CompanyWest Japan Railway Company, also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group companies and operates in western Honshū. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka.-History:...
JR Tōzai LineJR Tozai Lineis one of several Metro / commuter rail lines and services in Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto Metropolitan Area, operated by West Japan Railway Company. The line, whose name literally means "east-west", runs underground through central Osaka and connects the Gakkentoshi Line at Kyobashi Station in Osaka and the...
Shin-Fukushima StationShin-Fukushima Stationis a train station in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan.-Line:*West Japan Railway Company **JR Tōzai LineStations and rail lines near Shin-Fukushima Station*JR West Osaka Loop Line: Fukushima Station...
— Around 800m south - Osaka Municipal SubwayOsaka Municipal Subwayis the metro network in the city of Osaka, Japan, forming an integral part of the extensive mass transit system of Greater Osaka , having 125 out of the 1,108 rail stations in the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto region. In 2010 the greater Osaka region had 13 million rail passengers daily of which the Osaka...
Midosuji Line Yodoyabashi StationYodoyabashi StationYodoyabashi Station is a train station on the Osaka Municipal Subway Midosuji Line and the Keihan Railway Keihan Main Line...
— Around 900m west - West Japan Railway Company Osaka Loop LineOsaka Loop LineThe is a railway line in Japan operated by West Japan Railway Company . It encircles central Osaka.The second loop line, the Osaka Higashi Line, from Hanaten to Kyuhoji was opened on March 15, 2008, and the line from Shigino to Shin-Ōsaka is planned to open in 2020.-Outline:This loop line consists...
Fukushima StationFukushima Station (Osaka)is a railway station in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Japan, on the West Japan Railway Company Osaka Loop Line and the Hanshin Electric Railway Main Line...
— Around 900m south - Osaka Municipal Bus Taminobashi stop
- 10 minutes from Osaka StationOsaka Stationis a station on the West Japan Railway Company located in the Umeda district in Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan. It is the city's main rail terminal in the north....
on Route 53 or 75
- 10 minutes from Osaka Station
- Osaka Municipal Bus Tosabori Itchōme stop
- 10 minutes from Osaka StationOsaka Stationis a station on the West Japan Railway Company located in the Umeda district in Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan. It is the city's main rail terminal in the north....
on Route 88 - 5 minutes from Yodoyabashi StationYodoyabashi StationYodoyabashi Station is a train station on the Osaka Municipal Subway Midosuji Line and the Keihan Railway Keihan Main Line...
on Route 88
- 10 minutes from Osaka Station
- Hokko Kanko Bus Osaka Science Museum / the National Museum of Art, Osaka stop
- 10 minutes from Yodoyabashi Station on Nakanoshima Loop Bus
- Hanshin ExpresswayHanshin ExpresswayThe is a network of expressways surrounding Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto, Japan. Operated by , it opened in 1962.Portions of the Hanshin Expressway collapsed during the Kobe earthquake on January 17, 1995. These sections were rebuilt by 1996...
Nakanoshima-nishi Exit / Tosabori Exit / Fukushima Exit
Information on the surrounding area
- National Museum of Art, OsakaNational Museum of Art, OsakaThe is a subterranean Japanese art museum located on the island of Nakanoshima, located between the Dōjima River and the Tosabori River, about 5 minutes west of Higobashi Station in central Osaka....
- Kansai Electric
- United Church of Christ in Japan Osaka Church
- Daibiru
- Rihga Royal Hotel
- Osaka International Convention CenterOsaka International Convention CenterThe is a multi-purpose convention center in the city of Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan.A Keihan railway station is located underground , operating as the terminus for the Nakanoshima Line.- Past events :...
- Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka
- Osaka Nakano-shima Government Building