National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Nihon Gagaku Miraikan)

National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Nihon Gagaku Miraikan) Review

Make sure to stop by the third floor of this museum known locally as Miraikan), where you will meet the most famous intelligent robot in the world, ASIMO, and a host of other experimental robots in development. This museum has four different themes: "Earth Environment and Frontiers," "Innovation and the Future," "Information Science and Technology for Society," and "Life Science." The rest of the museum is what the Japanese call o-majime (deeply sincere)—five floors of thematic displays on environment-friendly technologies, life sciences, and the like with high seriousness and not much fun. The director of this facility, Dr. Mamoru Mohri, was Japan's first astronaut, who in 1992 logged some 460 hours in space aboard the NASA Spacelab-J Endeavor. Some of the exhibits have English-language explanations. It's a short walk here from the Museum of Maritime Science.