If you didn’t already know that Japan is the model-making center of the universe, a visit to the Small Worlds Miniature Museum will explode your head with the level of intricacy, detail and humor—not to mention the number of man-hours—lavished on each and every landscape.
Each town is not just impressively vast and filled with insanely detailed buildings, vehicles and infrastructure (with trains running through it, of course)…
every world lights up as the museum cycles into the nighttime hours. Some were inspired by ideal European hamlets…
some by Asian cities…
and some by completely fictional universes like Sailor Moon and Evangelion.
(By the way, if you’re an Evangelion fan, there’s a huge, working, Tokyo-3 model that rises up from underground, then disappears again as day cycles into night.)
But people are people, even in fantasy worlds, and that’s where this miniature museum—and many other see-worthy Japanese models, like the one featuring scaled-down world monuments, all landscaped with thousands of living bonsai trees—truly shine.
For example, while Sailor Moon’s “Crystal Tokyo” glitters with unearthly light just beyond the fence, citizens gather at a playing field to sprawl on the lawn and watch a movie.
Look closely, and you’ll find little easter eggs everywhere, like this backstreet Weinermobile…
or a wedding in a packed church.
Odd characters join their human counterparts to wave from the rooftops…
and the dragon that just landed outside Europeville is soon surrounded by a horde of people daring each other to do dangerous stunts and snapping selfies with it.
There’s a big model airport, complete with all the hassles of baggage claim, but you can watch model planes actually take off and land on the runways as day cycles into night. It even dishes up a fireworks show from time to time!
But even better is the spaceport, where the modelmakers have imagined a future with check-in kiosks on the edge of a space-viewing platform…
with rockets that trundle over to the launchpad and depart periodically, blasting real steam.
There are also plenty of lovely scenes from regular Japanese life, like this bon dance…
and the tuna auction at the old Tsukiji Market.
The final treat on your way out is a chance to take closer look at some of the tinier elements…
like this seafood that is so lovingly crafted, you can identify the different kinds of fish!
And finally, a peek into the studio where the magic is made.
But the biggest only-in-Japan opportunity at Small Worlds is to have a miniature model of yourself 3-D scanned and painted by the artists here!
It takes a month for your personal miniature to be shipped (or ready for pick-up), but as you can see, both the price and the wait are well worth it.
There’s also a “Residency” program (which costs a lot more) and allows your figure to be installed for a year in the exhibit of your choice! (Information on that is here. Scroll down past the ticket prices to the section called “3D Figure Resident Plan.”)
As a final note, this museum is more aware than most of the needs of people with mobility issues. The entire place is wheelchair accessible, but twice a month they set aside special days for wheelchair users to access some of the more challenging spaces more easily. They also have special days when pets are welcome. Information about special entrance days and a calendar are on their website here (in English).
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Small Worlds Miniature Museum
Open: Every day
Hours: 9:00 – 19:00
Admission: Adults ¥3450, Students (12-17) ¥2870, Children (4-11) ¥2120
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And here are the other places I take my friends when they come to town
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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly e-magazine Japanagram, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
Jonelle Patrick writes about Japan 