Open Air Museums (original) (raw)
Japan has many, beautifully arranged open air museums, displaying historic buildings from various regions of Japan and historical periods. Some of the best are listed below:
Historic Village of Hokkaido
This open air museum's theme is the development of Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido, which took place on a large scale during the Meiji Period (1868 to 1912).
Abashiri Prison Museum
This museum exhibits the former buildings of the Abashiri Prison and illustrates the everyday life of the prisoners.
Michinoku Folklore Village
This open air museum exhibits various farmhouses and other buildings from different historical periods from the Tohoku Region.
Boso no Mura
Nor far from Narita Airport, Boso no Mura ("Boso Village") displays traditional local lifestyle and crafts of the area around Chiba Prefecture. It reproduces a typical local village of the Edo Period, complete with merchant houses, workshops and farms.
Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum
The "outdoor section" of the Edo-Tokyo Museum, this open air museum features various historical buildings of the Tokyo area, mainly from the Meiji Period (1868-1912).
Nihon Minkaen
This open air museum in the suburbs of Tokyo exhibits preserved various buildings from the Edo Period which were relocated to Kawasaki from all over Japan, including farmhouses, samurai houses, merchant houses and more.
Meiji Mura
One of Japan's largest and best open air museums, Meiji Mura ("Meiji Village") exhibits buildings from across Japan, which were built during the Meiji Period (1868-1912).
Hida Folk Village
The outstanding Hida Folk Village exhibits various buildings, including a few gassho-zukuri houses, from Hida, the mountainous region around Takayama.
Gassho-zukuri Minkaen
This museum exhibits and conserves numerous gasshozukuri farmhouses and other structures, which were relocated here from surrounding villages.
Shikoku Mura
The Shikoku Mura ("Shikoku Village") displays buildings and structures from various historical periods and from across the island of Shikoku.
Glover Garden
This garden with good views of Nagasaki, exhibits the former homes of Western residents and other Western style buildings, dating from the second half of the 19th century.
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