Museum sights in Osaka
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Museum of Oriental Ceramics
With more than 2700 pieces in its permanent exhibits, this museum has one of the finest collections of Chinese and Korean ceramics anywhere in the world. At any one time, approximately 300 of the gorgeous pieces from the permanent collection are on display, and there are often special exhibits (which cost extra). Last entry 4.30pm.
To get to the museum, go to Yodoyabashi Station on either the Midō-suji line or the Keihan line (different stations). Walk north to the river and cross to Nakano-shima. Turn right, pass the city hall on your left, bear left with the road, and look for the squat brown brick building.
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Osaka Human Rights Museum
The Osaka Human Rights Museum which goes by two names, is dedicated to the suffering of Japan's Burakumin people and other oppressed groups, including Koreans, the handicapped, the Ainu and women. The most fascinating exhibits deal with the Burakumin, outcasts in Japan's four-tiered caste system that was officially outlawed in 1879 under the Emancipation Edict issued by the Meiji government.
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National Museum of Ethnology
Located in Osaka Banpaku-kōen (World Expo Park), this museum is arguably Osaka's best. It's well worth the trip from downtown Osaka or Kyoto, especially if there's a good special exhibit on (check Kansai Scene or the tourist information offices for upcoming exhibits).
The museum provides a whirlwind tour through the cultural artefacts of many of the world's cultures. Exhibits range from Bollywood movie posters to Thai túk-túk (motorised transport), with Ainu textiles, Bhutanese mandalas and Japanese festival floats in between. There is little English signage, but most of the materials are self-explanatory. You can borrow a sheet of English explanations from the recepti…
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Osaka Museum of History
Just southwest of Osaka-jō, the Osaka Museum of History is housed in a fantastic new sail-shaped building adjoining the Osaka NHK Broadcast Center. The display floors of the museum occupy the 7th to the 10th floors.
The displays are broken into four sections by floor; you start at the top and work your way down, passing in time from the past to the present. The displays are very well done and there are plenty of English explanations; taped tours are available.
The museum is a two-minute walk northeast of Tanimachi-yonchōme Station.
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C
Osaka Museum of Housing & Living
Two subway stops from Umeda is the Osaka Museum of Housing & Living, which contains a life-sized reproduction of an entire 1830s Edo-period Osaka neighbourhood. You can enter and inspect shophouses, meeting halls, drug stores and even an old-style sentō (public bath). The rooms and houses are dimly lit in order to re-create the ambience of pre-electric Osaka. The museum also contains a room filled with dioramas of post-Meiji Osaka neighbourhoods, including an interesting community of buses that were converted into homes following WWII.
To get there, from the station's exit 3, go through the glass doors to the left of the escalator and take the elevator to the 8th floor. T…
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Modern Transportation Museum
If you've got kids in tow or just love those trains, then you'll want to check out the small but interesting Modern Transportation Museum, on the west side of town and easily accessed by the JR Osaka Loop line. The displays focus mostly on trains, but there are also some great models of ships and aircraft, several decent interactive displays, as well as life-sized shinkansen that you can climb inside to check out what things look like from the engineer's seat. Outside, there are several real steam and electric engines and passenger cars that you can climb inside (one is a working restaurant car). Finally, don't miss the great model-train layout at the far end of the build…
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