IbarakiNatureMuseum

Ibaraki Nature Museum Website:

This is a great place to spend the entire day with your kids!

Ibaraki Natura Museum, a.k.a. Museum Park in Bando City, Ibaraki
has excellent exhibits that will keep children excited and busy,
and the best of all make them VERY tired!!!

The admissions are 520yen for adults, 100 to 320yen for students.
However, the admissions go up to 720yen for adults and 140 to
440yens for students during the special exhibit.*
(*Please see below for additional information.)

Kids up to high school-age can get in FREE on Saturdays
except during the long holidays like Spring and Summer Breaks.

The dino exhibit is one of the elements that made this museum very famous and popular. The dinos in this museum move! I see kids who fall under a spell of moving dino and refuse to leave the place every time I visit that exhibit! As a matter of fact, I've heard many kids refer to this museum, "the dinosaur museum." ... Parents, be warned!

There are various trails outside, and if you just want to enjoy the weather and have a picnic in the safe environment for kids, the museum's outside facilities are the place to be!

-The "water course" doesn't have the running water during the fall-winter season, but it gets crowded with kids in underwears and diapers!

-The "sand box area" is one off the coolest spots in this museum because you can search for your very own fossils! I didn't bring any tools, but there were some kids (and moms!) who brought their own shovels and buckets. We only found small shells, but you never know what you'll find there since the museum regularly transport the sand from the Kokai River filled with fossils, and dumps it in the sand box.

* To those who just want to use the outside facilities, the admission to the outside facilities are 200yen for adults and 50yen to 100yen for kids.

-Enjoy the view from the Sugao Marsh Friienship Bridge. The other side of the marsh is the Asunaro-no-Sato, a training and educational establishment known for its camping accommodations. There are hot spring, fishing pond, small zoo, and other facilities for addtional costs, but the fees are minimal, for example, 300yen to get into Asunaro-no-Sato, 200yen for hot spring, and 200p/h for fishing pond.

- If you visit the marsh in winter, you might be able to see swans up close!
The museum guide told me that there are usually about 200 swans each day, but only 56 were confirmed on the day of my visit which was mid-February. I took the picture below from the bridge, and the swans were only a few meters away. Many swans were getting ready to fly back north, so there were many, probably amateur, photographers waiting for their Kodak moments.

Last Updated: Feb.27.06