Osaka Science Museum

The Osaka Science Museum is a city-run science museum on Nakanoshima, the river island in Osaka's Kita ward that also holds Nakanoshima Park and its riverside paths. Its theme is space and energy. The museum has about 200 exhibits on four floors, most of them hands-on, plus one of the best-known planetariums in Japan.

The museum continues the Osaka Municipal Electric Science Museum, which opened in March 1937 as Japan's first science museum. That building installed Japan's first planetarium projector, a Carl Zeiss Model II, and the projector is now on display in the basement.

Osaka Science Museum tickets and prices

The exhibition halls and the planetarium are ticketed separately.

• Exhibition halls: 400 yen for adults, 300 yen for high school and university students, free for junior high students and younger

• Planetarium (per show): 600 yen for adults, 450 yen for high school and university students, 300 yen for ages 3 to junior high

• Students: bring a student ID to get the student rate

An exhibition ticket is valid all day, so you can leave and come back. Planetarium tickets for every show that day go on sale at the counter when the museum opens, and popular shows sell out. Online tickets are sold from seven days ahead until one hour before each show. Check current prices on the science museum's ticket page before you go.

Children in third grade or younger cannot visit on their own. They need to come with someone in fourth grade or older, ideally an adult.

The planetarium

Each planetarium show lasts about 45 minutes in a dome with 250 seats. Doors close when the show starts and latecomers are not let in, so arrive a few minutes early. The museum's astronomy staff narrate every show live in Japanese, and each program includes a tour of that night's sky over Osaka.

The projector is a Konica Minolta Infinium Σ-OSAKA, which shows about 9,000 stars brighter than magnitude 6.5. Themes change about every three months. A morning "Family Time" show is aimed at small children, and staff curators run a special program on weekend and holiday evenings.

What to see on each floor

• 4F Exploring Science: experimental apparatus used at Osaka University and the University of Tokyo, and Edo-period star charts

• 3F Exploring Matter: natural stones and precious metals beside a wall of the periodic table, plus a stage with daily experiment shows

• 2F Science for Everyone: five play zones on everyday physics such as mirrors and magnets, built for younger children

• 1F Everyone's Science Lab: temporary exhibitions and workshops beside Gakutensoku, which the museum calls Japan's first robot

• B1F Zeiss Plaza: the 1937 Zeiss Model II projector, which about 11 million people saw before it retired in 1989

The science shows are in Japanese. The exhibits themselves are visual and interactive, so children enjoy them without much reading. The museum website also has an English museum guide to download.

How to get to the Osaka Science Museum

• Higobashi Station (Osaka Metro Yotsubashi Line): from Exit 3, walk about 500 meters west and cross Chikuzen Bridge

• Watanabebashi Station (Keihan Nakanoshima Line): about 400 meters from Exit 2

• Yodoyabashi Station (Midosuji Line or Keihan Main Line): about 1 kilometer west along the north bank of the Tosabori River from Exit 7

• JR Fukushima or Shin-Fukushima Station: about 1 kilometer south along Naniwa-suji

The museum has no parking of its own. Nakanoshima is also on the route of this Osaka river cruise and sightseeing tour, if you would like a guide for the rest of the city.

Is the Osaka Science Museum good for kids?

Yes. Entry to the exhibition halls is free for junior high students and younger, and the second floor is built for young children. For more ideas on the same trip, see these family days out in Osaka.