Overview
A home to wonderfully invigorating hiking trails and natural features, Akiruno City also finds time to offer some museums and art galleries for visitors to indulge in. Local history gets a particular focus here but a most quirky and delightfully personable art gallery also features. Here is an introduction to the museums and galleries of Akiruno and how to reach them.
Fukuzawa Chiisana Museum
With its startlingly fairy tale-like design, the Fukuzawa Chiisana Museum is a enchanting gallery showcasing the works of sculptor Tomonaga Akimitsu. Trained as a puppeteer, the creations on display include puppets from a successful TV series Tomonaga was involved in as well as wooden sculptures all exhibited within an interior design smiling with natural personality. The garden is particularly blissful. Closed during winter, the museum is a modest JPY500 to enter.
Forty minutes on foot or ten minutes by taxi from Musashi-Itsukaichi Station on the JR Itsukaichi Line.
Itsukaichi Folk Museum
A seemingly straightforward museum detailing the history of the local area, the two-storey Itsukaichi Folk Museum surprises with just how far back its collection goes. Fossil records dating back 15 million years can be found on the first floor as well as tools, portable shrines, rickshaws, maps and dioramas. All of this gives a real sense of heritage while the second floor features documents and exhibits relating to the city's history and development. What's more, admission is free.
A 15-minute walk from Musashi-Itsukaichi Station on the JR Itsukaichi Line.
Ninomiya Archaeological Museum
With an interest in the old, ancient history buffs will easily make a quick detour to visit the small Ninomiya Archaeological Museum. Displaying earthenware and stone stools recovered from local archaeological digs in the area, the museum's collection of around 150 items is all the more impressive because of its proximity - everything came from the local region. Items dating back to the Paleolithic Age and those registered as Tangible Cultural Properties give this nondescript free museum that added plus.
A 5-minute walk from Higashi-Akiru Station on the JR Itsukaichi Line.
