This is a free two story historical museum. I had visited once a long time ago and little had changed. It’s an interesting place.
Jirocho Shimizu (1820-1893) was well known in this area during his lifetime. He is said to have opened Japan's first English school in 1874. This museum is a restored version of the seamen's inn that Jirocho Shimizu opened in 1886.
The eyes never stop looking at you.
The old wood carvings are gorgeous.
On the second floor is the English school.
I first posted about this prison to hotel project here in 2022. At that time, it was anticipated that the hotel would open in 2024, but due to an earthquake-resistance assessment, it was delayed. The end of June 2026, it opened for business.
The prison was one of five built by the government during the Meiji Era (1868-1912), showcasing modern prison facilities in Japan. It later became a juvenile prison, closing in 2017 because the aging facilities.
Hoshino Resorts, Inc. now runs the property as a luxury hotel, with 48 suites, which were created by combining former cells. The property is turning the prison into a tourist attraction. The site is near Nara Park, known for landmarks such as the Todai-ji temple complex and its free-roaming deer.
A one night stay starts at 147,000 yen per suite room, which includes visiting the Nara Prison Museum. The hotel aims for an 80 per cent occupancy rate within three years.
I would like to stay at this hotel, but it is a little out of my price range. Maybe I could just visit the museum.
The location of this museum is a 30 minute walk from Kambara Station in Shizuoka Prefecture. The building is a former school and is open Monday - Friday 9:30 - 4:30 and the third Saturday. When we arrived, my friend and I were given a scavenger hunt type paper where we could find the picture item and write the number of its location. (We each won a prize at the end for finding all of the artifacts.)
As we were looking at the exhibits, we were invited to join three other visitors for a tour of the whole facility. I felt very lucky to see what was behind the scenes.
We were first led to a large room containing documentation of everything in the most minute detail. I think this man is the museum director, or maybe the supervisor of the collections.
After that, we visited artifact workshop rooms.
I wasn’t good at keeping up with pictures of everything on our fast paced tour. There were rooms and rooms full of carefully packed items and specialized rooms for photography and documenting. Oversized items had special places, smaller items were packed in storage boxes.
Several gymnasiums were also used as storage areas. It is amazing how much there is, all labeled.
This place is amazing, and the behind the scenes tour was icing on the cake! And, it’s free.
I have become quite interested in these ancient burial sites lately. This one (and others) were discovered when the new highway was built. This is a well done informational site, out in the country-side, with two parking places.
The dots on the sign below represent all the burial sites in the area. The bigger red dot next to the highway represents this one.
This information sign shows the location of other nearby kofuns that were discovered in this area.
Inside is a motion light, so visitors can see the inside.
After we left the kofun site, we went to the local history museum to see these artifacts that were found inside the kofun.
Another recent interest of mine is the Soga Brothers, so I took a picture of them.
This is the museum from the outside. There is a free parking lot next to the museum.
This museum opened in 2007 as a memorial to the life and work of Koizumi Yakumo, who was also known as Lafcadio Hearn. Mr. Hearn was born in Greece as Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (June 27, 1850 - September 26, 1904). He was a Greek and Irish writer, translator, and teacher. Prior to moving to Japan and becoming a Japanese citizen, he worked as a journalist in the United States. In Japan, he married Koizumi Setsu and took the name Koizumi Yakumo. He and his family lived in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture. I first heard of him when I was in the area to visit Matsue Castle.
From 1897 until his death in 1904, he spent summers in Yaizu, Shizuoka Prefecture.
The Museum is free and is about a 20 minute walk from the Yaizu train station. A lot of the museum information is in English.
I highly recommend a visit to this museum!
