Niigata City History Museum: Minatopia *Activity Archive*
Last month during Golden Week, I didnāt travel outside of Niigata, but I still made the most of my time by visiting several places in the city. One place that Iād been wanting to go to was the Niigata City History Museum, also known as Minatopia. Minatopia, as its more formal name would suggest, is a museum focused on the history of Niigata all the way from the Jomon period to modern times.
From the minute you step onto the grounds of the museum, youāre struck by the history of the place. The first building you see is a beautiful old red and white building which you walk through to get to the museum grounds. This is the former customs building, and includes some free areas where you can read about Niigata and rest. There are also several other historical buildings on the grounds, each marked by a sign with a description (in Japanese, but thatās what Google translate is for). They even have some cool water features and tons of beautiful plants if you go in the spring or summer, which, along with the view of the Shinano river, makes for some beautiful scenery.
The Niigata City History Museum itself is the biggest building on the grounds, with the only other one coming close being the hall right across from it that has bathrooms and a restaurant (which looked temporarily closed when I went). The museum almost looks like a palace or a government building with its high ivory walls, simple designs, and mock columns. While itās free to roam the grounds, Minatopia has an admission fee of 300 yen for the regular exhibit about Niigata on the second floor. Or, for 400 yen you can get a combination ticket to the museum and the Ozawa family residence, an old merchant's house a 15 minute walk away. Minatopia also has a rotating special exhibit on the first floor, but the price for that is separate and depends on the exhibit.
Once upstairs, you can scan a QR code to access both English and Chinese guided tours, as long as you donāt miss the paper like I did the first time. Each section has a number that you can use to listen to the right explanation. However, even if you miss the translated guided tour like me, you can still have fun. You might want to translate some of the explanations, but thereās plenty to simply look at too, including old artifacts, replicas of artifacts or places, and videos about how things were made. One side takes you through a timeline of Niigata from the Jomon period to the late 1900s, while the other side dives deeper into the lifestyle of people in Niigata before modern times. Plus, your regular admissions ticket also allows you to see some of the showings at the museum theater to learn more. Unfortunately, I didnāt get the chance to see any this time, so I canāt be sure whether the short movies are all in Japanese or if there are any subtitles.
(The original Bandai Bridge stretching across the Shinano River in Niigata)
The Niigata City History Museum is great for a couple hours of fun looking at the history of the city. Thereās a lot to see and do for a pretty good price. I spent a good two hours walking around on the grounds and the regular exhibit before I had run off for lunch, but you could easily spend an entire afternoon. And if youāre worried about young kids finding it boring, thereās even an āexperience roomā for kids on the first floor too. Minatopia is open everyday except Mondays, though if Monday is a holiday, itās closed on Tuesday instead, so people can go see the museum on their days off. If youāre interested in the general history of Niigata City or have some time to kill, this is definitely the place to go.
