Polar Science Museum, National Institute of Polar Research

A free-admission science museum attached to the National Institute of Polar Research, which carries out the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition. The equipment on display was actually used; the snow vehicle driven a round trip to the South Pole, ice-sheet drill, and antennas from the PANSY Radar at Syowa Station. The Aurora Theater screens footage shot for research on a four-metre dome, and visitors can touch the real Antarctic ice and examine rocks and meteorites brought back by expedition teams under a microscope.

Current exhibitions

• On view70th Anniversary of Japan Antarctic Research: Photo Exhibition2026.07.22 〜 2026.10.17

Always on view

• Always on viewPermanent Exhibition: Reports from the PolesEight sections tracing what Japanese researchers have found at both poles. There are dioramas and live footage from Syowa Station, opened in 1957, alongside a wintering team's private room and cold-weather gear, and the KD604 snow vehicle actually driven a round trip to the South Pole. Ice-core drill and automatic weather station are shown as working machines. The TACHIHI Aurora Theatre screens aurora footage on a four-metre dome, and rocks collected in Antarctica — along with lunar and Martian meteorites — can be examined under a microscope and touched. Further sections cover mosses and lichens that survive the cold, and the Southern Ocean ecosystem built around Antarctic krill. Admission free.

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