This article is based on a visit made on Saturday, 19 November 2016.
Previously on
Sekai Ichi, I took you on a tour of Arima Onsen, a hot-spring resort town in the suburbs of Kobe. After taking a dip in its two public bathhouses, my curiosity was piqued by the Arima Toys and Automata Museum (有馬玩具博物館,
Arima Omocha Hakubutsukan).
The route through the museum starts on the top floor, which is all about traditional German toys. This includes nutcracker dolls galore, which made their Christmas decorations extra-fitting.
On the next floor down, there is a wider array of contemporary wooden toys, most of them from all around Europe. Let me tell you, I used to love building wooden railways like these, especially with trains from
Thomas the Tank Engine. Now that I've had the chance to see the wider array of non-Thomas-licenced trains out there, especially what in the foreground looks to be cars based on the Shinkansen, I might just dig up my old set and start anew! Or maybe I'll just graduate to a grown-up model railway... we'll see.
The 5th floor also has several little toys, games, and puzzles that are free for visitors to play with. This "Loop Magnet" toy lets you create figures by moving around the magnet dots and the strings between them. It took some doing, but I managed to re-create one of the shapes shown in the examples above.
They also had this game, where you're supposed to move the two rails apart enough that the ball in the back rolls down them, but not so far apart that it falls down. It's tough; I only managed to get as far as the second hole from the back.
The next floor down is all about automata. The name might be a mouthful, but what are they? An automaton is a kind of toy where you turn a crank handle, turning the gears and mechanisms inside, and making stuff happen on the outside. For example, turning this one would make the poles, and subsequently the segments of the dragon, wave up and down. Although, that dragon's head suspiciously reminds me of
Crow from
Mystery Science Theater 3000... maybe it's just me.
Most of the automata on display were smaller in scale, but had some sort of joke or pun about them. In this one, the spider on top spins around in place, since it doesn't have any legs on one side. Hence, the line about "evolutionary blunders".
A number of the automata were by the same artist, whose name eludes me, but jackals were a running theme in his works.
Here's an interesting one. When you turn the handle, the tamer sticks his head into the lion's mouth, and pulls it out just before the lion's jaw snaps shut.
Finally, on the 3rd floor, there are model trains and tin toys on display. Japan had been making tin toys since the turn of the turn of the 20th century, with the peaks of their popularity occurring before and after World War II. Their quality was so great, that they were compared favourably with the best toys from Germany and other places.
The popularity of tin toys in Japan waned from the 1960s on. That still didn't stop them from making tin toys that tied in with famous anime and movies of the times, like
Astro Boy (鉄腕アトム,
Tetsuwan Atomu, lit. 'Mighty Atom'),
Gigantor (鉄人28号,
Tetsujin Nijūhachi-gō, lit. 'Iron Man no. 28'),
Speed Racer (マッハGoGoGo,
Mahha GoGoGo, lit. 'Mach Go-go-go'), and even
Star Wars. Or should I say,
especially Star Wars.
On the other side of the room, there is a large table with an intricate model railway. Model railways are often known to include lots of little details, frequently in the style of a European village, and the one here is no exception.
Finally, on my way out through the main stairwell, I met this considerably more modern robot. I'm not sure what it is used for, but probably as some sort of information helper. Curiously, I also saw one on the top floor, among the old-fashioned nutcrackers. Out-of-place, maybe, but it got me thinking. Could this represent the future of toys? The future has thus intrigued my curiosity!
In the more immediate future, meanwhile, I would move back "home" and begin my adventures through Osaka. Join me, next time on Sekai Ichi!
Hours: Open 9:30 AM to 6:00 PM. Admission ends 30 minutes before closing time. No regular closing days.
Cost: ¥800.
Address: 797 Arima-chō, Kita-ku, Kōbe-shi, Hyōgo-ken 〒651-1401
Access: The museum is 5 minutes on foot from Arima-Onsen Station. From the station's exit, turn right, keep straight past the traffic light, bear right at the next fork, and take the next left. The museum will be on the left side, across from the Kin-no-Yu bathhouse.
Website:
(English) (Japanese)
