Kanazawa Phonograph Museum — Attraction in Kanazawa

Stumbled upon this museum by chance on our honeymoon and it was the highlight of our trip! My now-husband is a huge fan of music production history so we were thrilled to have found this museum; we arrived when they were halfway through the second of three daily listening sessions they provide and loved the session so much that we came back later in the day to hear the whole thing again! The museum staff were kind enough to let us back in with the same tickets, and we LOVED being able to experience listening to "Begin the Beguine" on the EMG Mark Xb phonograph twice, it was sublime. The staff also provide English-language paper programs to help you follow along the narration for the listening sessions.

Listening sessions are, if I remember correctly, daily at 11am, 2pm, and 4pm and are about 30-40 minutes long. They also have a little listening corner where you can have a staff member help you pick out some records to listen to on...

I stumbled upon this museum after I noticed a replica of the little dog from His Master’s Voice behind the window, otherwise I’d probably have missed it entirely. Though it was closed because it was late at night, I went back the morning after and I’m so glad I did, as this was one of the highlights of my trip to Kanazawa.

The museum itself is rather small and you can view all of the items in about an hour and a half. There is an extensive display of old phonographs and other vintage music items. As I got there when the previous listening experience had just ended, the staff was kind enough to allow me to re enter the museum after going out for lunch. The phonograph demonstration was pure joy, and, as a music lover, I was almost moved to tears.

Definitely a place worth visiting while in Kanazawa for all music and history lovers, and one of my new favorite museums in the...

An absolutely wonderful museum, perhaps unique, that documents a declining slice of history. Phonographs and discs have been saved from destruction and displayed in a way that explains how the technology was discovered and pioneered over the past 150 years or so. Make sure you time your visit to coincide with the 30-minute demonstrations at 11am, 2pm or 4pm, where a learned master plays discs on about ten devices and explains how they evolved (an English brochure is available). It’s scandalously inexpensive at ¥310 and absolutely worth an hour and a half of your stay...