The Bank of Japan Otaru Museum — Attraction in Otaru

Otaru has a rich history of being the former financial centre for the Hokkaido region, this bank is a testament to that history. I was able to explore this bank which preserves a beautiful architectural design features from decades ago.

It also has many Japanese bank notes from history, as well as a large safe which you can step inside to see the magnitude of the money that was held here at one point in time. Walking through this bank was a phenomenal lesson in history of the progress and development that has taken place in the Japanese financial area.

It also has various graphics in place to help members of the public understand the scale of monetary money flow. Since this is a free museum and located a close walk away from the Otaru Canal I do recommend walking over here as it is absolutely worth checking out.

Just ensure that you leave any drinks or food at the front before you walk in or the security guards may confront you later on about this. There is a small souvenir store from which you can purchase things if your...

This is a free museum that one can visit to find out more about one of the first banks being set up in Japan taking references and help from the western countries from the early days. A lot of information are in Japanese and you may need to find out more from other sources prior to visiting or use a small brochure they have with basic guidance about the museum. You may feel how heavy it is from a stack of bank notes and look at the intricacies of a bank vault but otherwise it may come off as dull and you can finish the walk in less than 30min. Funnily the guard at the entrance was very reluctant in giving us more than 1 English...

When i first saw this, I told my friend that I won't be seeing a museum of a bank since I worked in a bank for my whole career. But somehow, I ended up getting a museum pass, and this museum is included, so I visited this place as well. The most interesting component here is the periodic light show on the ceiling that happens every hr. Either grab a seat on the ground floor or enjoy it closer on the 2nd floor.

The rooms and area show how fancy the bank meetings used to be back in the days. Nowadays, you rarely get to have a large room for bank...