Museum of Aeronautical Sciences — Attraction in Shibayama

Japan’s first (i.e. the oldest) and probably the biggest yet joyful aeronautical museum located just beside the RWY34 at the south end of Narita International Airport. If not by the car, you’ll need one of the local bus services (around 20 mins), foot or bike rentals (2-5 km) to get there. Aim for “Kouku Kagaku Hakubutsu-kan”.

From my viewpoint, there are 5 points of interest for the first visitor here. The spacious outdoor displays of about a dozen aeroplanes and helicopters: Very nice pleasant and enjoyable though many of them have got old and shabby. 2 The first exhibition hall on the left: Mainly mostly about the Boeing 747 with some aviation historical stuff. Some are quite old and somewhat outdated, honestly, though. 3 The room with a big model of Narita Airport and its functions/surroundings on the right: Not exciting exhibits but good for local school kids and elders. 4 The active simulators and guided tours of airliners cockpits (@0.5 - 0.7k yen): Different 2 to 3 events in each hall are available, but the B-747 as well as B-737 Max simms and the “Section 41” tour are great among them. 5 The upper restaurant cafe and the observatory lounge the above: Virtually a watch tower for the Narita’s Runway 34, so anyone who loves aeroplanes and air travel must want to stay on either of these floors for a long time, which would mean you should reserve some time for it beforehand.

In all, this is a fantastic civil aviation museum to visit.

Having said that, however, most of the display items, facilities and topics are all pretty old, sand some are too shabby or dysfunctional. Soon, no visiting kid will even know what “the main character” B-747 is. There is, on the other hand, virtually no exhibit on active B-777, 787 or Airbus fleets etc. here. I really hope some massive renovation and changeovers happen to this wonderful institution including the rather unthrilling museum shop goods at the entrance in...

We stumbled upon the Museum of Aeronautical Sciences purely by chance—my son saw a flyer while we were at the observation deck in Narita Airport. We checked the map and saw it was really close by, so we decided to go for it on a whim.

I purchased the tickets on Klook, which turned out to be a great decision because they were cheaper than buying them at the ticket booth onsite. Definitely recommend checking prices online beforehand.

When we arrived, we were surprised by how big and well-organized the museum was. It’s divided into different sections and floors, with full-scale aircraft on display—some you can even walk into. There are interesting exhibits showing the history of aviation, aircraft engines, a Boeing 747 cockpit, and even a section where you can see and hear what it’s like inside a plane. My son was fascinated!

One of the highlights is the rooftop observation deck. From there, you can watch planes taking off and landing at Narita Airport, which was really exciting—especially for a kid who loves airplanes.

We saw that there are paid experiences like the flight simulator, which looked awesome, but unfortunately we couldn’t get a slot for it on the day we visited. Next time, we’ll definitely book in advance for that.

The staff were friendly and helpful, and there were signs in both Japanese and English, which made it easy for us to understand everything. Overall, it was a fun and educational experience, and I’m so glad we decided to visit even though it wasn’t originally part of our plan.

If you’re at Narita Airport with some time to spare—or if you’re an aviation fan—it’s definitely worth checking out. Just make sure to book tickets online for a discount and plan ahead for the paid experiences like the simulator....

As well meaning as the museum is, the unfortunate thing is the lack of English aid in the exhibits.

I got an English guide from the Narita stay and transit program but the guide does not know enough English terms to be of much help especially for something so specialised however well-meaning they are.

There is a Japanese Uncle who will give a talk at scheduled times about how the boeing 747 operates.

Then one can try operating a simulator under his supervision. This simulator then causes the scaled model to move.

This experience can be quite fun and a hands on for kids for them to get excited about aero planes.

The next level up showcases the Narita airport land model and especially useful highlighting the different connections to the airport besides the planes.

An interesting story to the airport that Pilots will also mention is that there are still houses sited within the airport and blocking one of the runways!!! And the city council provided funds for extra insulation for these houses because of the noise as well as special road access for them into and out.

One has to go to the roof top level because this offers a viewing deck for looking at the busy Narita plane departures. So apt for the plane spotting buffs. Do note there is no shelter here and you are fully subject to the elements.

Also, it is quite hard to get there due to the infrequent bus that ply the route and does not...