Earthquake Science Museum

A really unique learning experience, as well as a reminder of the power of natural disasters.

First off, it's not a museum in the strictest sense, its more of an educational center. That doesn't stop it from being interesting or engaging, but it is laid out like something you'd visit on a school trip. It is a little out of the way in the central Tokyo scheme of things. Still accessible via the trains and metro, but will need a dedicated trip to it specifically. It's free entry, which helps too.

The center is split between two buildings. One is used to house the educational exhibits, showing mock ups of earthquake damaged buildings and rooms, as well as illustrating different earthquakes that have struck Japan over the last 200 years or so.

The other building is used for the experience side of things. The simulator is genuinely quite excellent, able to demonstrate what up to a 7.0 earthquake would feel like in isolation (can only imagine how scary it would be with things like furniture and other buildings all around you). It also houses the smoke room demo, which shows how hard it can be to navigate an interior space during a fire, and how quickly rooms fill with smoke.

The staff were very accommodating, offering to help and guide us through using a pocket translator.

99% of the information is only in Japanese, so Google translate will come in handy, but you can still get a feel for things as is.

It's definitely worth the journey out to it, with the only caveat being the distance and potential communication barriers.