Museum of Maritime Science (Fune-no-Kagakukan)

Description:

• The building housing the Museum of Maritime Science is shaped like a ship, complete with an observation tower atop its bridge. Appropriately enough, it's located on Odaiba, reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay, and offers a good view of Tokyo's container port nearby. The museum, which you can tour in about 2 hours, contains an excellent collection of model boats, including warships, such as the 1898 battleship Shikishima; submarines; ferries; supertankers; container ships; and wooden ships used during the Edo Period. Technical explanations, unfortunately, are mostly in Japanese. Children love the radio-controlled boats they can direct in a pond. Moored nearby is the Soya, constructed in 1938 as a cargo icebreaker; it served as Japan's first Antarctic observation ship. Those with a lot of time on their hands can also visit the Yotei Maru, which once ferried the waters between Aomori and Hokkaido before the opening of an underwater tunnel made its job obsolete; today, oddly enough, it serves as a floating amusement center of sorts. With the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation nearby, and a public swimming pool (July-Aug) next door, this area of Odaiba is a good destination for families.

• © Frommer's 2013