Yanmar Museum
The Yanmar Museum’s high-tech, game-based exhibits are a hit with children and parents. Each of the arcade-like challenges, which range from operating a backhoe to using body movement to power the pistons of an engine, is based around the benefits of ecology, innovation, and modern technology. Each visitor is issued a personal “Yanmar card” that tracks their progress as they earn points by completing the challenges, and each player’s point total is displayed on a huge video screen alongside those of the top scorers.
The Yanmar Museum was created by Yanmar, a machinery company founded in 1912 by an inventor and engineer named Yamaoka Magokichi (1888–1962). Yamaoka was born in Minami Tominaga, a village that is now part of Nagahama. Yamaoka developed the world’s first compact diesel engine, a technology that Yanmar has implemented in construction and agricultural machinery, ships, and electrical generators. The Yanmar Museum’s interactive exhibits (which include virtual farming, wake-surfing, a digital fishery, and a “sustainable energy” climbing wall) reflect the company’s three core themes of “land,” “sea,” and “city.”
The museum’s attached restaurant, Premium Marche Biwako, offers a menu of dishes made with sustainably farmed rice. The second floor has more traditional museum exhibits that introduce the history of the company.
- Address
- 6-50 Sanwacho, Nagahama City, Shiga Pref.
- Access
- [Public transportation] 10-min. walk from Nagahama Stn. of JR Hokuriku Line
[By car] 10 min. from Nagahama Interchange of Hokuriku Expressway
[Parking] 36 parking spaces for passenger cars are available.
- Business hours
- 10:00~17:30
(Admission is possible 9:45~16:30.) Closed on Monday.
- Price
- Adults: 900 yen; elementary and junior-high school students: 500 yen; Preschool children: Free of charge Group discount (20 or more paid visitors): Discounted by 100 yen For the latest information on facilities and admission fees, contact us directly.
You can also use Nagahama Passport(1500yen) to enter.
- ETC
- Priority for Reservations