Your Japanese word of the week is...

"tetsudo hakubutsu kan" 鉄道博物館

Tetsu-dou 鉄道 means "railway" and haku-butsu-kan 博物館 is "museum".

So, as you can imagine, mashing them together gives you "Railway Museum". More specifically, it refers to Japan Rail's (JR) Railway Museum in Saitama. It opened late in 2007 and I used to go by it every Friday on my way to work. I made a mental note to visit it at some point and since I took a "Me Day" for myself yesterday, I went to check it out.

I must be honest and say that I didn't expect much. I'm generally skeptical of such specialised museums because many of them lack the resources or the design flare to become anything more than just a room with lots of pictures. The difference here is that this museum is the work of the JR Culture Foundation, a non-profit group linked to the JR Rail Company. This means they have access to loads of de-commissioned and historical items from Japan's railway past, such as the 220kmh 0-series Shinkansen (see below), the first ever bullet train which serviced parts of Japan from 1964 until it was finally retired last year.

But that doesn't really describe just how comprehensive the museum really is. The entire first floor is dedicated to the history of Japanese rail and it includes lots of neat little trinkets and items from the past including old steam locomotives, examples of the early Imperial passenger cabins, and re-creations of a really interesting rack-and-pinion track system used to climb steep hills. They even had an old Hino (see below) that was used as a bus to and from certain train stations.

But it doesn't end there, because there's lots of interactive features such as a cutaway of a bogey (railcar chassis) that shows how the transmission or brakes are working as you "operate" them with replica train switchgear. Or open cabins of various trains for people to walk through. Or small paths underneath the trains so you can pretend you're a railway tie and see the trains from underneath.

Someone forgot to tell them it's not a real train...

The upper two floors house the "Learning Zone" with loads of cutaway machinery and more interactive features show how steam engines work, why rail tracks are a certain shape, or where the motors are in different types of electric trains. There's also a huge wall that chronicles the history of Japanese rail. All in all, it's surprisingly well thought out and does a very good job of explaining the concept of rail, rail cars, and locomotion without overwhelming you with details.

Even better, however, was the replica train system (see right) outside of the building that even includes all the modern safety features (like track-switchers, etc.). Also, if you make a reservation and pay a reasonable ¥500, you can even check out one of 4 different train simulators they have. One of them (for people age 15+) is a real video simulation of an early steam locomotive, mounted on hydraulics to replicate all the little bumps and bounces as you wind your way around perilous mountain passes.

More evidence of the surprising detail in this museum is the amazingly comprehensive (and gigantic) diorama display seen above. It's claimed to be the largest model train diorama in Japan and I can believe it. With more than 6 or 7 trains running at one time, it simulates day and night as overhead TV's give a short presentation about the history and current state of the railway system in Japan.

In fact, the museum actually employs two full-time model makers to keep up with the workload and, as you can see above and below, they do a rather good job.

Wheeeee!!!

Despite my initial gawking at the ¥1000 entrance fee, the Railway Museum is actually worth that. Whether you're a train anorak or not, it's a pleasant way to expore the machine that continues to shrink time and space for the modern world.

Photo courtesy of JR West.

I'd also like to point out my personal favourite train in JR's line-up is the ¥5 billion, 25,000bhp, 300kmh 500-Series Nozomi. Partly because of the speed but mostly because, as you can see above and below, they look like how high-speed trains should look.

Photo courtesy of Flickr.