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Kyushu National Museum: Photo Guide

Kyushu National Museum (Kyuhaku) has several accessibility features for visitors who do not speak Japanese. We’ll be introducing some of them features alongside the museum’s facilities in the following photo guides.

Dazaifu Station

太宰府駅到着
太宰府駅到着
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We’re here! But how do we get to the museum?
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Looks like we can take the path leading to the shrine (sandou).
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It’s about a 15 minute stroll, so let’s spend some time looking at the shops along the way!

Sandou (参道) refers to walking paths leading up to shrines or temples. They are usually marked by a torii gate at the beginning of the path. How many torii gates can you see on your way up to Kyuhaku?


On the road to Kyuhaku

天満宮の参道を通って九博へ
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Welcome to the Tenmangu shrine sandou! I love how colourful the museum’s exhibition banners are.
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I wanna take a photo here first!
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I can’t wait to check out the shops!

In Dazaifu, umegaemochi

太宰府の名物、梅ヶ枝餅
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You’ve got to enjoy it while it’s warm and fresh off the grill!
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Crispy on the outside, chewy and sweet on the inside

Umegaemochi (梅ケ枝餅) is a traditional Japanese sweet made by wrapping mochi around sweet azuki bean paste. It is grilled in a round metal mold and sometimes stamped with the image of a plum flower, and is considered to be a Dazaifu specialty.


Through the torii gate and into Tenmangu shrine

天満宮に到着
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If I rub this sacred bull, do you think something good will happen to me?
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Hello, Mr. Bull. [patpatpat]

Follow the path from Tenmangu shrine to Kyuhaku!

天満宮から九博への道のり
天満宮から九博への道のり
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Turn left at the first red taikobashi bridge , then follow the path next to the pond.
(* Blue route
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Just be sure to turn right immediately after the second bridge to get back on the road to Kyuhaku.
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You can follow the bridge path if you’d like to visit the shrine first!
(* Red route
天満宮から九博への道のり

Iris Pond

天満宮から九博への道のり - 菖蒲池
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This is so lovely! It would be great if we could make a loop around the pond later.
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If we come back in the summer, I think the irises will be at full bloom. Doesn’t that sound beautiful?

Take a break and go cat-hunting in front of the entrance tunnel

天満宮の参道を通って九博へ
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Meow (I’m the cutest in my family!!)
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If you’re lucky, you might spot one of the community cats around here!

A tunnel? In the middle of the forest?

九博のトンネル到着
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Is this it?
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Nope, this is just the entrance! We still have to go up the escalators to get to the top of the hill, where the museum is located.

Rainbow Tunnel

虹のトンネル
虹のトンネル

Accessibility wheelchair lift

虹のトンネル - 斜行リフト
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If you have a baby stroller or a wheelchair, please feel free to ask the attendant for help. There’s also an intercom that you can use to contact them.

We made it!

九博に到着着
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This feels like a completely different part of Japan!!
枝垂桜群
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We can see Japan’s largest weeping sakura trees in full bloom here in the springtime, apparently!

Photos graciously provided by the Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine.


Information counter

九博に到着
九博に到着
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I don’t speak any Japanese... Will I understand anything here?
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It says that the displays here are presented in 4 languages!
Why don’t we look at the English pamphlet first?

Ticketing information

まずは、チケットの購入から
まずは、チケットの購入から
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Ah, museums in Japan all charge admission fees?
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We’re getting normal tickets, so let’s use the vending machine.
But if we wanted student discounts or senior citizen tickets, maybe going to the ticket counter would be a better idea.

Open café space and food consumption restrictions

飲食や休憩はオープンカフェで
飲食や休憩はオープンカフェで
飲食や休憩はオープンカフェで
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Aren’t we going to see the exhibitions first?
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We can only eat in the café area, so I thought it would be better to rest here for a while before heading up.

Watercoolers

水飲み場
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Looks like there are watercoolers located in various designated areas of the museum! We can drink water and rest in those locations.

Free Wi-fi

無料Wi-Fi
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Does this place have Wi-fi? (I want to send photos to my friends...)
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Yeah! If you log in once, you get free internet access for 3 hours.

Cloakroom

手荷物預かり所
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Good thing we brought small bags today! What if we wanted to drop them off somewhere, though?
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There’s a cloakroom directly behind the information counter on the first floor that we can use.
There are coin lockers too, if you prefer that.

Volunteer guides

ボランティアガイド
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They’re so friendly! What kind of services do they offer?
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They provide basic informational services in different languages depending on volunteer availability. For example, if I wanted to find out more about the history of Kyuhaku’s main building and I only spoke Chinese, I would be able to ask a Chinese-speaking volunteer here. They update the information screen here every day to reflect which languages are available.

Museum shop

ミュージアムショップ
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Excellent! I can pick up some gifts for my family.
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There’s lots of stuff to choose from, so let’s come back after we’ve seen the exhibitions.

Towards the Permanent Exhibition!

文化交流展示室へ
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Where are the exhibition rooms?
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The Special Exhibition room is on Level 3, and the Permanent Exhibition room is on Level 4.
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Can I take photos? I want to send them to my family!
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That’s really sweet! Looks like that’s generally fine outside the exhibition space, but you should be mindful when we’re inside. Photography is generally banned on the 4th floor, but there may be exceptions for certain rooms within the exhibition hall. We should check for photography signs before taking any photos while we’re in there.

Let’s explore the Cultural Exchange Exhibition!

文化交流展示室
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What’s a Cultural Exchange Exhibition? That seems quite uncommon.
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The collection here focuses specifically on the history of cultural exchange between Japan and other foreign cultures. All the information here is presented in 4 languages, so you’ll be able to enjoy the exhibits even if you don’t understand Japanese!

I want to know even more about the exhibits!

音声ガイドを利用しよう!
音声ガイドを利用しよう!
音声ガイドを利用しよう!
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You can borrow English audio guides here for free!
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How should I register for one?
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Just write your name on the clipboard and you’re good to go! There’s an instruction sheet accompanying each audio guide set, so don’t worry about learning how to use it.

Read about the exhibits as you would normally in English

◯◯語の解説が読める!
◯◯語の解説が読める!
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There are multi-lingual translations available (English, Chinese, Korean, Japanese) for all our exhibits here, so you don’t need to worry.
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Wow! The translated captions are so informative.
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There are background explanations as well for context.
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This is really helpful for people from different cultural backgrounds, isn’t it!

Enhance your experience with audio narration

音声ガイドを利用しよう!
音声ガイドを利用しよう!
音声ガイドを利用しよう!
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I’m learning so much from listening to the audio guides and reading the captions, this is really great!
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Right? I can’t believe they even compared different exhibits together in the audio narration. I feel like I’m learning so much about history!

Use all your senses to experience history

触れる展示も楽しもう!
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These spices are some examples of goods brought over from China by Japanese envoys during the Tang period, aren’t they.
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You’re right! The museum wanted to partially recreate the experience of handling foreign products that were introduced to Japan during diplomatic missions, so they set up sections where you can touch and smell them directly.

Let your voice be heard!

アンケートも書いてみよう!
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Wow, you’re writing quite a lot in your feedback form to the museum, huh. Should I write one too? I really enjoyed my experience here today, but I’m not sure if I should waste their time just saying thank you...
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They’ve got feedback forms in multiple languages, and I’m sure that they’d love to hear from you!

Bonus chapter: Ajippa exhibition space

番外編 あじっぱ
番外編 あじっぱ
番外編 あじっぱ
番外編 あじっぱ
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Before we leave, can we go see the free exhibition space on Level 1? We have to take our shoes off to go in though.
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We can try on costumes and play instruments from different countries? Let’s go!!
番外編 あじっぱ
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Are you up for some Nanban period cosplay? We can dress up like the Western traders painted on this screen!
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Let’s take some photos, my family would love to see this.

※The Nanban trading period (南蛮貿易) refers to trade in the mid 16th to early 17th centuries between Japan and tradesmen from Europe and Portugal.


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