Hida Takayama Retro Museum: tickets, hours and access

The museum calls itself a place where you can look at, photograph, play with and eat retro things¹. The touching is what sets it apart from a glass-case museum.

• Just inside the entrance is a large Showa-era building, a recreated dagashiya (old-style sweet shop)¹.
• Most of the rare Showa-era toys are kept out of display cases¹, so you can pick them up and play.
• The elementary-school booth serves nostalgic school lunches such as soft noodles and fried bread³.
• A table-type retro game costs ¥100³ (under US$1) a play.

School lunch is served from 11:00 to 15:00¹, so time your visit around that if you want a tray. The museum says there’s so much to play with that some visitors stay up to 2 hours¹.

• On foot: 10 minutes¹ from the east exit of JR Takayama Station.
• By car: 10 minutes¹ from Takayama IC on the Chubu Jukan Expressway.
• Parking: the museum has no car park of its own¹, so you’ll need a nearby paid car park.

Nakabashi Bridge and the old town are 1 minute¹ away. For the bridge itself, see the walk from Takayama Jinya to the bridge. Takayama Jinya is about ten minutes’ walk from Takayama Station⁵; the Jinya hours and tickets page has the details.

The old merchant lanes are covered on the Sanmachi lanes page. For a guided walk through them, see this old-town walking tour with a local guide. If you want more buildings, the Hida Folk Village buildings page covers more than 30 historic buildings from the Hida area⁶. The full list of Takayama attractions has the rest.

Longer trips

• Shirakawa-go Ogimachi is about 50 minutes by Nohi Bus from Takayama Nohi Bus Center, and the one-way fare is ¥2,800⁷ (about US$18).
• Getting to Ainokura village is the other thatched-village option on the same bus line.
• Furukawa old town is a nearby sibling town to Takayama⁶.