Regional Focus: Niihama

The Akagane Museum is an elegant modern building located near JR Niihama Station. Curved wings clad in copper scales flank a rectangular glass entrance. The curves and straight lines continue inside the building, creating an airy, agreeable space. The walls are white, while dark wood is used on the stairs and benches.

The main exhibits in the museum are related to the Taikodai Festival held in autumn in Niihama, when juggernauts known as taikodai or ‘drum platforms’ are pulled through the city. Each area of the city has its own taikodai, and the taikodai of each district is exhibited for two months on a rotating basis. They’re adorned with traditional Japanese arts such as wood carving, embroidery, tasselling, and fabrics. If you’re not in Niihama for the Taiko Festival, you can get a flavour of it in the 360° cinema.

Entry to the Taikodai Museum is free of charge, but admission is charged for the temporary exhibitions held in the other galleries.

The Ehime Prefectural Science Museum stands in the foothills of Mt. Ishizuchi in Niihama. It was established in 1994 for presenting scientific knowledge including natural history, astronomy, the environment, biology, industry, and technology through hands-on experience. The modernistic building features simple geometric shapes, and a geodesic dome houses a large planetarium, which was the world’s largest until 2010. It also doubles as a cinema.

On the fourth floor are exhibits related to Nature, divided into three zones, Space, Earth, and Ehime. Exhibits include well-made dioramas, information panels, replicas, stuffed animals, skeletons, minerals, and even two robotic dinosaurs which come to life at fifteen-minute intervals. The third floor is dedicated to Science, with zones for the Elements, Life, Transmission, and Movement. There’s also an Ehime Industry section on this floor.

Behind the museum is an outdoor area displaying industrial hardware, including a power generation turbine and smelter. With its lawns and views of Mt. Akaishi, it’s a nice place for a picnic.

The Takihama Salt Museum stands by a stream marking the edge of what was once the largest area of salt pans in Shikoku. About 300 years ago, the area now called Takihama was a shallow bay surrounded by several villages. Salt was a crucial commodity and from 1703, people began filling in the bay to create salt pans. Over the centuries, the production area was increased, and the salt pans employed over a thousand people, and even young children worked there for pocket money.

The museum has a collection of evocative photos, models, and authentic tools from the heyday of the salt pans. Salt is still produced at the museum using the method introduced in 1954. You can have a go at taking some of the concentrated brine and heating it in a pan to produce pure white salt crystals, which you can take home as a souvenir. The salt pans themselves have now been replaced by an industrial estate.