Opening day at the Nintendo Museum
It is Wednesday, October 2nd, 2024. After months of waiting, and a few very special moments the day before, we finally arrived at our main destination: the Nintendo Museum.
The museum is just a short walk from Ogura Station in the southern part of Kyoto. From above, it’s easy to spot—thanks in a large part to the massive question block painted on its roof.
That question block perfectly captured our mindset that morning: full of curiosity about what awaited inside. Although the Nintendo Direct from August had revealed some details, and press coverage had surfaced a week ahead of the opening (a media event was hosted on September 23), we’d avoided spoilers appearing in our news and social media feeds, to keep the surprise intact.
As this was the grand opening, there was extra buzz at the entrance, with media on-site to document the moment.
Some fans who had not secured tickets still came just to see the museum from outside—and take a selfie, of course.
We also took the photo opportunity at the museum sign, commemorating the day.
While waiting for our time slot, we ran into fellow Nintendo enthusiasts who recognized us from our books and online posts (including this blog).
At the gate, visitors can use free lockers of various sizes—some cleverly designed to look like oversized Game Boy cartridges.
At the airport-style security (thankfully no long lines due to staggered time slots), we scanned a QR code in our Nintendo account to gain entry. This triggered the printing of a personalized physical ticket, complete with a linked Mii character if set up in advance.
Each ticket holds 10 virtual coins for use at interactive stations throughout the museum.
Exploring the Museum Grounds
Ticket in hand, we continued to the second must-have photo moment: the iconic Super Mario pipes.
We took time to explore the grounds in front of the museum and quickly noticed delightful details.
The square at the main entrance features Super Mario bit-art, including characters like Koopas (Nokonoko in Japanese) and Lakitu (Jugemu).
The museum complex includes three key areas: connected to the museum main building (1) is the museum shop (2). A separate building (3) housing the cafe and two workshop rooms.
Inside the entrance hallway, a detailed model of the museum with an open roof layout reveals the upper floor where the main product exhibits are located (more on that later).
After a short stroll, we made our way inside.
The interior of the museum oozes Nintendo history—though unfortunately, not much is explained. This is a shortcoming we’ll discuss in a future post. For now, let’s focus on what is present.
To ensure we didn’t miss out on the workshops, we registered shortly after entering.
The museum offers two hands-on workshops, both centered around Hanafuda, the traditional Japanese playing cards that launched Nintendo in 1889—and which the company still produces today (though it’s now a small part of their business).
We signed up for the "Let’s Make Hanafuda!" session. While it’s possible to participate in both workshops, we opted to skip "Try Playing Hanafuda!" in order to spend more time exploring the rest of the museum.
Participation in "Let’s Make Hanafuda!" requires an additional fee of 2,000 yen, which includes the custom-made cards you get to take home. The shorter "Try Playing Hanafuda!" session costs 500 yen.
Lunch at Hatena Burger
With around 45 minutes to spare before the workshop, we decided to head to the café for an early lunch.
The café is called Hatena Burger, named after the question mark block—"Hatena" in Japanese.
The interior is relatively minimal in terms of Nintendo theming, though there are a few notable touches, including a stained glass window featuring Link and Zelda.
Some furniture has been creatively repurposed from pallets and crates dating back to the building’s former use as a warehouse.
As the name suggests, burgers are the specialty here. With customizable buns and toppings many combinations are possible.
Ordering is straightforward and progress can be tracked via mobile.
Everything is made fresh, and after a short wait, we enjoyed our meals—not the best burger ever, but definitely satisfying.
Time flew by, and we had to hurry to our workshop.
Fortunately, it was only a short walk upstairs to the designated room.
Making Our Own Hanafuda Cards
People were already filing in and preparing to begin.
After submitting our registration slips, we each received a kit tailored to our chosen card set.
A full hanafuda deck includes 48 cards—twelve suits of four cards, one for each month. When booking, you must select a month. I chose March, for the beautiful cherry blossom design. Others in our group picked December, which includes the Nintendo logo.
Each kit includes printed cards (in black and white), month-specific stencils, and a paper stand for display.
Laminated instructions were available in both Japanese and English.
The main activity involves a multi-step stenciling process using brushes and paint, replicating traditional printing methods used in real hanafuda production.
It takes some finesse to apply just the right amount of paint and pressure—enough for full color, but not so much that it bleeds too much outside the lines.
Once the paint dries (and brushes are cleaned for the next group), the final step involves gluing on the black corner borders.
The workshop was a lot of fun—and more educational than we expected. It gave us a deeper appreciation of the craftsmanship involved in hanafuda card making, and it was the perfect way to begin our visit.
As we left the room, we passed the adjacent "Try Playing Hanafuda!" workshop in progress. It looked just as enjoyable, and we made a note to try it on a future visit.
Touring the Nintendo Museum collection
Now it was time to explore the museum collection. We returned to the main building and took the elevator to the second floor to begin the tour.
This part of the museum is primarily a product gallery showcasing the company’s output over its 135-year history—with a strong emphasis, understandably, on the video game era beginning in the early 1980s. The majority are released products, though some console prototypes are also on display.
In the center of this large floor are display showcases dedicated to each console generation, from the Famicom / NES up to the Switch. (Recently, a section for the Switch 2 was also added.)
For every system, most hardware and accessories are displayed alongside key games in their Japanese, American, and European packaging. Screens above the showcases display gameplay footage.
Suspended from the ceiling are large models of controllers. These oversized replicas are eye-catching—and as we’ll discover later, some are available in playable form.
Along the outer walls are themed displays focused on specific topics. These include:
- The evolution of the question mark block
- Marketing leaflets and advertisements across the decades
- Toys and video games involving physical activity, such as Nintendo’s version of Twister and Hip Flip
Another prominent display features a wide selection of toys and games from the 1960s and 1970s. Naturally, this section was of particular interest to me, as it is the the main topic of this blog.
Unfortunately, photography is not allowed on the museum’s top floor, so I can’t share personal photos of this area. The images included here are sourced from Nintendo’s official press kit.
That said, I can confirm that the collection of vintage toys on display is significantly more extensive than what was previewed in the August Nintendo Direct. It’s a truly impressive, though not entirely complete, overview.
After making several rounds through the exhibits, it was time to head downstairs to continue the visit.
To be continued in part 4 coming soon...
Previous parts of this travel report can be found here: part 1 & part 2.
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