What other travelers are saying about Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum
I got myself a one day ticket to tour both the museum and the art museum. There were many museum staff on the ground. In the museum, you can take photos of some display but you cannot take some, with exhibits being in the same zone. I was taking a photo of a statue and a staff approached me to tell me that I could not take photos of the exhibit that was beside.
You need to follow the route strictly. I was a bit lost as I was stopped a couple of times by the staff who told me that I cannot take photos for copyright reasons. I was also asked to re-route as I was not walking according to the right directions. I left after twenty minutes in the museum as I did not want them to think that I was trying to be funny. I love to visit museums and I will take the time to read every single word as I understand how much time museum curators spend in curating the items. Having visited museums in Finland, Thailand, Malaysia etc, it was the first time I felt so lost.
From the outside, the museum is really huge. It is divided into a permanent collection and visiting exhibitions (double admission). The permanent collection (Okinawa through history) is interesting and nicely arranged, but it is not as extensive as you would expect given the size of the museum.
Honestly one of the best places to visit in Naha! We only had a few hours and could only visit the permanent (history) museum collection so I can't comment about the art museum, but I would highly urge anyone to add this to your itinerary to gain an understanding and insight to the people and culture of Okinawa. So insightful and it helped that most exhibits had English translations. We spent a lovely afternoon here escaping from the heat and could easily spend the whole day if given the chance! Beautiful space to hang out as well.
If you bring along your tickets from the Churaumi Aquarium or Shuri Castle, you get a discount too.
My family visited this museum to learn about Okinawan culture. It was very informative, inclusive and overall educational. It is dense so you can see a lot without getting exhausted by exhibits. The museum covers folk history, war and postwar, and modern day Okinawa.
I would definitely recommend a visit, especially on a rainy day!
A nice stop,
Naha Museum has a combination of local history as well as history that ties it to the land and trade of ancient Okinawa. I also appreciated that it also raised the history of WWII. That so devastated the area and people.
