I had a chance to visit Japan Radio Museum, which is located in Matsumoto-city, Nagano-prefecture, Japan. To be honest, I am a little bit surprized that this museum is not located in Tokyo, but in a local city. It is about 3 hrs from Tokyo (Shinjuku Station) by express train, but half-hour shorter if you take a bullet train via Nagano-city. (The train line in the following map is just for example and please consult travel agencies to find out your best route to Matsumoto-city)
The museum is located in an area with many traditional gift shops that are attractive to tourists. Historical places such as Matsumoto Castle are also close.
The admission fee is JPY 500. They have so many contents that are quite exciting for radio hobbyists.
↑ ↓ Vintage radios before/during WWII.
↓ Radios in the very beginning. They had to use a large battery as power source instead of AC line.
↓ In the very beginning, people in Japan had to get a permission from government in order to even “receive” (not only transmitting) radio broadcasts. Each radio equipment had to be registered. The following document is such example. It does not seem that the government issued callsign (or SWL number lol) for receiving station, though.
↓ The first FM tuner in Japan, made by Kasuga Radio Co., which later became TRIO. They made it for RadioShack in USA, branding “REALISTIC”.
↓ Relatively newer models
↓ Not too vintage but portable TV sets of older time. The SONY model (top middle) still looks cool.
↓ Did you know that the first LCD pocket color TV in the world was not from SONY, but from EPSON?
↓ Of course, the shortwave gears are there!
The museum is two-story, and on the second floor, they exhibits radios by selected category for limited period. Currently they are showing “Fun Radios” until 11th of January 2019.
↓ Beverage radios. Note that those cans have telescopic antenna.
↓ Toy radios.
↓ Puppy radio, to make your girl friend happy.
*****
Through the visit, I found that this museum is definitely a “must-go” place for radio hobbyists from all over the world!
*****
Japan Radio Museum
2-4-9 Chuo, Matsumoto-city, Nagano-pref., 390-0811 JAPAN.
Their official English site is:
http://www.japanradiomuseum.jp/index-e.html
