So bonyOn Monday and Tuesday we enjoyed a tour of science centres and musems in Toyko and there is quite a range. Tokyo National Museum of Nature and Science has a huge and spectacular collection. There are so many dinosaur skeletons that from some angles they seem to weave through each other. I can only imagine what they have in storage. There is also a roof top herb garden and a "parasol" garden featuring large umbrellas that open when you approach them. The roof space included solar panels, power supply substations, a variety of plumbing infrastructure and it could have remained for purely industrial purposes, but they've done great things with it, and the views into the surrounding park and across Tokyo are lovely. The Museum also has a beautiful biodiversity exhibition and the incredibly cool Theatre 360, a 12 metre sphere that one enters to experience  a 360-degree Beautiful biodiversity displaycinema screen.

The Tokyo Science Museum (not to be confused with the Tokyo National Muesum of Nature and Science, above) also boasts an impressive range of themes and displays generally covering science and technology, as the name Madoka Suzuki in actionsuggests. If you like bikes, there's a great display of bicycle technology though history. The aurora section is very nice and we were treated to a lovely demonstration show about sound, presented by Madoka Suzuki, one of the 2008 Japan-Australia Science Exchange participants.

We also visited RiSuPia (I think they explained that 'ri' is the word for 'science', 'su' is the word for 'maths' and 'pia' is from the word for 'place)
the Panasonic Digital Network Museum. It's very fun.Ground floor at RiSuPia RiSuPia combines cool technology and simple concepts. The whole Centre is beautifully laid out and features interactive displays covering topics including perception, geometry, nano-chemistry, mathematics and the water cycle. Your experience is recorded on a personal electronic device worn around the next, which is updated as you move through the exhibits. I'd show you more of these, but cameras are not allowed beyond the 1st floor, so you'll just have to trust me, or go for yourself.

Our host organisation, Miraikan is focussed on cutting edge technologies and research. "Miraikan" actually translates (roughly) to "future house". It features exhibits such as the ever-changing (and fragile, so don't even think about launching a water rocket anywhere near it) geodome, The fabulous Yuko, and some robot . . .some very nice nan-technology displays, the incredibly cool neutrino detector display and, of course Asimo. There is also a fantastic VR robot display. Basically 2 of you enter a VR theatre where you experience controlling a robot from inside (or on top of) it. The great thing is that you are actually controlling a real robot outside the room and seeing the world from its perspective. Patrick and I had a great time trying to meet the various bridge, ball and directional challenges posed by the Miraikan staff. These 4 institutions are wonderfully complimentary to one another and I'd recommend all of them.