As a huge fan of Doraemon since our childhood days, we were so excited to visit Fujiko F. Fujio Museum in Tokyo! I used to wake up every Sunday morning at 9:30am just to catch an episode of Doraemon on TV with my siblings. Fast forward 20 years later, Doraemon is still showing at the same timeslot and same channel every Sunday! Keith and I also recently watched an episode together to reminisce our time in Japan!
To share more about Fujiko F. Fujio Museum (藤子・F・不二雄ミュージアム), also known as the Doraemon Museum – it’s a fanciful art museum found in the suburbs of Kawasaki. The museum is based on the works of Fujiko F. Fujio (nom de plume of manga artist Fujimoto Hiroshi) who is the creator of Doraemon – a story about a robotic cat from the 22nd century who travels back in time to befriend a group of kids. The Fujiko F. Fujio Museum has an extensive collection of Fujiko F. Fujio’s work, including original artwork from Doraemon, 21-emon, Kaibutsukun, and several of Fujiko’s other series. Within the museum, guests can also learn more about Fujiko’s life growing up and his various artwork on display. There are audio guides in English too, so you don’t have to worry about translation! Also, they have a very strict no-photo policy within the gallery, so just be careful of that – but the rest of the museum is good to take photos 🙂
Prior to our visit, we purchased or tickets at Lawson (a convenience store in Japan) using the Loppi machine. As the Loppi machine reads in Japanese, we used Google Translate’s camera function to scan the words in English and navigated the options to buy our tickets with minimal difficulties! Yay, teamwork! You can also buy your tickets online from third party websites but they cost a little bit more! **(Side note: On the last few panels before you can successfully purchase your ticket, you’ll be prompted to enter your name and contact number. As we didn’t have these details, we typed in a random name/number and it worked!). There’s a few guides available online you can check out in case you’d like to purchase your tickets.
Tickets (500 yen per adult)
We bought the ticket just the night before our visit and we were blessed that we were able to get the 10am timeslot. Usually it’s quite risky as there are only a limited number of visitors permitted at each timeslot. Probably because we visited on a Monday, hence there wasn’t much of a crowd! There are 4 timeslots in a day to enter into the museum: 10am, 12pm, 2pm and 4pm. You have to enter within 30mins from the start of your slot and you are welcomed to stay inside for as long as you wish until the museum closes at 6pm. Note that they do not operate on Tuesdays.
With our hearts filled with anticipation, we checked out of Kadoya Hotel and headed to Noborito station via Shinjuku station! We boarded the Odakyu Odawara Line from Shinjuku station and it took about 20 minutes (250 yen). Once you’ve arrived at Noborito station, there are a few Doraemon themed statues and art to look out for!
There are direct shuttle buses between Noborito Station on the JR Nanbu Line and the Fujiko museum. After exiting the ticket gate, turn left, go down the escalator and the bus stop is right ahead of you.
The shuttle bus service runs every 10 minutes, and the ride itself takes about 5-10 minutes. You can check out the bus time table here (available only in Japanese).
We reached about 20 minutes earlier and were second in the queue! We were also thankful that the museum was thoughtful to have a room to keep your luggages and bags while you roam freely in the museum! Once the doors were opened, we headed straight to the café as we read online that the queue will usually get crowded and you’d have to wait an hour towards the later part of the day!
As we visited during the Christmas season, the Doraemon Café had a few Christmas-themed items on the menu and we couldn’t resist ordering the Doraemon X’mas Cream Stew and Rice with Fried Chicken and French Fries (1700 Yen approximately SGD $22)! We love this dish, it was so beautifully and intricately designed with all of our favourite characters from Doraemon!
Dessert – Dreaming Nobita’s Mousse cake – X’mas version (1350 Yen approximately SGD $17.20)!
Hot Cocoa (630 Yen approximately $8) with a surprise latte art of one its characters – we got Doraemon!
We then headed down to the 2nd level, which is a more hands-on area aimed towards younger children. There is a theater showing an original short film, a manga reading corner (text is in Japanese only), and several activity and play rooms.
There are also Gachapon Machines – 300 yen per ball and we played 4 times before we got Doraemon!
We also enjoyed an exclusive Doraemon short film, not available anywhere else! (with intervals 20 min each). Definitely recommend catching this film!
After, we headed to the outdoor area located beside the café. There are plenty of photo-taking opportunities! One of which is this Dokodemo Door (Anywhere Door) – one of Doraemon’s most commonly used gadgets. All you have to do is walk through this pink door and be transported to anywhere!
We then ventured to the 1st level, and made our way through the museum, discovering Fujiko Fujio’s life, his original illustrations and artwork. There are many stories to read through, so you’d probably spend about another hour here.
Before leaving the museum, we rushed to the Gift Shop and it was already crowded! Everyone wants a piece of Doraemon We bought files, postcards, magnets and many more back home <3
Overall, as Doraemon fans I would say that this museum is a must-go to reminisce your childhood days and appreciate Fujiko F. Fujio’s hard work. We enjoyed our day thoroughly, spending almost half a day immersing ourselves with Doraemon and his friends 🙂
Fujiko F Musuem
Address: 2 Chome-8-1 Nagao, Tama Ward, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 214-0023, Japan (Near Noborito station)
Opening hours: 10:00 to 18:00 (advance reservations required). Closed every Tuesday except during the Golden Week (April 29th to May 5th) and summer holidays (July 20th to September 3rd). Also closed during Year-end and New Year Holidays (December 30th to January 3rd).
Tickets: Purchase admission tickets in advance by selecting preferred date and time slot.
Entrance time is in quarterly time-schedule: 10:00; 12:00; 14:00; 16:00
(Visitors must enter the museum no later than half an hour within the reservation time schedule.)
Transportation Access: Shuttle bus service run from Noborito Station (Odakyu line or JR Nanbu line)
With lots of love,
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