A significant reason as to how Japan remains such an evergreen destination for tourists to return to over and over again is that there is always something new to discover. Each of the 47 prefectures of Japan has cleverly distinguished themselves from the others by highlighting the unique parts of their history, culture, and geography to tourists. Ishikawa is known for its gold production. Osaka is famous for its diverse cuisine. And Fukui is famous for its… dinosaurs!
Fukui Prefecture (福井県 ) is a coastal prefecture on the edge of the central region of Japan. Nestled mostly between Ishikawa Prefecture and Gifu Prefecture, it is roughly 2 hours away from Osaka via an express train and is often overlooked by most travellers who would normally use that route to get to Kanazawa City. While it may be true that Fukui is nowhere near as saturated as Kyoto or Kanazawa in terms of picturesque temples and streets, you may find it to be a place where you can experience something completely unique from the other prefectures of Japan.
As the prefecture which has excavated the largest quantity of dinosaur bones in all Japan, Fukui is proud of its paleontological achievements and is not afraid to show it. This becomes apparent the moment you take your first step out of Fukui Station (福井駅) and you are greeted by several massive animatronic dinosaurs. Even the facade of the station itself is covered by a giant image of dinosaurs, with the title “Dinosaur Kingdom Fukui” displayed at the top. But to really get into the meat of this “Dino-Mania”, we’d have to take a trip to Katsuyama City to visit one of the top three dinosaur museums in the world.
On the opposite side of Fukui Station’s main building from Dinosaur Square is a smaller building that houses the train platform for the Echizen Railway line. It takes about an hour of travel time to Katsuyama Terminal Station. Aside from a smattering of vending machines and dinosaur statues, there isn’t a lot going on in the immediate vicinity of the train station, so I would recommend getting food at Fukui City beforehand, depending on how you plan your schedule. From the station, you can take a community bus to the museum, but keep in mind that you will have to take a different bus to get back.
The bus ride to the museum can be quite interesting, for while Katsuyama City is very much a town out in the sticks, the landscape is dotted with sculptures and statues of various species of dinosaurs, which really add to the personality of this sleepy town. The museum itself also sticks out heavily against its lush natural surroundings as it comes into view, with its giant reflective chrome dome looking more like some sort of Hollywood secret government facility than a museum.
The Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum (福井県立恐竜博物館 Fukui Kenritsu Kyōryū Hakubutsukan) is very much worthy of its reputation as one of the best dinosaur museums in the world. This moderately-sized museum contains several exhibits of both animatronic and complete dinosaur skeletons collected from throughout Japan. Examples include the aptly named “Fukuiraptor” and “Fukuisaurus”, both breeds which were discovered in the valley nearby the museum.
Besides a huge variety of dinosaurs, there are also several fossils of other gargantuan prehistoric animals on display, such as mammoths, turtles, and mammals.
Perhaps a big plus of this museum is that everything is well translated in English, along with audio guides available in Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean.
There are also a few children-friendly areas in the museum such as Dino-lab, where visitors can pick up and hold real fossils, as well as Dino Library where there are a plethora of books and movies about paleontology and where you can even learn how to fold dinosaur origami! Outside of the museum is a dinosaur-themed playground and a Dinocafe restaurant which serves cute prehistoric-themed menu items.
Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum (福井県立恐竜博物館)
Address: 51-11 Terao, Muraoka-cho, Katsuyama-shi, Fukui 911-8601
Access: From JR Fukui Station, board the Echizen Railway Eiheiji Katsuyama Line, bound for Katsuyama Station (勝山駅). You can catch a taxi to get to the Museum in 10 minutes, or take the community bus running every hour.
If you have an interest in dinosaurs and museums in general, the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum is definitely worth a visit. Keep in mind though, that as it is quite deep in the mountains and difficult to get to, you may have to dedicate an entire day of your trip to this museum just to account for the travel time. There are other hidden gems in Fukui Prefecture you may want to check out as well to complement your itinerary, such as the Eiheiji Temple or the Tojinbo Cliffs.
