I went to the Railway Museum at Saitama

03 May, 2026

I went to the Railway Museum at Saitama (Wikipedia). It was very nice and I'd recommend it for anyone who has a chance to visit it.¹

I went with wife and kid, and spent a few hours. For lunch, we got a seat on an old wagon with tables for eating; we could see the passing trains from our seat. We then spent some time seeing the trains. We get inside the ones you can enter; the older ones you can only look from outside, for preservation reasons.

For me, one of the highlights was the 0 Series Shinkansen. As someone who has only rode the newer E5 Series, it was interesting to see the original trains. The contrast of ashtrays and japanese-style toilets is quite impacting too.

After looking the trains, we went to the Plarail section so the kid could play a bit. After that, the kid got tired, so we went back home.

We couldn't see more than half of the museum. All of history and science parts we left for another visit. We're looking forward to it.

The access is also good: from Tokyo, go to Ōmiya and then two stations on a local train. It doesn't take much time.

#travel