Showa Roman-gura: Dagashiya no Yume Museum 昭和の町　駄菓子屋の夢博物館

Official explanation

A nostalgic collection of toys is on display at the Dagashiya no Yume Museum. These toys are reminiscent of items found at stores called dagashiya that originated in the Meiji era (1868–1912) and sold inexpensive snacks and toys. These stores also offered coin-operated arcade-style games and capsule toy machines called gashapon. With the gradual introduction of convenience stores throughout Japan, dagashiya slowly declined, and very few can be found in the country today.

The museum houses a staggering assortment of around 60,000 items acquired by Komiya Hironobu, one of the most prominent dagashiya toy collectors in the country. Komiya is also the director of the museum and owns as many as 300,000 dagashiya items dating from before the Second World War to the late 1980s. These include figurines of pop-culture icons, old records, and magazines. The foundations of Japanese pop culture are visible in many of these items.

Read the full explanation

Temporary dagashi exhibitions, typically lasting three months, highlight iconic characters or themes of Japanese culture during the Showa era (1926–1989). Retro movie posters are on display on the second floor. The gift shop is designed to offer visitors the atmosphere of shopping at a traditional dagashiya.

出典: 地域観光資源の多言語解説文データベース（観光庁） — www.mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db. この英語解説文は観光庁の地域観光資源の多言語解説整備支援事業で作成しました。
Source: Japan Tourism Agency, Multilingual Explanation Database. This English text was produced by the Japan Tourism Agency's multilingual explanation project and is shown unedited. Opening hours and services may have changed since it was written.