Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Public Information Center, Military museum in Asaka, Saitama, Japan
The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Public Information Center, nicknamed Rikkun Land, is a museum inside Camp Asaka, entered from the Asaka Gate on Route 254. Its long, low building has a reddish-brown upper facade with white characters reading 陸上自衛隊広報センター and a greenish glass curtain wall at the lower left. Displays include a Type 10 tank, a Type 16 maneuver combat vehicle prototype, an AH-1S helicopter and a recreated underground command post.
The center opened in April 2002 as the third large public information facility of Japan's Self-Defense Forces, after the naval archive in Sasebo and the air force museum in Hamamatsu. In 2009 a government review proposed charging admission; the debate drew about 4,700 visitors a week, up from 2,600, and the one-millionth visitor arrived on 23 July 2010. A paid-admission trial ran from 1 November 2010 to 1 February 2011, then entry became free again.
The center's nickname, Rikkun Land, comes from its mascot Rikkun. Visitors can try on camouflage uniforms, wear a Type 2 bulletproof vest or parachute, and test tank and helicopter shooting simulators. The open and 3D theaters screen footage of training, UN peacekeeping operations and disaster relief deployments.
The center sits just inside the Asaka Gate of Camp Asaka on National Route 254 (Kawagoe Kaido). It is open 09:30–11:45 and 13:15–16:45 in timed entry slots, closed Mondays and Tuesdays (or the next weekday if these are holidays) and over New Year. Visitors register name, age and sex on entry; parking for 40 cars and 5 buses is free.
The nickname "Rikkun Land" comes from the mascot Rikkun. The center opened in April 2002 as the third large public information facility of the Self-Defense Forces, after the JMSDF Sasebo Historical Museum and the JASDF Hamamatsu Public Information Hall. Admission is free, but visitors write down a representative's name, age and sex.
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