Hashima Folk History Museum, Hashima Movie Museum, museum in Hashima, Gifu, Japan
The Hashima Folk History Museum and Hashima Movie Museum occupy a two-story building with exhibits on local life and a large collection of film posters and cinematography equipment from different eras. The ground floor shows traditional crafts and photographs of daily life, while the upper floor holds cameras and projectors from the 1940s onward, vintage theater seats, and a screening room.
The building was originally a cinema called Takehana Asahi Cinema, operating for decades before closing in the early 1970s. Community interest in restoring a cinema in the 1980s inspired its transformation into a museum, which opened on February 23, 1996, to preserve local history and film culture.
The museum shows how movies and local craftsmanship shaped community life in Hashima. Old theater seats and film posters on display reflect the social importance of cinema and the artistic traditions that residents continue to value.
The museum is located in a quiet part of Hashima and is easy to find, with enough space to explore both floors at your own pace. Visitors should know that the collection holds over 50,000 items with only a small portion displayed at any time, and that film screenings happen on the second Saturday of each month.
The museum houses a remarkable collection of monster models made from paper and clay by local artist Eito Hara, including a large 1954 Godzilla figure. This artist's works reflect a lifelong passion for Japanese monster movies that began when he asked his grandmother for a Godzilla toy as a child.
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