Yūshūkan, Military museum in Chiyoda district, Tokyo, Japan
Yūshūkan is a military museum on the grounds of Yasukuni Shrine in Chiyoda, Tokyo, housed in a building with three above-ground floors and one basement level. Its cream-colored facade is divided by tall, deep-set rectangular openings framed in white stone, with a row of small dark vents beneath a dark brown overhanging roof. Inside, a long rectangular skylight runs down the center of the flat ceiling, with aircraft suspended below it and glass display cases along the walls.
The museum was founded in 1882 by Yamagata Aritomo and covers military history from the Meiji Restoration through World War II. After the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake destroyed the original structure, the building was reconstructed and reopened in 1932.
The name Yūshūkan comes from a passage in the Xunzi about associating with worthy people. The museum's café, Yui, serves navy curry based on recipes used on Japanese warships, and the shop sells military flags and English pamphlets. A cenotaph for a war horse stands on the grounds.
The museum stands inside Yasukuni Shrine, about a two-minute walk from the shrine's main hall; from Kudanshita Station Exit 1, enter through the first torii and walk roughly ten minutes. The ground-floor entrance hall, shop and café can be entered without a ticket, while the second-floor exhibition rooms are paid. Photography is allowed in the entrance hall and the large first-floor hall only.
The museum displays materials from both the Imperial Japanese Army and the modern Japan Self-Defense Forces, connecting different military eras. This side-by-side presentation lets visitors trace how Japanese armed forces have evolved and changed over time.
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