π
2014-05-24 01:01
in Japan, Japan2014, Sciencemuseums
Next, we walked to Miraikan -- National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. I thought would be worth an hour or two but that was a big mistake, we ended up spending over 5 hours there, it was that good. I'm not sure how I can put this, but it was the most advanced science museum I've ever seen anywhere: particle accelerators, neutrino detection at the Super Kamiokande (proving that they have a mass), super conditivity with a levitation demo, very deep sea exploration, DNA/SNP taylored medecine, Asimo demo, and more. Seriously, this put all the other science museums in the dust so much, that it wasn't even funny.
They had a demo on superconductivity:
Their very deep sea submarine
Asimo was there of course:
Which other science museums teach you about quantum particles and neutrinos?
π
2014-05-19 01:01
in Japan, Japan2014, Sciencemuseums
I had gone to the museum for less than 2H the previous year, and it was agony to see so much with no enough time to see it, so I was quite happy to back for a much longer visit this time.
The main hall shows the evolution of Japanese trains over time.
While the shinkansen (bullet train) between Tokyo and Osaka is actually not that fast (a mere 280kph) due to limitations from the train tracks built for much older and slower trains (the French TGV peaks at 350kph on newer commercial lines), the technology is nonetheless impressive, especially the part where it tries to counter lean in turns to go faster on curves that are too sharp for higher speeds.
the 3 Japanese trains that broke world records
What the new maglev will look like
The main hall is of course where all the trains and history are located:
but waiting for 2027, that's a long time to wait...
in the meantime, you can ride the short test line for fun :)
They had plenty of simulators for people to play with and demos. There is a long line for the shinkansen simulator, but to be honest I don't think it's that fun or impressive to drive a train :)
The diaroma showing the shinkansen line going through Nagoya was quite good:
The displays showing how often the shinkansens run in a single day, and then how they are maintained was quite interesting. Watch the movie if you can:
Then plenty of time to look inside all the trains:
