I’ve been to this museum several times, but I recently went back with a couple of friends, and I have to say I have mixed feeling about this place.
I think for the natural science enthusiast who has no problem seeing a variety of dead animals propped up into display cases, this is the perfect museum since such displays are absolutely everywhere.
For me, however, I felt my stomach churning and my head spinning with every turn I took in the museum, as there is no end to the exhibits of preserved animals.
While some of it was nice to look at – dried flowers and plants on display – I hit a limit I didn’t know I had for this sort of thing when I stumbled across an impressive display of a tapeworm found in a cow. The museum had kindly stretched the entire thing out and displayed it as such, meaning it took up a good portion of a wall. I had to quickly get myself out of that room.
The dinosaur remains were nice to look at, but I think I’ve been to too many museums that feature them for me to be properly impressed.
The museum, itself, is huge, and you can easily spend an entire day just trying to explore everything. For me, the Japanese natural history section of the museum was the most interesting (I especially loved a “display case” they had for the modern human, which you could freely go into and have your picture taken), and I loved the architecture housing this section.
I’m pretty sure, though, that every time I leave this museum, I think to myself, I am never coming back here again. Too many dead animals.
And yet somehow I keep ending up going back again.
Maybe it’s the naive hope that one day I’ll get over the fear and disgust I have upon viewing animals displayed like that and actually try to better edcuate myself on the natural world.