Minoo Park Insect Museum

Minoo Park Insect Museum, located within Osaka Prefecture’s Minoo Park in Minoo City, is a small educational facility dedicated to insects.  It is notable for its greenhouse where visitors can get a really up-close look at various butterflies that are raised at the facility.

Educational Displays and Models

The first part of the facility consists of educational displays explaining various facts about insects.  The displays appear to be designed mainly for children, and they include many illustrations and models.  Unfortunately, all of the explanations are only written in Japanese.

The below photo shows a real wasp nest with actual mounted (dead) wasps.

This photo shows an oversized replica of a wasp nest.

Specimen Displays

In the later part of the facility, there are many mounted specimens of insects.  The collection of butterflies is the most impressive.

Opportunities for Animal Encounters

In the rear part of the building, there is a glass wall that reveals a live honeycomb of honeybees.  The honeycomb is built into a separate room that has openings to the outside.  The honeycomb appears to have been there for awhile, and the windows are quite dirty.  It may be an interesting way to show the inside of a honeycomb, but because of the dirty windows, it creates an unsanitary appearance.

The below photos show the greenhouse where live butterflies are raised.  The area is not very large, and probably only about 10 to 15 people can fit comfortably into the room at the same time.  There are a number of different types of butterflies, but the small number of individual specimens actually flying around was a bit disappointing.  Visitors are asked to not touch the butterflies and to be careful not to step on any butterflies resting on the walkway.

Getting There

The nearest railway station is the Hankyu Railway Minoo Station.  Immediately after exiting the station, walk in the direction of the mountains and look for the road that heads into the Minoo Park and goes to Minoo Waterfall.  In the beginning, this road will look like an ordinary neighborhood street, but it is notable because it is lined with many small souvenir shops.  (If in doubt, check the large billboard sign map that stands just outside of the train station.)  Just follow the road uphill into the park 1 kilometer until you reach the spot where the road makes a sharp turn to the right.  The Insect Museum will be directly in front of you.  Admission for adults and high school students is 270 yen.  Intermediate school students and younger get in free.

(Note: All photos taken in this post were taken during a visit on November 1, 2014.  The comments in this post are based on observations made on that day.  Conditions may have since changed.  Please check it out for yourself!)