If you drive into Katsuyama, you will notice a huge silver egg-shaped building among the hills.

This building is for the Fukui Dinosaur Museum, which is the center for dinosaur research in Japan

It is one of the largest dinosaur museums in the world. It is the largest building in Japan, which qualifies it as one of the most popular tourist destinations in Fukui; It is visited by about 900 thousand people annually.

The Fukui Dinosaur Museum can be reached by bus or taxi from Katsuyama Station.

Take the mass transit bus to Nagaoyama and get off at Kyuryu Hakubutsukan-mae Station (20 minutes). Or take a taxi to get you to your destination more quickly.

The museum entrance lobby is located on the third floor and includes a private exhibition hall and a cinema hall.

There are three main exhibits at the Fukui Dinosaur Museum, the largest of which is the "Jurassic World" exhibit.

Here you'll find a life-size 7.2m tall T-Rex robot built with animatronics that guards the skeletons of more than 40 dinosaurs.

You'll also see the skeletons and fossils of locally unearthed dinosaurs, including Fukui-raptor and Fukui-sur. Ten of them are original samples.

There is also the “Earth Sciences” exhibition, at the same level as the “Dinosaur World” exhibition, which tells you a lot of information about the globe and how life originated on its back through practical displays and videos.

There is also another area on the second floor called the "Dinosaur Lab" that allows you to touch some real fossils.

The third and final exhibition, “History of the Earth,” is located on the second floor. View the exhibits to discover more fossils and dinosaur models that show how life evolved on Earth.

Skeletons of many large prehistoric mammals are also on display, including the huge elk and the mammoth, which are now extinct. This level displays a panoramic image of the first floor.

On the second floor you will find the Fossil Processing Lab. Technicians deftly handle fossil cleaning tasks at the nearby Kitadani Excavation Site for research purposes or public display. Visitors are allowed to watch them from the window while they are doing their work.

The museum is open to the public at all hours of the day only, and visitors must enter by 4:30 pm; until you are allowed in.

The museum operates daily from the end of July until the end of August, and closes its doors on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month, and from December 31 to January 1.

You may need to make a reservation to enter the museum. Please check the official website for the latest information.