The museum was easy to spot by the big words "Police Museum" seen on front of the building in English letters. As a matter of fact, everything had English translations, which made the entire experience much more interesting for us. There is also a police car parked right in front. Once inside, there is a police helicopter to climb into and a motorcycle to hop on as well.
After enjoying some time on various vehicles, we wandered upstairs to learn how the community police help people in the community. One of the best exhibits was a big TV that showed a short animation of a man walking up to a child and asking to take photos of her. The girl ran home and her mom helped her to call the police to report the incident. My son talked on the phone to the operator and answered their questions about what happened. The whole thing was really neat. He was so proud of himself when he answered questions correctly. When he was wrong, they simply explained the correct answer.
The third floor focused on various police departments. It had a koban (police box) that upon entering a video started playing to demonstrate some of the many tasks that community police officers do on a daily basis. We enjoyed seeing them tackle problems like tending to an accident, taking a report for a found purse, and helping a lost child. It also had a really neat investigative game where children had to match the footprint to the shoe. The interactive exhibits were so great!
The other two floors covered history. They were great to get a little glimpse of the police department in Japan.
While I don't think that the police in Japan are very different than police officers in most other countries. Their job is to serve and protect. But it was still nice to take my son to this museum and share their mission with him.
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