- Culture
- Hokkaido
Abashiri Prison Museum
Abashiri Prison Museum is buildings of the original Abashiri Prison where located in Abashiri City, Hokkaido that have maintained close and now open to the public as a cultural property. The original prison was built around 100 years ago. This outdoor history museum is popular among tourists where you can enjoy prison meals in its historic buildings.
Abashiri Prison is a facility located in the most northeast Japan. The prison is known for having housed many heavy criminals in the freezing climate of Hokkaido. Its history has earned it a place in many works of literature and film.
Most of the buildings of the original Abashiri Prison maintained by the museum are Important Cultural Properties of Japan and known as the world’s oldest and largest wooden prison buildings. The buildings were built around 100 years ago by prisoners who had been incarcerated there at the time.
The videos displayed inside the museum have multilingual audio options available, and the exhibition panels use digital signage with multilingual display options. Some of the exhibitions have explanatory pages with multilingual explanations in English, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), and Korean. The guidance signs outside also have multilingual instructions.
At the Kangoku cafeteria "Prison Dining" inside the museum, visitors can try "prison meals" for 720-820 yen―a recreation of the lunch menu of the current prisoners of Abashiri Prison.
Location
| Name | Abashiri Prison Museum |
|---|---|
| Web Sites | https://www.kangoku.jp/multilingual_english/ |
| Address | 1-1 Yobito, Abashiri-shi, Hokkaido |
| Access | Around 4km from JR Abashiri Station (Around 7 minutes by car, 10 minutes by bus, or 40 minutes’ walk) Around 18.5km from Memanbetsu Airport (Around 20 minutes by car) |
| Business Hours | May-September: 8:30-18:00 October-April: 9:00-17:00 (Last admission is one hour before closing time) |
| Inquiries | TEL: 0152-45-2411 |
| Admission Fee | Adult 1,080 yen, College or high school student 750 yen, junior high or elementary school student 540 yen |