impressive cultural heritage. Only draw is no elevator for the 2nd floor, only stairs.

Free. Apparently Chofu is the hometown of Kondo Isami of the Shinsengumi. The explanations are easy to understand, which is nice. It's only open until 16:00, so I recommend going early.

+3

I'm touring the local museums of various wards and cities… There are paid ones and free ones, but this local history museum is free. I'm going around by road bike so I'm not really sure, but I guess the nearest station would be Keio-tamagawa Station? It's in a residential area too. I love the Shinsengumi and have read lots of books about them. Shinsengumi commander Kondo Isami was born on the border of Chofu City and Fuchu City. A lot of the exhibit materials here are documents. Another thing that caught my interest was the history of Chofu Airfield. Like Tachikawa Airfield, it was taken over by the army and used as a military airfield; after the war it was under the US, and the land beside the runway was used for hydroponic vegetable farming, with the produce sent to US military bases via the Seibu Railway; then, for the Tokyo Olympics, the US military housing area that was in Yoyogi was relocated here, and now AJINOMOTO Stadium, Musashi-no-Mori Park, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, the riot police, the National Police Academy, and more have been built there. The laying of the Keio Railway also seems to have helped it develop as a Tokyo suburb. It's also famous as a movie town, apparently even called the Hollywood of the East…… It's fun to see how a town has changed. It's interesting how the museum's exhibits let you understand the developments and history from ancient times to the present.

+3

A museum run by Chofu City that preserves and displays the city's history and traditional culture. In terms of scale it's more like a local history museum and is compact, but my impression is that they're energetic about holding special exhibitions. Admission is free. I saw the 1st-floor special exhibition "Life and Techniques in Farming Villages". The items related to cloth-making, said to have been used until the early Showa era, had detailed explanations, and looking at them closely, an hour wasn't enough. For the parts about the mechanisms of spinning thread and weaving, I thought it would be even better if there were diagrams a bit easier for laypeople to understand. For its 50th anniversary since opening, the 2nd-floor permanent exhibition is being renovated, and I'm looking forward to that opening too.

+3

Exit the ticket gate at Keio-tamagawa Station on the Keio Sagamihara Line, cross the crosswalk and head left, turn right past the FamilyMart, go left at the end of the road and follow the road, and on your right you'll see the Chofu City Local History Museum. Admission is free, and apparently most things can be photographed if you ask at reception. When I visited, a training session was being held, so although I could view the permanent exhibition on the 2F, I refrained from taking photos. This museum can't really be called large, but it has interesting exhibits such as a diorama of Kondo Isami's birthplace and a seated statue of Kondo Isami beside the stairs on the 1F, and although some of the printed materials are out of print, they're kept in files so you can still read them, which is wonderful. It might be nice to stop by while visiting Jindaiji or Jindai Botanical Gardens.