Repurposing closed elementary schools as local history museums isn't just a rural thing; there are many in the Tokyo suburbs too. This is one of them. I visited close to the anniversary of the end of the war, so I got to see a special exhibition on the theme of war. Free admission, a 20-minute walk from Takahatafudo Station on the Keio Line, with a long uphill slope.

The exhibits mainly feature archaeology and folk tools, and there's also an exhibit related to Koyata Katsugoro, who told a mysterious tale of reincarnation when interviewed by the kokugaku scholar Hirata Atsutane in the late Edo period. At the office, you can also buy a research report about it.

I visited in late October 2025. I had some time while I was out, so I found it on Google Maps and decided to check it out. It seems they're using a closed-down elementary school as a museum. There were hardly any other visitors, so I could look around at my leisure. Perfect for spending a relaxed time.

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Overall it feels a bit disorganized, but it's a very interesting local history museum. While visiting Tama Zoological Park, I stopped by the Hino City Local History Museum, which I'd been curious about for a while. It's in a corner of an elementary school standing on a slightly elevated hill, about a 20–30 minute walk from the zoo. When you go in the entrance, the first things that catch your eye are the multipurpose restroom and the wheelchair ramp. The building is old, so I think they were added later, but I could feel the consideration for all kinds of people. When I asked for permission to take photos, I was asked to fill out an application form. My impression was that most museums and local history museums basically let you take photos freely, so I was a little puzzled, but when I looked at the exhibits, a huge amount of material was packed into every available space, and it seemed they were putting it on public display first even though it isn't organized yet, so I imagined there might be various circumstances such as donated items. I did the paperwork while chatting with a friendly, earnest-looking curator, who was very kind to me even though I'm not a researcher. At that point I was given a bag full of a bundle of special exhibition booklets—so many that I'd have to read several books if I researched it myself—along with a local guide map. On the day I visited, a special exhibition on earthenware was being held, so I saw that too. The exhibits, designed in various creative ways to get visitors interested, were fun. There's a fairly large number of regular exhibits, so I highly recommend it to those who want to see actual old folk tools and everyday household goods from the Showa era and earlier, rather than focusing on explanations. There are also exhibits with explanations, such as fossils of the Akebono elephant and a replica of large footprints. Unlike the formulaic, contractor-made-feeling exhibits organized by era or theme that you tend to find at most grand museums, I liked the sense that the curators were steadily making things by hand. Personally, the history of waterwheels displayed in the corridor was summarized from many angles and was very interesting as a read, too. The silhouette of a waterwheel painted on the corridor wall just inside the entrance, in front of the special exhibition room—when I looked at it after finishing reading the photos and text on the panel display, I could vividly picture the waterwheel, which was very interesting.

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It's a charming museum using an old school building, but... things were placed like in a storeroom, hardly what you could call an "exhibit." Tools with no explanation—not even a name—were crammed onto steel racks and covered in dust. Such careless handling. Wouldn't the people who donated them be sad? I wish they'd take it a bit more seriously.

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