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In Nintendo’s recent financial earnings report released in May 2024, the company confirmed the Nintendo Museum will finally be opening this autumn in Kyoto’s Uji City.
Originally scheduled to open by the end of Spring 2024, it is understood now that the main construction (at the site of a former Nintendo factory) is finally complete and a launch officially on the horizon for autumn 2024—albeit the exact date is under wraps for now.
You can see more about the construction from this September 2023 update:
The musuem is expected to celebrate Nintendo’s vast video game history, spanning consoles, games and a whole lot more. As the creator of many franchises like Super Mario, Donkey Kong, Zelda, and Pokémon, there is understandably a lot of excitement with regards to what exhibitions, displays and experiences visitors can expect to see, but otherwise are not yet announced.
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Why is it located in Uji?
The museum’s site in Uji City is that of Nintendo’s former Uji Ogura Plant, which since 1969 used to be a production base during its trading card days, as well later being used for video game console and toy repairs. The site’s operations were eventually merged into another larger Uji plant, leaving the future of the current site, which carries a bit of Nintendo history, under review until the Nintendo Museum (‘Nintendo Gallery’) plans were eventually unveiled in 2021.
The location can be reached (when it opens) in a short 30-min journey by train from Kyoto Station to the north. Uji is known for its matcha green tea history and production and also home to Byodo-in Temple.
Visiting the museum will make sense for Nintendo fans already stopping by USJ Osaka’s Super Nintendo World, which opened to fanfare back in 2021.
