Nima Sand Museum

This sand museum is home to the world’s largest hourglass. The museum displays sand artworks themed "sand," "time," and "environment," as well as a variety of sand from Japan and around the world.

Six glass pyramid-shaped structures comprise the structures. The world's largest one-year hourglass "Sunagoyomi" (Sand Calendar), hanging 8 meters above the ground in the hope of preserving "Singing Sand" and protecting the environment, is ticking the time in the Time Hall in the center. One ton of sand takes exactly one year to empty from the upper globe to the lower globe in a glass container 5.2 m high and 1 m in diameter. The "Festival of Time," an annual event in which the hourglass is flipped over, is held on New Year's Eve.

It is also the setting for Hinako Ashihara's Japanese comic "Suna-dokei (Hourglass)," which has been dramatized and made into a movie. A special section also displays messages and autographs from the actors, as well as scripts.

Glass craft hands-on workshops such as sandblasting, burner work, and clear candles are popular at the Fureai Koryukan. The hourglasses and key chains featured in the drama are available for purchase.