Akashi Municipal Planetarium

This planetarium was opened in 1960 right on the Japanese standard time meridian. It has a 4-story display hall and a 16-story tower, registered as a national tangible cultural property. After being badly damaged in Kobe Quake, it was restored in three years and made a renewal open in 1998.

The display rooms are divided in four - the meridian town, Akashi, the planetarium gallery, the observation library and the time gallery. You can learn about the birth of the universe, space observation, calendars and meridians, just about anything related to astronomy.

The planetarium was made by former Eastern Germany’s Carl Zeiss Jena and the same planetarium set up at the opening has been used to this day, for the longest time in Japan, and the fifth-longest in the world - over 20,000 days. The equipment itself now has a cultural value.

The clock on the tower is the third one, working since 1998. The 13th and the 14th floors are observation rooms, where visitors love the panoramic view over Akashi Strait and Awaji Island.