Okinawa Prefectural Museum and Art Museum

About

The Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum opened on November 1, 2007. Built as Okinawa's first combined museum-and-art-museum facility, it succeeded the Okinawa Prefectural Museum, completed in 1966 in Shuri, which suspended operations in March 2006 and closed for good in March 2007. The new museum stands in Omoromachi, part of Naha's new downtown district. Architects Ishimoto Architectural & Engineering Firm and Niki Architects Office jointly designed the building, whose exterior shape became the model for the museum's mascot character, "Okimyu-chan." The permanent exhibition space totals 2,596 square meters for the museum section and 871 square meters for the art museum section. Admission to the museum's permanent exhibits is 530 yen for adults and 270 yen for high school and university students; the art museum's collection gallery is 400 yen for adults and 220 yen for high school and university students. Elementary and middle school students residing in Okinawa Prefecture, along with visitors 70 and older and visitors with disabilities, are admitted free. The museum opens 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday (last entry 5:30), and until 8:00 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays (last entry 7:30). It closes on Mondays — staying open if Monday is a holiday and closing the following weekday instead — and over the New Year holiday.