Dinosaurs in Fukui attract two partners of iTWS japan.

Yuki Takano, a partner of iTWS japan, introduces the great features of Fukui Prefecture in his post “Fukui Prefecture, the Dinosaur and Soba Kingdom (YUKI_1802). Please click LINK for reading his article. Let me reinforce his post by providing more information about dinosaurs in Fukui.

Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum (FPDM) in Katsuyama, Fukui Prefecture, Japan, is one of the three leading dinosaur museums in the world. FYI, the rest are The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Canada and Zigong Dinosaur Museum in PRC. In my opinion, FPDM is an ideal museum designed to help you deepen your knowledge around not only the biology of dinosaurs but also the whole history of the Earth. The museum consists of the following areas and facilities.

• Dinosaur World
• Earth Sciences
• History of Life
• Dino Lab
• Special exhibition on a particular topic
• Tower of Dinosaur

Stepping into each of these areas one by one, you’d be able to learn how the Earth and her living creatures have evolved and where the era of dinosaurs should be positioned. “Dinosaur World” would be most spectacular. An animatronics robot of Tyrannosaurus (above photo, left) welcomes you with powerful and realistic motions! Having a close look at a real-size diorama of Jurassic Forest and 50 dinosaur skeletons, you’d feel as if you were travelling into Jurassic World.  

“Tower of Dinosaur” (above photo, right) is the symbol monument of FPDM. The 13m-high tower displays five dinosaurs and an avialan discovered in Fukui. From the top to the bottom on the photo, they are …

• Fukui-raptor (theropod)　 獣脚類
• Fukui-pteryx (avialan)　鳥翼類
• Fukui-venator (theropod)　 獣脚類
• Fukui-saurus (iguanodontian)　 鳥脚類 禽竜 イグアノドン
• Koshi-saurus (iguanodontian)　 鳥脚類 禽竜 イグアノドン
• Fukui-titan (sauropod)　竜脚類

The fossils of the above six were discovered from Kitadani dinosaur quarry in Fukui Prefecture, which is why “Fukui-“is added in front of dinosaur classification. “Koshi-” is an old Japanese regional name including Fukui Prefecture.  

Fukui Prefecture belongs to the Hokuriku Region, facing the Sea of Japan. It is not a short trip at all to reach FPDM from major tourist destinations in Japan. For example, it takes 3.5 hours from Kyoto and 2.5 hours from Kanazawa. But I’d say that you should not miss FPDM even if you are not a dinosaur lover.

Jin Shibata

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