Rainy day things to do in Akita with kids 3 spots
Akita is rice, snow, and the home of the Akita dog. Its namahage ogres call at houses on New Year's Eve, and a museum on the Oga peninsula shows the masks year-round.
A theme park the size of four Tokyo Domes, from craft workshops to a planetarium.
Stroller OK · Nursing room · Changing table · checked Aug ’26
A stone museum holding more than 150 Namahage masks actually used in Oga's villages.
Stroller OK · Family restroom · checked Aug ’26
Japan's first museum devoted to original manga artwork, with about 490,000 sheets.
Stroller OK · Nursing room · Changing table · checked Aug ’26
The official line is that every facility is linked by covered walkways, so a rainy day is no problem: an all-weather park. The Spacia planetarium, Wonder Castle, the crafts hall and the Akita Museum of Modern Art all sit at the end of those walkways. The outdoor sculptures, the lawn and the Max Train (running mid-April to mid-November) are outside.
The display of more than 150 Namahage masks and the film "Namahage no Ichiya", screened every 30 minutes, are both seen inside the stone building built largely of Oga stone. The interior is flat throughout, and umbrellas are lent free of charge.
All 11 facilities — the information desk, the permanent exhibition room, the Manga Storehouse exhibition room, the Manga Library, the Famous Lines Road, the Manga Cafe and the rest — are inside the building. There are ramps and an elevator, and the only paid one is the special exhibition room.