Standing at the eastern end of Ueno Park in Tokyo's Taito district, the National Museum of Nature and Science is probably one of the city's most recognisable museums.
Opened more than 150 years ago, this Neo-Renaissance-style building houses numerous objects of use in the natural sciences, including an impressive collection of models of prehistoric creatures and stuffed specimens made by several generations of Japanese scientists. It even features the stuffed specimen of the famous dog Hachiko.
Yet while the museum remains a Ueno landmark and a must for school field trips, it would have closed its doors were it not for a major crowdfunding campaign that helped it out of its financial difficulties caused by the pandemic. Launched last summer, the campaign reached almost ten times the expected target, a sign of the public's appreciation for the Museum.