Being operated by the Metropolitan Police Department, the Police Museum in Kyobashi, Tokyo, is the only full-fledged police museum in Japan. It was opened in 1987 and was extensively renovated in 2017. The first floor of this compact five-story museum displays various retired police vehicles and a helicopter such as a Mazda police car equipped with a rotary engine, that is one of 4 Mazda police cars used by the Metropolitan Expressway Traffic Police Unit, Japan's first police helicopter that was deployed to the Metropolitan Air Corps in 1959 and a variety of police motorcycles The second picture shows the helicopter mentioned above, the cockpit of which is covered with a transparent dome-shaped windshield, so that the flying police officers could easily get an omnidirectional view. On the other hand, they might have felt cold in winter as small-sized aircrafts in those years didn't have a heating system. From the second floor, the historical chronology of the Metropolitan Police Department, uniforms, weapons and forensic equipment are on display.
This museum is free as it is a part of their public relations.
Licensed tour guide, travel consultant,
Masahisa Takaki.
全国通訳案内士 高木聖久。
