I’ve always been drawn to miniature worlds, ever since I saw Queen Mary’s Dollhouse at Windsor Castle back in the 90’s … but I didn’t really realize how deep that fascination went until I visited Small Worlds Japan. I am certain that’s where my obsession started.
So, I’ve recently shared that I was going to work on my Rolife Sakura Densya kit. I was looking through photos of my previous trip to Japan for inspiration on how I might be able to personalize it—and somehow ended up revisiting photos I took there two years ago.
Going through them again felt like stepping back into a world that quietly stayed with me. The details, the lighting, the tiny everyday scenes—each one felt like a frozen moment of a much bigger story happening in miniature scale. Aside from sceneries, they had a full operating (miniature) airport (with airplanes landing and taking off), a space shuttle launch pad, and even a section for Evangelion and Sailor Moon.
Sharing some snippets from that visit—little fragments of a world that somehow made a big impression on me and still inspires me while building my own tiny scenes today. What inspired me really were the artists on exhibit who build their models from scratch. My favorite was Nishi Mikako whose miniatures are just so beautifully made. You can check out her creations on instagram.
Wow! I didn’t know that there’s so much to see inside the Small Worlds. We’ve been to Tokyo 3 years ago and I haven’t discovered miniatures yet that time. Maybe next time, I’ll add this to our itinerary
Either I wasn’t a member of this community yet or I missed your post. But I love Small Worlds! Even my family enjoyed it so much. I think it’s the biggest museum of miniatures in Asia.
I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. I wasn’t really much into miniatures yet at that time but after looking around, I just had to get a couple of kits from the gift shop … then a few more from yodobashi … then bic …
