Panasonic Museum
Photo: Own work — CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Panasonic Museum in Kadoma, Osaka, showcases the history and innovations of Panasonic, featuring exhibits on the company’s founder, Konosuke Matsushita, and its technological advancements.
Planning your visit
Konōsuke Matsushita founded what became Panasonic in 1918 with three people and a two-room house, making a double socket adaptor, and built one of the world's largest electronics companies. He is treated in Japan as a management philosopher as much as an industrialist — the god of management — and the museum devotes as much space to his ideas as to the products.
The Konosuke Matsushita Museum covers his life and thinking. The Hall of Manufacturing Ingenuity displays over 500 products chronologically: bicycle lamps, radios, rice cookers, televisions, the video recorders and audio equipment that defined Japanese consumer electronics, up to current technology.
The arc — a poor apprentice building a global company, and the postwar Japanese consumer boom — is the substance.
It sits in Kadoma in northeast Osaka, at the company headquarters. Admission is generally free with reservation. Allow ninety minutes. Bookable options include guided tours. Current availability is shown below.
Before you book
Where is Panasonic Museum?
Panasonic Museum is in Kadoma, Japan. The map on this page marks its exact location.
How long should I allow for Panasonic Museum?
Allow ninety minutes. That is the time the collection itself takes at an unhurried pace, before any queue.
Do I need to book Panasonic Museum in advance?
Tickets can be bought on the door at quiet times, but booking ahead fixes the date and avoids the queue at busy ones. Live availability is shown on this page.