Kawasaki Good Times World is a corporate museum operated by the Kawasaki Heavy Industries Group, located inside the Kobe Maritime Museum in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture. The museum showcases the company’s history and technological achievements through an impressive collection of motorcycles, trains, helicopters, ships, and industrial machinery.
Designed around the idea of seeing, touching, and experiencing technology firsthand, the museum offers an engaging introduction to Kawasaki’s diverse products. Visitors can explore historic machines, step inside selected vehicles, and try interactive simulators, making it an enjoyable destination for engineering enthusiasts, families, and travelers of all ages.
The motorcycle exhibition features models from different periods of Kawasaki’s history, allowing visitors to discover how motorcycle design and technology have evolved. Selected motorcycles can be touched or mounted, offering a closer look at their construction and design.
Visitors at least 140 centimeters tall can also try a motorcycle simulator that recreates the experience of riding on a racing circuit. The combination of historic machines and interactive experiences makes this section particularly appealing to motorcycle enthusiasts.
One of the museum’s highlights is the opportunity to enter the passenger cabin and driver’s cab of a Series 0 Shinkansen, Japan’s pioneering high-speed train. Visitors can explore the interior and gain a closer understanding of the design behind one of the country’s most recognizable forms of transportation.
The museum also features a helicopter whose cabin visitors can enter. These hands-on exhibits offer an opportunity to experience Kawasaki’s engineering achievements from the inside rather than simply viewing the machines from behind display barriers.
The founders’ exhibition introduces Shozo Kawasaki, the company’s founder, and Kojiro Matsukata, a prominent business leader associated with its development. Displays explain the origins of Kawasaki Heavy Industries and trace its relationship with the growth of Kobe as an industrial and international port city.
Visitors can also learn about the Matsukata Collection, an important collection of Western art assembled by Matsukata. The exhibition places Kawasaki’s industrial history within the broader story of Kobe’s economic and cultural development.
The history gallery traces more than a century of Kawasaki Heavy Industries’ technological progress. Among the exhibits are an early Japanese industrial robot and an early model of a Jet Ski personal watercraft.
These machines illustrate the company’s expansion into different industries and demonstrate how engineering advances have influenced manufacturing, transportation, and leisure activities.
Beyond the history gallery is a darkened theater where Kawasaki’s products and technologies are presented through sound and six screens. The audiovisual presentation combines images and sound effects to showcase the company’s wide-ranging engineering capabilities in an immersive format.
The Land Zone features the lead car of a Series 0 Shinkansen, numbered 21-7038. Visitors can enter both the passenger cabin and the driver’s compartment to see how this historic high-speed train was designed.
The area also includes a model railway diorama and the arcade-style train-driving game Densha de Go! 2 Kousoku-hen 3000 Bandai, which lets visitors experience the challenge of operating a train through a simulated railway environment.
The Sea Zone introduces Kawasaki’s shipbuilding technology through video presentations showing how ships are constructed and how launch ceremonies take place. These displays provide insight into the complex processes involved in building large vessels.
A personal watercraft simulator adds an interactive element, allowing visitors to experience the excitement of riding a watercraft across the water without leaving the museum.
The Sky Zone features a Kawasaki KV-107 II helicopter, registration JA9555, nicknamed Mino and used as a company aircraft by Kawasaki Heavy Industries. Visitors can enter the helicopter and sit in the cockpit to learn about its controls and operating systems.
A flight simulator provides another highlight, allowing visitors to experience simulated takeoffs and landings from Kobe Airport. The exhibit offers an accessible introduction to aviation and the skills involved in piloting an aircraft.
The environmental exhibition presents technologies developed by Kawasaki Heavy Industries to address energy and environmental challenges. Displays include new-energy technologies and equipment designed to detect and remove landmines, illustrating how industrial engineering can contribute to environmental protection and public safety.
In the performance robot display, an industrial robot of the kind normally used in factories demonstrates its precision by attempting to solve a Rubik’s Cube. This engaging demonstration reveals the accuracy and sophistication of modern robotics while offering a glimpse into the future possibilities of automated manufacturing.
Kawasaki Good Times World combines industrial history with interactive entertainment. From historic motorcycles and high-speed trains to helicopters, shipbuilding technology, and advanced robots, the exhibits reveal the breadth of Kawasaki’s engineering expertise.
The chance to enter selected vehicles and try simulators makes the museum especially enjoyable for visitors who prefer hands-on experiences. It is also an excellent complement to a visit to the Kobe Maritime Museum, allowing travelers to explore both the city’s maritime heritage and the technologies that have shaped modern transportation.
The museum is located inside the Kobe Maritime Museum at 2-2 Hatoba-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture. It is approximately a 10-minute walk from Minato Motomachi Station on the Kobe Municipal Subway Kaigan Line, or about a 15-minute walk from JR Motomachi Station.
Visitors can combine their trip with other attractions around Kobe Harbor, making Kawasaki Good Times World a convenient stop for anyone interested in technology, transportation, and the industrial history of the city.
10:00-18:00
Mondays (or the following day if Monday is a national holiday)
Year-end and New Year holidays (December 29-January 3)
Adults 900 yen
Children (elementary, junior high, high school) 400 yen
10 min. walk from Minato-Motomachi Station on the Kobe Municipal Subway Kaigan Line
5 minutes from Kyobashi Interchange on Hanshin Expressway