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Museum Rules

Museum Rules

Thank you for helping us to keep the objects and artwork safe.

Let's work together to protect these valuable items. Each person's mindful conduct will help us to protect valuable objects, materials, and artwork so that we can preserve and pass them on to future generations.

Why is the museum concerned about visitor conduct?

Okinawa Prefectural Museum and Art Museum has many rare and historically significant valuables on exhibit.

As stewards of the collections, one of our most important responsibilities is to maintain these objects with care so that they may continue to inform our lives and so that they can also continue to be available and have resonance for future generations.

Let's work together on this goal.

It is important for both museum visitors and museum employees to be mindful of our conduct in the museum space and to share the common goal of protecting these valuable articles so that we can bestow them to future generations.

Please refrain from eating or drinking outside of designated areas.

You may eat and drink in designated areas, like the camecame Museum Café on the 2nd floor, but please refrain from doing so in the galleries and exhibit rooms. Food crumbs, spilled drinks, and mindlessly tossed trash can attract harmful insects and also have the potential to encourage mold growth on exhibited objects. Spilled liquids also have the potential to cause damage or discoloration to the exhibited items. Therefore, we must ask that no food or drinks be brought into the facility. This includes consumables like gum, candy, and bottled drinks.

Please do not use any writing instruments in the galleries other than wooden pencils.

Don't have a pencil with you? Don't worry! Just ask for a pencil from a museum visitor services staff member.

Mechanical pencil lead or ink from ball-point and fountain pens can mark, puncture, or otherwise damage the exhibited items. Therefore, to take notes or make sketches while in the gallery, it is important to please only use an ordinary wooden pencil.

Please be mindful of other visitors around you when viewing the exhibits.

The museum buildings and facilities are visited and utilized simultaneously by many people. Running in the museum or talking loudly has the potential to disrupt other visitors. Please be mindful about keeping your voice volume low, especially while in the exhibition rooms.

Taking photographs of the exhibits is not allowed.

In order to protect the copyright and legal rights of the owners of the exhibited items, taking photographs, filming videos, or employing any other recording device within the exhibition space is prohibited.

There are some exhibit areas where video and photography shoots are permitted. Please ask a museum staff member for more details.

Note: It is also possible to translate captions for museum exhibits with an app on your smartphone. However, this requires using the camera function on your phone. If that is what you are doing, please just make sure to inform museum staff so that they will not mistakenly think that you are taking photographs.

Smoking is strictly prohibited.

To prevent fires and in order to avoid the potential of exposing other visitors to secondhand smoke, please refrain from smoking throughout the entire premises of the museum facility.

Feel free to use your eyes, ears, and imagination, but please do not touch the exhibited items.

Please help us to preserve the art and objects for future generations. Most of the items on display are of great cultural and historical value, not only for Okinawa Prefecture, but also for the wider world. Did you know that the oils from your skin could damage the objects? Touching items may lead to their deterioration or damage. Therefore we ask that you please do not touch the exhibited items under any circumstances.

Please place your umbrellas in the stands located outside prior to entering the museum.

Bringing umbrellas into the museum also brings in rainwater and dirt from the outside. This can damage exhibitions and can also make the floor slippery and dangerous for visitors. Therefore, umbrellas are not permitted inside the museum. Please utilize the umbrella stands conveniently located near the main entrance.

Please place large personal items in the lockers provided.

In order for you, and other visitors, to have a relaxing visit, we have provided lockers near the mian entrance of the museum where you can store your personal items. Please store large and bulky items in the lockers. If the lockers are too small for your belongings, you can check your items at the front information desk.

Pets are not allowed in the museum.

To avoid the potential of damage to exhibited items, pets are not allowed in the museum. They could carry insects into the museum or otherwise inadvertently damage museum exhibits.

* Service dogs that trained to provide visual or hearing assistance are welcome in the museum.

Please refrain from using your cellphone while within the exhibition halls.

The museum asks that visitors kindly turn off or set their cellphones on silent mode during their visit. Talking on a phone can be disruptive to other visitors. Moreover, when handling your phone, you might mistakenly look like you are using it to take photographs of the exhibits (which is not permitted). If you need to use your phone, we ask that you please kindly step out of the exhibition galleries to do so.