Yoichi Space Museum

The Yoichi Space Museum celebrates the achievements of Mamoru Mohri, the first Japanese scientist-astronaut, who grew up in this small coastal town in Hokkaido and flew aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992. The museum features a full-scale model of a space shuttle cockpit, interactive exhibits explaining microgravity and satellite technology, and personal artifacts from Mohri's missions that bring the human side of space exploration to life. A planetarium dome shows space-themed programs throughout the day. Yoichi is perhaps better known for its Nikka Whisky Distillery just down the road, and combining the two makes for a distinctive day trip from Sapporo or Otaru that covers both the cosmos and craft whisky in a single afternoon.