Nasu Teddy Bear Museum

The Nasu highlands are dotted with small, eccentric museums, and few are as purely sweet as the Nasu Teddy Bear Museum, an English-cottage building filled, floor to ceiling, with teddy bears.

Why It’s Interesting

Inside are antique bears worth small fortunes, whimsical artist-made bears, and elaborate dioramas of bears doing very human things. The surprise hit, though, is a room featuring a life-size Totoro and the Catbus from the Studio Ghibli film — a photo spot that turns adults back into delighted children. It’s small, warm, and unironically charming.

Best Time to Visit

Year-round — fully indoor, a perfect rainy-day or scorching-afternoon refuge while exploring Nasu.

Getting There

It sits among the highland resorts above Nasushiobara Station, easiest reached by car as one stop on a museum-hopping Nasu afternoon.