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The domed brick building of the Tottori Nijisseiki Pear Museum in Kurayoshi
Photo: 663highland, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
Tottori · museum

Tottori Nijisseiki Pear Museum (Nashikko-kan)

エースパック なしっこ館(鳥取二十世紀梨記念館)

Japan's only museum devoted to the pear. Stand under a giant Nijisseiki pear tree and taste three varieties that change with the seasons.

A giant Nijisseiki pear tree spreading its bare branches under a round ceiling inside the museum
Photo: 663highland, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
The Pear Kitchen Gallery, where visitors taste and compare different pear varieties
Photo: Hsu, Tzu-hsun, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Tottori and the Nijisseiki pear

Nashikko-kan (officially the Tottori Nijisseiki Pear Museum; nashi means "pear") is a museum all about pears in Kurayoshi, Tottori Prefecture.

Nijisseiki, meaning "20th century", is the green Japanese pear the museum is named after. It was found in 1888 in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture: the story goes that a man named Matsudo Kakunosuke raised a seedling he found growing on a rubbish dump. The variety reached Tottori in 1904 and has been grown in the prefecture for more than 100 years since. According to the official website, Tottori has the largest area of Nijisseiki pear orchards in Japan.

A giant pear tree and hands-on exhibits

At the heart of the museum stands a huge Nijisseiki pear tree whose branches spread about 20 metres across. It once bore around 4,000 pears a year, and it is now the museum's symbol.

There are also exhibits on the techniques of pear growing, a theatre, and a corner on how pears connect with people around the world. The "Wonder Garden" on the 2nd floor lets you play as if you had shrunk and wandered into a pear orchard, hunting for hidden insects and animals and working the gadgets.

Real pear trees grow in the outdoor Pear Garden: white blossom appears around mid-April, and ripe fruit from around mid to late September.

Taste three kinds of pear

The most popular spot is the Pear Kitchen Gallery. All year round you can taste three varieties side by side (except on free-admission days) and compare their aroma, sweetness and texture. Alongside pears in season, they serve pears kept with hyoon chozo, a storage technique developed in Tottori that keeps fruit at a low temperature just above freezing.

At harvest time, Tottori-bred varieties such as Shinkansen and Natsuhime may appear alongside Nijisseiki. The varieties on offer change without notice, and you can check the day's line-up on the official website. The museum's parlour also serves Nijisseiki pear soft-serve ice cream.

Getting there

The museum is inside Kurayoshi Park Square. Take a bus from stop 2 at the JR Kurayoshi Station bus terminal and get off at "Kurayoshi Park Square" (about 12 minutes). If you get off at "Kurayoshi Park Square Kitaguchi" (north entrance), it is about a 5-minute walk. By car it is about 10 minutes from Kurayoshi Station.

Kurayoshi Station is about 3 hours from Osaka on the Super Hakuto limited express. Check the official website for opening hours, closing days and admission.

Tips

  • Visit around September, the peak of pear season, to see ripe fruit in the outdoor Pear Garden and in-season varieties in the tasting.
  • Central Kurayoshi has an old quarter lined with white-walled storehouses, which pairs well with a visit to Nashikko-kan.
  • In pear season, the shop sometimes sells pears at its front.

Sources

Updated 30 September 2026. Opening hours and prices change, so check the official site before you go.

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Tottori · shrine Hakuto Shrine 白兎神社 A shrine at the setting of the White Hare of Inaba myth from the Kojiki. Walk a path lined with stone hares, then see the pond and islet from the story.
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