Megane Museum

Little knownBarely documented in English. This is the kind of place the site exists for.

Researched and written by Hinato

Megane MuseumSabaeeyeweartitanium framesworkshop

Photo: Opqr / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) · original

Fukui's craft traditions survive because places like Megane Museum still teach them hands-on, not just display them.

Around ninety-five per cent of the spectacle frames made in Japan come from Sabae, a city of sixty thousand people in inland Fukui. It started in 1905 when a local landowner brought in craftsmen from Osaka to give farmers winter work in a heavy-snow region where nothing could be done outdoors for months. It is now a global centre for titanium frames, and this building is where the industry explains itself.

There is a museum of frames going back a century, a shop carrying makers from across the city, and — the reason to plan around it — a workshop where you can make your own frames from acetate over several hours, cutting, shaping and polishing under a craftsman. Entry is free. It is fifteen minutes from Fukui by train, in a city almost no visitor stops in.

Plan your visit

Best time to visit

Year-round | Indoor site

Cost

Free | Frame-making workshops charged separately, by advance booking

Hours

Shop 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM | Workshop, museum and sweets counter 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM | Café 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Closed: Closed Wednesdays and over the New Year | Open when the Wednesday is a holiday and during 13–16 August

Time to allow

60–90 minutes | Half a day with a frame-making workshop

Getting there

Directions

The workshop, museum and sweets counter 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM; the café 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM. Closed Wednesdays and over the New Year, but open when the Wednesday is a holiday and during the Obon period 13–16 August. Frame-making workshops are charged separately and should be booked ahead. Phone.

Beyond the guidebook

**Book the workshop.** Making your own acetate frames takes several hours under a craftsman and is the single best thing here. It needs advance booking and is charged separately from the free entry. **Buy from the shop rather than the museum.** The retail floor carries makers from across Sabae, including small workshops with no other outlet, and staff will fit and adjust. This is a better place to buy Japanese frames than Tokyo. **Closed Wednesdays.** Except when the Wednesday is a holiday, and it stays open through Obon. **Understand the winter-work origin.** Frames are made here because Sabae is buried in snow for months and someone in 1905 needed indoor work for farmers. It is a very Hokuriku kind of industrial history. **Fifteen minutes from Fukui.** On the Hokuriku Line, walkable from Sabae Station. It works as a half-day out of Fukui city.

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