Finishing the nice Saga beef lunch we drove to the nearby Saga Balloon Museum. Saga City was famous for hosting Asia’s largest hot air balloon festival every fall, with over 100 balloons participating. The museum was the first one in Japan focusing on balloons.
After paying the admission fee (500 yen for adult), we went into the theatre on the first floor. Equipped with super high-definition display, it showed a
film which introduced the Saga International Balloon Fiesta.
Walking up the steps to the second floor, it was the main exhibition area. The first zone is the Hall of Fame introducing the individuals and groups that contributed to the development of the culture of hot air balloons and its competition. In the middle was the real basket on ‘Icarus 5’, the first successful manned hot air balloon in Japan, that completed its flight on 1969.
In the Event Hall we got to try throwing the marker from a
distance, emulating one of the competitions in hot air balloon. It was fun for
both kids and adults.
Continuing in the exhibition area there were a few 3D horoscopes which showed the history of human beings’ dream of flying to the sky like a bird, with the stories including Montgolfier brothers and Jacques Charles, first hot air balloon in Japan, and the invention of airplanes by Wright brothers.
The next section showed information related to the different balloon festivals and balloon museums around the world, the festivals in Saga and other places in Japan, and the Saga International Balloon Fiesta, with videos from the past years.
Moving on, it was the area explaining the mechanics of flying a balloon, including how to prepare the balloon before and after the flight. Basically, a balloon ascended when a burner heated up the air inside and descended with the release of air from the top. Adjusting the altitude of the balloon to catch the wind to fly in the desired direction was how to navigate its direction.
After understanding the logic, we also got the chance to operate a balloon through the flight simulator. We found it was much more difficult than we originally thought. The staff came to help explain to us seeing how we had struggled, which was funny. She also gave us a few tokens to play the 'fishing machine' to get a couple of collector cards as souvenirs for our effort.
Leaving the exhibition area there was a few photo frames showing the different balloon designs that took part in the festival throughout the years.
Before leaving we also visited the shop which got a wide range of balloon merchandise and Saga’s local delicacies on sale.
Address: 佐賀市松原2丁目 2-27
Telephone: 0952-40-7114
Website: https://www.sagabai.com/balloon-museum/main/
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