Hoshinoko Yakata (星の子館)

The centre opened on 1 May 1992 (Heisei 4, 平成4年) in Sakurayama park (桜山), in western Himeji (姫路). The city of Himeji, which runs it, lists it among its large children's centres (大型児童館); its official name is Himeji-shi shukuhaku-gata jidōkan "Hoshinoko Yakata" (姫路市宿泊型児童館「星の子館」), "Himeji municipal children's centre with accommodation". It is one of the few children's centres in the country where you can stay overnight. The building is by Tadao Ando (安藤忠雄).

The Sakurayama area brings together five places: the Himeji Science Museum (姫路科学館), directly across the road, the Hyōgo Prefectural Children's House (兵庫県立こどもの館), about 500 m away and also by Tadao Ando, the Nature Observation Forest (自然観察の森), Sakurayama Park (桜山公園) and the centre itself.

The building rises from the basement to the sixth floor: the large bath (大浴場) is in the basement, the Kirakira restaurant (キラキラレストラン) on the ground floor, reception on the first floor, the exercise room on the third, the reading room (どくしょルーム) on the fifth and the observatory on the seventh. A separate annex, Nakayoshi Hall (なかよしホール), is devoted to the youngest children, and a circular theatre (円形劇場) stands beside the car park.

The Himeji tourism office singles out a clean, distinctive exterior (すっきりとした特徴ある外観) and a labyrinthine plan (迷路のような建築). The centre plays on it, promising routes where you can see your destination without reaching it directly (見えているのにたどり着かない).

The observatory houses a Newton-Cassegrain reflecting telescope with a 90 cm mirror under a 7 m dome, installed in 1992. Its focal length is 488 cm at the Newton focus and 1,432 cm at the Cassegrain focus.

For sleeping, eleven tatami rooms of ten mats (宿泊室A) each take up to six adults; two rooms of 22 mats (宿泊室B) take up to fifteen, or thirty once the partition is removed; one step-free Western-style room (宿泊室C), with its own bath and toilet, is wheelchair accessible. The city gives a total capacity of about a hundred.

Families play freely in the play room (プレイルーム), the exercise room and the Nakayoshi Hall annex, full of toys and home to the baby clubs and puppet shows. The reading room on the fifth floor holds books and picture books about space, which stay in the room. The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Every day except closing days, the observatory holds free evening observation sessions. When the sky is overcast the session goes ahead anyway: the staff present what there would have been to see, with a quiz, and show visitors round the observatory. At weekends and school holidays a daytime session, with no registration, shows the brightest stars in broad daylight. Adults can also stay overnight without children.

Admission is free and the facilities are open from 9 am to 5 pm, until 9 pm for overnight guests. The centre is closed on the second Wednesday of each month, except in August and December, and from 28 December to 4 January.

The evening sessions must be booked: guests of the house choose their time when booking or on arrival, others phone 079-267-3050 up to a week ahead. Accommodation is booked online from six months ahead, at 7 am; one month ahead for adults on their own. A child may not stay overnight without an adult.

From JR Himeji station, a Shinki bus (神姫バス) for Ōichi (太市) takes about 20 minutes to the Hoshinoko-yakata-mae stop (星の子館前); buses are infrequent, so for the evening sessions come by car or taxi. By car it is 15 minutes from the station; the car park of about 40 spaces is free.