Location: Ginza's Metropolitan Police Museum, Tokyo

Do you like COPS?

Visitors to the Ginza shopping district can head down the street just a little further and find the Metropolitan Police Museum. It's located in this building - not hard to miss with the motorcycle out front!

Head inside and you can see some more vehicles. Have you ever wanted to sit in an old police chopper? Go right ahead!

Don't forget to take a step back and look at the whole thing (it's pretty small, so that won't take long).

There are other vehicles on display on the first floor, but there are more exhibits upstairs. It's mainly a collection of old things - historical uniforms and crime fighting equipment. It's not too exciting and kind of outdated, but for big fans of police work, or for a quick stop with little kids into police stuff, it's worth the admission charge (free, actually). I didn't really enjoy it - for a museum representing Japan's biggest city's police department, it really lacked substance and interactivity (okay, there was a safe driving simulator, but I was uninterested). I'd like to see more modern crime fighting tactics and a look at the judicial/prison system (as far as I know, Abashiri is the only place in Japan to learn about that).

The museum is located on the north end of Chuo Dori, the main shopping and tourist street in Ginza. Walk just under the expressway overpass and the museum will be on the right. It's open 10-6 Tuesday through Sunday (with variations on or around holidays of course) and has no English language displays, though you can get an English booklet.