The National Museum of Nature and Science, Japan Gallery (a former main building), is a big airplane. The building is designed to look like an airplane, visitors boarding the airplane from the front entrance, and become members of the flight crew who explore the world of science. A blueprint of the former main building is on a desk in the director general's old room. The former main building was reopened as the Japan Galley in April 2007, still retains its original shape.

　In 1877 the "Education Museum" was established in Ueno Park. Then, the museum was moved to Yushima, where all of its facilities and specimens were burnt down during the Great Kanto Earthquake. In 1930, the museum was reconstructed at the present location as the new Ueno building.
　The museum’s name was changed to the "National Science Museum" in 1949 (English-language name was changed from "National Science Museum" to "National Museum of Nature and Science" in 2007). Some parts of the Japan Gallery (a former main building) are decorated with ornaments in the neo-renaissance style, which were made at the completion of the museum in 1930.