Toyohashi hosts Pokémon Observatory exhibition featuring rare meteorite fossils

The “Pokémon Observatory” special exhibition has opened at the Toyohashi City Natural History Museum in Aichi Prefecture. Supervised by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and supported by JAXA, the traveling exhibition connects the ecology of Pokémon with the mysteries of space, including the moon, galaxies, and the solar system.

A major highlight of the Toyohashi venue is the world’s first public display of “Ark 017,” a meteorite fossil from approximately 470 million years ago held by the Field Museum in Chicago. This unique specimen contains both a meteorite that fell to Earth and a fossil of a nautilus relative within the same stone.

Other notable exhibits include samples from the asteroid Ryugu collected by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft, as well as various meteorite specimens from the museum’s own collection that visitors can touch. The exhibition also features interactive elements, such as simulations of gravity differences on different celestial bodies and MR goggles to experience invisible light.