When traveling to Tokyo you’ll probably be bringing a lot of excessive baggage (figuratively or literally) with you. What better way to rid yourself of it than with a trip to the Ace World Luggage Museum (after you needlessly purchase some self-help books of course). Owned by Japan’s Ace luggage company (the world’s first producer of nylons bags in case you keep track of that sort of thing), the museum is located on the seventh floor of their corporate headquarters in the Asakusa district in Tokyo. The collection includes 600 examples of handbags, travel bags and trunks made not just from leather, but all different kinds of animal skin. So if you’re a member of PETA or something, look away! Besides the trunk covered with the black skins of 12 saltwater crocodiles, every endangered species is on display – antelope, zebra, hippopotamus, seal, elephant, buffalo, shark, eel and even aardvark. There are also a number of non-dead animal historic pieces in the museum, like a navy blue Panam flight bag made in the 1960s, a grey aluminum box with an orange Bakelite handle designed by the famous explorer and traveler Richard Halliburton and an even larger box that used by the Apollo 11 crew to store moon-rocks during their space journey. Most hotels keep luggage before you check in (or after you check out) but if there is a problem, I’m sure this museum wouldn’t mind storing it for you…or selling you another piece. And in case you’re keeping track, yes, we have been to another handbag museum before.
Ace World Luggage Museum, Tokyo, Japan
