Japan Origami Museum, Narita Airport, Tokyo, Japan

I’m a big fan of unusual things to do in airports, so when I heard on a recent stopover at Narita airport in Tokyo that the Japan Origami Museum was actually located within the airport walls, I made a beeline to check it out to see their line of what may very well be the best origami paper folding creations to ever grace an airport.

Origami is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding, in case you’re still wondering what the heck I’m talking about.

Located past security on the 3rd floor of the Central Building in Terminal 1 at Tokyo’s International Airport, the museum has over 400 origami exhibits. Some are traditional origami creations (paper cranes, origami flowers, and shapes such as cubes), while are others are decidedly non-traditional in design — origami Pinocchio anyone? Or maybe you’d be more interested in the ultimate in paper airplanes – an origami Star Wars X-wing fighter.

The detail and the amount of work folding the paper that went into these origami masterpieces is nothing short of amazing.

The Japan Origami Museum also sells a pretty huge variety of origami art kits, paper, origami designs, and instruction booklets. They also sell original origami art works – just in case you’re all thumbs.

Check out some of the Best Origami Paper Folding Art Creations:

The Japanese know a thing or two about art, and when it comes to origami things are no different.

Intricate patterns are only part of the design process.

Entire art scenes have been created to give the visitor a sense of how detailed the work can be.

Imagine how many hours went into the creation of some of these scenes?

One of my favourites though was this X-Wing Fighter from Star Wars, which I’d imagine would make a great and easy origami project for kids.

Have you ever visited the Japan Origami Museum?

Are these some of the best origami paper folding creations you’ve ever seen?

Have you ever tried origami paper folding?