[3] the museum was built on reclaimed land in the Bay of Osaka[4] at a cost of 12.8bn yen, with a replica Edo period trading ship, the Naniwa Maru as its centrepiece.

In order to prevent the building from rising up due to buoyancy the piles were cast with a ground floor slab 1.6 – 2.5 m thick to provide sufficient weight.

The Harima works of Kawasaki Heavy Industries were chosen to build the dome, partly because they were only 33 km away on the other side of Osaka Bay.

[7] The aim of the museum was to show how the sea, ships and harbour were used to the benefit of Osaka and the general development of maritime culture around the world.

On the four floors surrounding and beneath the Naniwa Maru there are a range of artifacts and exhibits tracking the development of sea trade around Osaka and internationally.

"The Sea Adventure Pavilion" offered a fictional story with a young Japanese seafarer, encountering pirates, and raging waves, while the seats swang in response to the view on screen.