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Supported by Japan’s postwar economic prosperity, municipal or prefectural museums of regional history flourished in Japan from the 1970s. All the while, during that same period, under the strain of the oil crises, the West saw state involvement in the public sector diminish and a new economic logic pervade museums, which underwent a commercial turn: from educational and conservational sites, they became leisure facilities. How did this commercial turn manifest itself in Japan? What are the effects of the economic sector and commercial logics on regional history museums? The present article seeks to examine this phenomenon within the Japanese context, and more particularly in the case of history museums, in order to assess the impact of the commercial turn on representations of the past. I aim to bring to light certain trends and drifts, and conclude, by highlighting the emergence of new tourist and cultural policies, that significant shifts will impact the future of the museums.