When you first walk into the Museo del Juguete Antiguo México (MUJAM) — an easy-to-miss collection of old, discarded toys that are kept inside a former apartment building in Mexico City’s Doctores neighborhood — there is nothing that can prepare you for the onslaught of surrealism that will unfold.
Founded in 2008 by Roberto “Beto” Shimizu, a Japanese-heritage Mexican, the museum is an archive (if not a hoarder’s den) of cultural objects and, over the years, graffiti. In a likely never-before-seen combo, it holds the world’s largest collection of publicly viewable toys — the museum claims they have over one million toys in total — but also doubles as a gallery of blaring street art.
A museum unlike any other in Mexico City
Unlike many of Mexico City’s more famous and certainly more formalized institutions, MUJAM is a privately curated vault of forgotten objects, knick-knacks, art, memorabilia, decorations, figurines and more — all of which are on display in a semi-organized fashion throughout the four-story apartment building (including the rooftop and basement).
You’ll wander up and down staircases, through a labyrinth-like maze of unrecognizable oddities from bygone eras sitting alongside popular characters from classic television shows like “The Flintstones,” “The Simpsons” and “Batman.” You’ll see LEGO (lots of LEGO); an entire apartment floor dedicated solely to Barbie dolls; a room dedicated to Snoopy; and so much more.
For only 50 pesos, it might be the best bargain among Mexico City’s many museums.
Toys, toys and yes, more toys
Shimizu grew up in Mexico City with immigrant Japanese parents who owned a stationery shop inside the building where MUJAM now exists. Shimizu was born on the second floor of the apartment’s housing, which for decades was located above the street-level, family-owned business on Doctor Olvera Street.
Between the years he spent in the neighborhood helping his family inside their store — which was highlighted by holiday celebrations for Christmas and Día de Reyes Magos — Shimizu developed a lifelong appreciation for Mexican toy culture and craftsmanship. By age 10, he began collecting memorabilia such as stamps, newspapers and rare toys.
Today, Shimizu carries that same enthusiasm forward with his son, Roberto, who is the museum’s creative director. According to the younger Shimizu, his father’s love for toys stems back to his grandfather, who began to import goods from Japan that he would sell in Doctores as a viable source of income:
“MUJAM’s building was one of the most important buildings for Japanese migrants back in the mid-1900s. Many of them arrived in Mexico City with just a suitcase in hand. My father and grandfather built this building for that Japanese community to have a starting point. After that, my grandfather had the idea of importing Japanese toys; that became his business. And it eventually became the building housing my father’s toy collection.”
How the museum and its collection came about
In 2008, Shimizu and his son fully converted the building into a permanent gallery for these old toys and miscellaneous artifacts. As a private collector, Shimizu compiled one of the largest toy collections in the world. In addition to his personal collection, others have donated and assisted in curating the museum’s offerings (many of the Barbies, for example, were provided by a Barbie collector named Soyla; there is also a LEGO display that was put together by a LEGO enthusiast who donated part of his collection for the museum).
Throughout the year, MUJAM hosts a rotating series of exhibitions and events, including seasonal attractions like a display of soccer toys and artifacts for this year’s World Cup (an exhibition that opened on June 6 and showcases around 500 soccer-related toys from around the globe). In addition, there’s the permanent display of toys, which is estimated at around 45,000 for daily viewing, with hundreds of thousands more kept at a separate storage site. According to the on-site museum attendant, MUJAM is the largest of its kind in the world, and only has about 5% worth of its collection available for public viewing. Certain toys can even be purchased.
Quirks and oddities
There are many standout quirks in the museum. One unique display case holds a series of large styrofoam balls that are all wearing custom luchador masks. There are internationally imported toys, and sections of the museums divided into nations: the Japanese section, for instance, includes anime characters from “Pokémon,” “Dragon Ball Z” and “Demon Slayer,” but also Japanese editions of Buzz Lightyear and Woodie from “Toy Story.” There are simple wooden toys from the 1950s, and bootleg toys from “Ultraman.” Toy soldiers and model cars? Yes. Superheroes and demonic, adult-only toys? You got it. If it was ever made into a toy, chances are you can find it here.
Though the museum’s path is lightly enforced — with an occasional arrow pointing you in the right direction — it’s so sprawling that it quickly becomes a “choose your adventure” system with multiple staircases and hallways that ultimately lead to the same areas, but have more than one access point, making it feel joyfully unwieldy at times, and allowing for a sense of discovery and surprise. To keep things on track, you can also ask for a bingo card in which you have to hunt down a variety of toys.
At times creepy, there are moments where you’ll feel you’re all alone in the four-story building (it can feel isolating once you get deep enough into the former apartment complex). Nonetheless, it’s an interesting and unique museum experience in Mexico, unlike anything you might find at the more popular institutions, which are often overcrowded and a hassle to navigate. At MUJAM, you can simply embrace the strangeness of old toys in their abandonment.
Beyond toys, MUJAM is a fortress of street art
It’s not just the toys that bring curious visitors to MUJAM: the actual building itself is a unique experience for any museumgoer. It’s massive and covered in graffiti and street art with open access to the roof, basement, and former bathrooms, which have all been converted into some kind of art exhibit or creative display. One of the bathrooms keeps the showers, toilets and sinks in their original places, but transforms them with paint and yarn decorations.
That’s all to say, the museum doubles as a veritable street art gallery, behind a plethora of international graffiti artists who have transformed the space into an art walk. It adds another layer of intrigue to the museum, which already offers plenty to look at and think about with just the toys.
The story of how the toy museum expanded into street art is centered on Shimizu’s son, who studied architecture and had an affinity for art and design. In 2008, he held an open call for artists on Facebook. Though toy themes abound, they were not strictly required, and the styles and subjects of art in the museum are vast and diverse. At the very top of the four-floor building, a final secret awaits: Azotea Mujam.
It’s a rooftop art project with additional murals that was opened in 2015, and boasts an unobstructed view of the downtown skyline and surrounding neighborhood buildings. In its entirety, MUJAM’s graffiti is reminiscent of 5 Pointz in Queens, New York — a notorious graffiti art bastion that was unexpectedly, and sadly, whitewashed overnight in 2013. Luckily, private ownership at MUJAM will prevent such erasure from happening.
The best museum value in the city
MUJAM is special. Just when you feel like you’ve seen it all inside the wacky hallways (including a life-sized Silver Surfer statue gliding down a staircase), you’ll turn another corner in the vast building and find a hidden snack shop, offering cold beverages and chips in a makeshift cafeteria. For the reasonably low cost of admission, MUJAM far exceeds expectations and is arguably the best museum value in all of CDMX. It’s as much a preservation of toy history and modern street art as it is a playful exploration of how our childlike wonder can continue to flourish and evolve — in many unique forms.
Alan Chazaro is the author of “These Spaceships Weren’t Built For Us” (Tia Chucha Press, 2026), “Notes from the Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge” (Ghost City Press, 2021), “Piñata Theory” (Black Lawrence Press, 2020), and “This Is Not a Frank Ocean Cover Album” (Black Lawrence Press, 2019). He is a graduate of June Jordan’s Poetry for the People program at UC Berkeley and was selected as a Lawrence Ferlinghetti Poetry Fellow at the University of San Francisco. His work can be found in NPR, The Guardian, SLAM, GQ, L.A. Times, and more. He is currently based in Veracruz.
