Art Museum Spots in Japan

Area

Japan
- Japan
- Hokkaido / Tohoku
  
  Hokkaido
  
  Aomori
  
  Iwate
  
  Miyagi
  
  Akita
  
  Yamagata
  
  Fukushima
- Kanto
  
  Ibaraki
  
  Tochigi
  
  Gunma
  
  Saitama
  
  Chiba
  
  Tokyo
  
  Kanagawa
- Koshinetsu / Hokuriku
  
  Niigata
  
  Toyama
  
  Ishikawa
  
  Fukui
  
  Yamanashi
  
  Nagano
- Tokai
  
  Gifu
  
  Shizuoka
  
  Aichi
  
  Mie
- Kinki
  
  Shiga
  
  Kyoto
  
  Osaka
  
  Hyogo
  
  Nara
  
  Wakayama
- Chugoku
  
  Tottori
  
  Shimane
  
  Okayama
  
  Hiroshima
  
  Yamaguchi
- Shikoku
  
  Tokushima
  
  Kagawa
  
  Ehime
  
  Kochi
- Kyushu / Okinawa
  
  Fukuoka
  
  Saga
  
  Nagasaki
  
  Kumamoto
  
  Oita
  
  Miyazaki
  
  Kagoshima
  
  Okinawa

Category

Travel / Tourism

History / Culture / Tour

Art Museum

Ghibli Museum, Mitaka

4.5

1918 Reviews

Leisure / Hobbies

Tokyo Mitakashi Shimorenjaku 1-1-83 Metropolitan Inokashira Park In Saiten

This is an animation art museum managed by Studio Ghibli's Hayao Miyazaki with a motto of “Let's get lost together.” In addition to displaying materials and storyboards of past Ghibli works, the museum always features various sections that will expand one's perception of animation such as the replicated animation studio and the screenings of short animated films made just for the museum. With a nostalgic building and a route that blends in greenery, this is a place that both adults and children can enjoy just as they please. Entry to the museum is only by reservation and the closest station is Mitaka Station.

A must-visit for Ghibli fans!! We were extremely excited to visit this museum! You have to purchase the tickets online and collect them from the konbini. You can take a bus to the museum from...
Adachi Museum of Art

4.5

1076 Reviews

Leisure / Hobbies

Shimane Pref. Yasugishi Furukawachou 320

An art museum located in Furukawa Town, Yasugi City, Shimane Prefecture which focuses on displaying modern Japanese paintings. The museum’s collection includes master Japanese painter Yokoyama Taikan’s masterpieces “Koyo” and “Ame hareru,” in addition to works by other modern Japanese painters such as Takeuchi Seiho and Hashimoto Kansetsu, in addition to ceramics by renowned artist Kitaouji Rosanjin. The museum’s exhibit is changed four times a year in line with the seasons. The museum is also famous for Japanese gardens such as the Karesansui-tei rock garden and Hakusaseisho-tei sand and pine garden, totaling some 50 thousand square meters in all. The museum’s gardens are revered around the world and they have long ranked in at number one on the American Japanese gardening magazine “Journal of Japanese Gardening’s” list of top gardens.

The museum requires a train ride and then a short (free) trip on a tram to the museum. The art in the museum is mediocre, not world class. The gardens are overdone and the fake waterfall adds a...
Otsuka Museum of Art

4.5

992 Reviews

Leisure / Hobbies

Tokushima Pref. Narutoshi Narutochoutosadomariura Fukuike 65-1

Located in Naruto Town, Naruto City, Tokushima Prefecture, this art museum has the largest permanent exhibition space in Japan. The exhibits consist of more than 1,000 Western paintings reproduced in full scale on ceramic panels. Visitors can appreciate masterpieces from all over the world such as Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, Edvard Munch’s The Scream and Picasso’s Guernica. The viewing route through the museum is about four kilometers long. There is also a museum shop and a restaurant where visitors can enjoy meals while looking out over the garden.

Its wonderful that everything is carefully reproduced on a ceramic plate and on the actual sizeら. The works that I have seen in art museums during my travels all over the world are displayed all at...
Nezu Museum

4.5

879 Reviews

Leisure / Hobbies

Tokyo Minato-ku Minamiaoyama 6-5-1

This art museum located in Minami Aoyama opened in 1941 to conserve and exhibit the collection of Kaichiro Nezu, whose career included being president of Tobu Railway Co., Ltd. The collection of over 7,400 items (as of March 2016) is mostly comprised of pre-modern Japanese and East Asian art, and encompasses many National Treasures, Important Cultural Properties, and important works of art. In addition to the galleries in the main building, visitors can also view the Japanese garden that includes a teahouse, a stone Buddhist image, and stone lanterns.

The museum itself is lovely, if small-ish. But the real treasure here are the gardens and tea room! So thoughtfully designed, quiet, and wonderful to walk around—you’ll forget you’re in the middle of...
Hakone Grasunomori Museum (Hakone Venetian Glass Museum)

4.0

882 Reviews

Leisure / Hobbies

Kanagawa Pref. Ashigarashimogunhakonemachi Sengokuhara 940-48

Located in Sengokuhara district, Hakone, the Hakone Grasunomori Museum (Hakone Venetian Glass Museum) is Japan’s first museum dedicated to Venetian glass. It actually comprises two museums: the Venetian Glass Museum itself, which has on display around 100 masterpieces of the delicate, finely-wrought Venetian glass for which there was a vogue among the noble families of Europe between the 15th and 18th centuries, and the Modern Glass Museum, which displays Venetian glass dating from the 19th century onwards. Particularly worth seeing is the approximately 10-meter-long crystal glass arch over the bridge between the garden and the Museums; the arch is made from around 160,000 pieces of crystal glass, which sparkle in the breeze. The Hakone Grasunomori Museum offers glassmaking experience activities (including sandblasting, etc.), with participants being able to make their own pieces to take home as a souvenir.

We dined in the restaurant for lunch. The chicken wasn’t cooked well, but the rest of the food was very good and dessert was especially good with cheesecake, panna cotta and dense chocolate cake...
The National Museum of Western Art

4.5

912 Reviews

Leisure / Hobbies

Tokyo Taitou-ku Uenokouen 7-7

This art museum, located in Ueno Onshi Park in Tokyo's Taito Ward, preserves and displays Western art. Designed by French architect Le Corbusier, the museum building, which has been designated a World Heritage site, is a highlight in itself. The Matsukata Collection, which was assembled by businessman Kojiro Matsukata and donated and returned to Japan by the French government, forms the foundation of the museum's standing exhibition, which also includes paintings from the end of the Middle Ages to the early 20th century by artists like Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, as well as modern French sculptures. In addition, the museum holds special exhibitions several times a year.

The museum is an UNESCO world heritage site itself and outside are several large Rodin sculptures. Some more in the lobby as well Inside, there is the regular collection and special Picasso...
Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum

4.0

545 Reviews

Leisure / Hobbies

Tokyo Taitou-ku Uenokouen 8-36

Located within Ueno Onshi Koen (Ueno Park) in Tokyo’s Taito City, this is Japan’s first national art museum and opened in 1926. With a goal of serving as an entrance to art for Tokyo’s citizens, it hosts numerous exhibitions throughout the year such as special exhibitions jointly sponsored with media outlets, competitions arranged through art organizations, and collection exhibits that primarily include works of calligraphy. The facility also includes a café where guests can enjoy beverages and light meals, a restaurant that takes pride in its authentic roast beef, and a museum shop.

The special exhibit was the well-known Gustave Klimt. Id seen quite a few of his works before but this was extensive and very educational about his history and philosophy. Not all of his...
Kawaguchiko Music Forest Museum

4.0

603 Reviews

Leisure / Hobbies

Yamanashi Minamitsuru-gun Fujikawaguchikomachi Kawaguchi 3077-20

This music box museum is located at Kawaguchiko Town, Minamitsuru County, Yamanashi Prefecture. In addition to music boxes playing, there are live concerts too, so you can enjoy historical works and performances of the music box. Inside is a flower garden, with flowers in each season decorated the garden, so, in conjunction with the surrounding buildings, you can feel as though you are in a different country. There is also a museum shop where you can buy souvenirs, and a restaurant where you can get a meal.

Interesting place , many automatic organ from 1890-1905 , still working fine. Staff is very kind and willing to explain. They have some scheduled events to show “concerts” of some very ancient and...
Kyoto International Manga Museum

4.0

609 Reviews

Leisure / Hobbies

Karasuma-ku Ikegami Le, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto

This manga museum in Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto, is Japan's largest manga museum. It first opened in 2006. Including valuable works from the Meiji period and the post-WWII period as well as popular modern titles and foreign works, they have almost 300,000 pieces in their collection. One of their showcases is a ''Manga Wall'' with 50,000 volumes of manga arrayed on bookcases that visitors can freely read. The spacious building is the former Tatsuike Elementary School and people can be found everywhere inside or outside on the lawn reading manga. This is a popular location for foreign tourists and couples.

This is a museum just for manga, a must for lovers of manga and subcultures. As long as you pay the admission fee, you can immerse yourself in the world of manga all day long. The museum has a...
Ohara Museum of Art

4.5

721 Reviews

Leisure / Hobbies

Okayama Pref. Kurashikishi Chuou 1-1-15

Located in the Kurashiki Bikan Historical Quarter, this museum was Japan’s first private museum dedicated to Western art. The museum was built by Kurashiki industrialist Magosaburo Ohara in 1930. The Main Gallery, styled like a Greek temple, remains as it looked when the museum first opened. Inside, works by master Western painters such as Cezanne, Degas, and Renoir are on display. Several gallery concerts are held each year, a tradition which began in 1950.

Definitely recommend this as a part of a day Trip to Kurashiki /this small and elegant museum privately owned showcases some of the icon>c. Artisists of the early to m>d. 20th century. Picasso Dali...
Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum

4.0

711 Reviews

Leisure / Hobbies

Okinawa Pref. Nahashi Omoromachi 3-1-1

The Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum, which is the largest museum of its kind in Okinawa Prefecture, is located approximately 10 minutes’ walk from Omoromachi Station on the Okinawa Urban Monorail (Yuirail) line. Besides the Museum’s permanent exhibitions—which comprise general exhibitions relating to Okinawa’s natural environments, history and culture, as well as five sub-exhibitions on natural history etc.—special exhibitions are also held. The outdoor display area, with its reconstructions of a traditional Ryukyuan farmhouse and storehouse, is particularly popular with visitors. The Art Museum’s collections are focused on the work of artists with a connection to Okinawa island or Okinawa Prefecture, as well as modern and contemporary art; exhibits include contemporary artworks from Japan, other Asian countries, and the U.S.A., etc.

A nice museum with lots to show. I specifically liked the natural history sections a lot. In some sections, there is no English translation on the info cards, so you may get lost a little if you do...
Tokugawa Art Museum

4.0

452 Reviews

Leisure / Hobbies

Aichi Pref. Nagoyashi Higashi-ku Tokugawachou 1017

This private art museum located within Tokugawaen in Nagoya City opened in 1935 to showcase items donated by the 19th lord of the Owari Tokugawa clan and his in-laws. The collection exceeds 10,000 items and is comprised of daimyo (feudal lord) implements passed down in the Owari Tokugawa clan such as relics related to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, articles purchased from other daimyo families, and donations from wealthy merchants. The collection includes numerous National Treasures, Important Cultural Properties, and important works of art, and is famous for items such as Genji Monogatari Emaki (The Picture Scroll of the Tale of Genji)” and Hatsune no Chodo. Displays in the permanent section allow visitors to catch a glimpse of life in the Owari clan, and exhibitions are also held in accordance with the seasons as well as different themes.

About a 30 minute bus ride from Nagoya Station is this wonderful museum with artifacts from the family of the Shoguns. It is not as crowded as many historical museums and it isnt as comprehensive...
MOA Museum of Art

4.5

465 Reviews

Leisure / Hobbies

Shizuoka Pref. Atamishi Momoyamachou 26-2

This is a museum built on a hill which overlooks Sagami Bay in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture. From the main lobby with one sweep of the eye, you can see Hatsushima and Izu Oshima islands floating in the sea, and the large 180-degree panorama soothes the souls of the people who see it. It holds approximately 3,500 fine works of art with a focus on Japanese art including three National Treasures and 65 Important Cultural Properties. The museum reopened in February, 2017 after undergoing renovations. It is located five minutes by car from JR Atami Station.

I never would have expected such an impactful museum in a city as small as Atami. It is visually impacting from when you first roll up to it. You can enjoy incredible views of Atami before even...
Yokosuka Museum of Art

4.5

196 Reviews

Leisure / Hobbies

Kanagawa Pref. Yokosukashi Kamoi 4-1

This museum is located in Yokosuka City's Kannonzaki Park. In addition to the various exhibition areas, there is a Mountain Plaza and an Ocean Plaza facing the forest and the sea, letting guests view the ocean or do some forest bathing. The museum annex and the Rokuro Taniuchi Hall displays work by Rokuro Taniuchi, an artist who does the cover of the Weekly Shincho magazine. Events such as art markets and workshops are held from time to time.

The Art museum focuses on contemporary art in Japan. This includes artists of new and old. Allow about two hours to see everything that the museum offers. Wear walking shoes because the art work...
Aomori Museum of Art

4.0

396 Reviews

Leisure / Hobbies

Aomori Pref. Aomorishi Yasuta Chikano 185

Opened in 2006, this art museum primarily houses and displays local cultural art of Aomori City and Aomori Prefecture. It is characterized by its unique architecture whereby the building is combined with the adjoining Sannai-Maruyama Jomon Era ruins. In the center of the museum is the Aleko Hall, where one can see in one glance all 4 masterpieces of the master Marc Chagall's 4 backdrops from the ballet ''Aleko'' until March 2021 (proposed). A broad range of standard exhibit items include western art, Japanese style paintings, modern art, and works by local artists. Take the city bus from Aomori Station and disembark at Kenritsu Bijutukan-Mae bus stop.

The museum is modern with a good collection of art by Yoshitomo Nara, and huge backdrops of the ballet Aleko by Chagall. Aomori-ken (Aomori Dog) is situated outside the museum building. Visitors...
Yokohama Museum of Art

4.0

307 Reviews

Leisure / Hobbies

Kanagawa Pref. Yokohamashi Nishi-ku Minatomirai 3-4-1

This art museum is notable for its distinctive symmetrical stonework exterior and for the open atrium of its grand gallery. In addition to seven exhibit halls, the museum boasts an art information center with a collection of more than 110,000 books, artist workshops, and more, making it one of the country's largest art museums. The museum, which has a collection of more than 12,000 works of modern and contemporary art, holds a wide variety of exhibitions. It is located a three-minute walk from Minatomirai Station on the Minatomirai Line.

Thinking thatthis would be a good museum to see and learn from the areas history, well this was the plan. The lines were extremly long, but we had walked all this way, we were tired and wanted to go...
Itchiku Kubota Art Museum

4.5

356 Reviews

Leisure / Hobbies

Yamanashi Pref. Minamitsurugunfujikawaguchikomachi Kawaguchi 2255

This three Michelin star art museum exhibits the kimono of textile artist Itchiku Kubota. Kubota established a unique dyeing technique called ''Itchiku Tsujigahana'' after having been fascinated by the Tsujigahana style of fabric dyeing that flourished in the Muromachi Period before suddenly dying out. The museum displays Takeda's ''Symphony of Light'' series, which features kimono with themes including the four seasons, the ocean, and the universe. It also displays kimono featuring motifs of the many faces shown by Mt. Fuji in different weather conditions.

The kimonos are beautiful, but I would only visit if you are in the area. The gardens in back are pretty. You can sit down for a bite to eat or get something to drink in their little cafe. The...
The Sumida Hokusai Museum

4.0

270 Reviews

Leisure / Hobbies

Tokyo Sumida-ku Kamezawa 2-7-2

This is a hidden gem - you might have seen Hokusai works in your own country as part of an arts tour, but to see his work in his home area is pretty special. The entry fee was reasonable and we...
Toyama Glass Art Museum

4.5

333 Reviews

Leisure / Hobbies

Toyama Pref. Toyamashi Nishichou 5-1

The Toyama Glass Art Museum, which opened in 2015, is a museum that aims to spread awareness of the beauty of modern glass art and of its future potential. The Museum has displays of modern glass art works from the Museum’s own collection (which were collected by Toyama City Government over a period of 30 years), along with a glass art garden, and also holds a variety of special exhibitions and other events. The Museum is located around one-minute walk from the Nishicho Station on the Toyama Chihou Railway “Shiden” tram line.

We hurried to this muzium toward the end of our visit to toyama. Pleasant surprise to find out they have nice glass exhibition especially on the 4th floor. Truly colourful and pleasing. In fact...
The National Museum of Art, Osaka

3.5

201 Reviews

Leisure / Hobbies

Osaka Osakashi Kita-ku Nakanoshima 4-2-55

This art museum is located in Nakanoshima, Kita Ward, Osaka City. Founded in 1977, it relocated to its current location in 2004. It is notable for being one of the only underground art museums in the world. The museum primarily collects and exhibits works of modern art from the post-war era to now. In addition to exhibiting its collection, the museum also holds exhibitions and seminars about a range of art genres with a focus on contemporary art. Other events organized by the museum include workshops for children.

Visited in March 2023 to see a great temp exhibition of Picasso, Matisse, Klee and Giacometti. Absolutely wonderful and saw some incredible pieces. However this is only the temporary art, and the...