Best Museums and Fine Arts in Tokyo
Tourists going to Japan can expect to find only the most comprehensive museums and centers of fine arts in Tokyo. Museum and gallery lovers who want to visit the most number of destinations in Tokyo with the least effort should focus on the district around Ueno Park. Here, you’ll find the National Museum, the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, the National Museum of Western Art, and the Science Museum close to each other.
Art centers popular with tourists in Tokyo
Your itinerary for museums and galleries of fine arts in Tokyo should begin with familiar themes that you already love. For lovers of modernist art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo has 4,000 pieces of modernist art, which includes Warhol and Hockney creations. Ideal for children and students are the flora and fauna exhibits of The National Museum of Nature and Science. The Science Museum in Kitanomarukoen is a more casual and interactive experience for kids, and explores information technology, energy and space.
Early 20th century art from the Meiji period is on display in the National Museum of Modern Art. Annexed to it is the Crafts Gallery, a collection of house wares from the Meiji period and the industrial and graphic designs from that era. The art deco fantasy of the Teien Metropolitan Museum, formerly the residence of Prince Asaka, is also worth visiting.
Big ticket picks
If you are looking for scenes from the time of the shogunates, you need to sample the Edo-Tokyo Museum’s permanent exhibit of the history of Tokyo politics and culture. Over 2,500 original scrolls, kimonos, maps and miniature dioramas describe life among the nobility and ordinary citizens from the Edo period. Works of European masters of impressionism are housed in the Bridgestone Museum of Art near the Tokyo station, while the Mori Art Museum in Roponggi draws a heavy traffic of modern art lovers. Highly recommended are the interactive exhibits of the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. The Tokyo National Museum contains the oldest and largest collection in Japan, with 110,000 items of art and archaeology artifacts from Asia.
Quirky fringes of life
The city has something for museum hunters of all genres, such as the Tobacco and Salt Museum in Shibuya, which has a study of cigarette packets and smoking tools from around the world. The Tokyo Water Science Museum provides educational exhibits about water technology. Origami House is a tiny museum featuring fantasy forms of dinosaurs and insects in flight. You can find exquisite renditions of household accessories at the Japan Folk Crafts Museum near the Komaba Todai Mae train station. The Tokyo Transportation Museum and the Tokyo Subway Museum feature historic train carriages, posters and model trains.
Discount passes
Museums and fine arts galleries in Tokyo are usually closed on Mondays and during the New Year holidays. Some establishments are open longer on Fridays. Selected exhibitions are free on certain days. If you are big on museums, you can save money using the 2000-yen Grutt Pass. This tourist pass can get you entrance discounts for 60 museums, zoos and aquariums in Tokyo.