National Museum of Modern Art Crafts Gallery

The Crafts Gallery was opened in 1977 as an annex to the Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art. It is located in the Kitanomaru Park, which is close to the Imperial Palace. The gallery houses 3,400 items of Japanese and foreign modern and contemporary works, including ceramics, glassware, lacquer crafts, dyed and woven textiles, dolls and metalworks as well as works of industrial and graphic designs. Exhibitions of the works from the gallery's own collection as well as planned exhibitions are held all. During the exhibitions, the gallery also holds a special event, ”Touch & Talk,” which allows visitors of all ages to participate and handle the craftworks (from 2:00 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays). The Meiji-era Western-style brick building, designed by a military engineer, Yaushi Tamura, was built in March 1910 as the headquarters of the Imperial Guard of the Japanese army. It is one of the most important cultural assets as it was designed by a Japanese engineer and is still standing. It is an 8-minute walk from the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line Takebashi Station, Exit 1b.