Best Museums around Tokyo and Surroundings Spot List

A museum inside the building of Tokyo University of the Arts, the best out of all the art universities in Japan. It stores approximately 29,000 items of mainly Japanese modern arts.

This is a museum where you can enjoy learning the 400 years of history and culture of Edo-Tokyo.

Saitama Midori-no-mori Museum is a field museum that presents the satoyama (traditional agricultural) landscapes of Sayama-kyuryo Hills, such as wooded areas and swamps.

Japan's first national art museum located next to the Imperial palace, and it houses more than 12,500 artworks.

This is a museum where you can learn the aesthetics of the samurai spirit. You can experience being a samurai warrior wearing kabuto (a helmet) and yoroi (an armor) and take commemorative photos as well.

An exact reproduction of the Meiji-Era Shimbashi Station, the first railway terminal in Japan.

The museum exhibits precious fossils of prehistoric life and a large diorama replicated the forests of Saitama. It is a museum where you can learn the 300 million years of the natural history of the prefecture.

The National Film Center is the only national institution devoted to cinematography. It keeps movie films as well as many valuable materials related to movies. They are shown on the screens or displayed in the exhibition hall.

Founded by Kunio Kobayashi, the notable bonsai (potted plant) creator. Artistic bonsai are in line with each other at the Japanese garden. You can also purchase some of them.

Reproduces the streets of Fukagawa Saga-cho in the Edo Period so visitors can see the scene and lifestyle of that period.

Daimyo Tokei Hakubutsu-kan, or Daimyo Clock Museum, is the museum of the Edo period's art and craftwork, daimyo clocks (Japanese clocks), and is located in the popular Yanaka area in the shitamachi (the geographically lower side) of Tokyo.

Holds many exhibitions and shows by artists connected to Nerima. A community-based art museum beloved by locals.

The Sogo Museum of Art is located inside a department store that is directly connected with Yokohama Station. You can enjoy both shopping and art at the same time.

This is a hands-on train museum that is enjoyable for both adults and children. An operation simulator that uses an actual operator's seat is popular.

This is one of the three greatest commemorative ships in the world. It has been preserved as a symbol of the nation’s pride that attained the victory in the naval battle for defending national independence.

Museum with vast premises covering some 30 hectares. Nature that makes you the feel the season, rooms that match the exhibitions, and the buildings themselves are all worth checking out.

The Sumo Photography Museum is placed in the parking area of a photo studio. There are many items on display, including photographs of successive generations of great sumo wrestlers, references, and sumo wrestlers' ornamental aprons.

This art museum is located in the residential area of Shoto, Shibuya Ward. It features a unique, beautiful facade by architect Seiichi Shirai.

A museum relaunched in spring 2021 integrates the activities of the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art (closed in 2021) and its annex Hara Museum ARC

This art museum, which opened its doors in 1983, is out of ordinary among other museums in Tokyo. Located in the middle of the city, the museum harmonizes its art exhibitions, which utilize the former official residence of Asaka-no-miya (a branch of the Japanese Imperial Family) constructed in the early Showa period employing an Art Deco style, and the lushly green garden. After improvement of the old building, and an extension for a gallery and a cafe was added, the museum was re-opened in November 2014. In front of the art museum, there is a wide spread of lawn. You can put down a mat and eat your meal on this lawn.