Best Museums around Tokyo and Surroundings Spot List

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.

A museum where you can relax surrounded by rich greenery. It positions art as a ”sustenance of mental health.”

A museum introducing Edo hanabi (fireworks) and brimming with the atmosphere of the era.

A unique hexagon-shaped art museum that houses some 2,000 ceramics, Japanese lacquerwares, and tea kettles.

This is an admission-free art gallery opened in the Ginza district by Pola Group, which is expanding its cosmetics business, to make this facility the information-dissemination center for art and culture.

Currently under renovation, and plans to reopen in the autumn of 2016. One of the few museums worldwide focusing on photography and film.

Sannomaru Shozokan is a public art gallery exhibiting works such as paintings, calligraphy and crafts handed down to the Imperial Family.

A museum located on the fourth floor of Panasonic Tokyo Shiodome Building. 230 pieces by Georges Rouault, a representative artist of the 20th century, are shown at this museum.

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.

This museum is linked to the Yotsuya Fire Department. Here you can see exhibits of actual equipment, including the first fire engine introduced to Japan in 1917, as well as the helitack first brought into the Tokyo Fire Department. In addition, you can sit in the helitack set up outside. Why not try considering some disaster prevention?

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.

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.

It is a historical museum where you can learn about the Chiba clan, who made the foundation and historical contribution to Chiba City. From the observation deck, you can see a magnificent view of Chiba City.

This is a museum built on the site where the Kawagoe Castle used to stand. Through various exhibitions, the museum explains how the people in the castle town lived.

This museum was established in March 2003 with 3 designers, Issei Miyake (fashion designer), Taku Sato (graphic designer), and Naoto Fukazawa (product designer) as its directors and Noriko Kawakami, a journalist and editor, as its associate director. Not only does it offer exhibitions, but it also offers various programs such as talks and workshops with a concept of ”becoming a venue where day-to-day perspectives and views can be proposed.” The building with a symbolic roof created with an image of ”one sheet of fabric” was designed by Tadao Ando, an architect.

The museum has the ancient Orient as its theme. Visitors can learn about the hunting and gathering life of 5,000 years ago as well as the invention of writing.

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

This museum conserves and exhibits arts collected by the Sumitomo family, with its main building located in Shishiga-tani, Kyoto. The collection is composed of various and diverse items, such as modern Japanese and Western paintings, modern pottery and chinaware, tea utensils, and Noh masks and costumes collected from the middle of the Meiji era to Taisho era. Despite being in the middle of Roppongi, it is surrounded by greenery and is a quiet environment, which lets you forget about time and appreciate the arts to your heart's content.

Nippon Camera Hakubutsu-kan or the JCII Camera Museum is a museum operated by the Japan Camera Industry Institute, and you can have fun learning and familiarizing yourself with cameras by looking at and touching cameras. There are more than 300 cameras on display.

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.