Best Art Museums around Tokyo and Surroundings Spot List

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

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

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

Pola Museum of Art, built in the forests of Hakone, is a glass-encased space where you can enjoy art and nature together.

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.

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.

Yokohama Museum of Art is considered a symbol of the Minato Mirai 21 area. It consists of seven exhibition rooms and has a collection of over 110,000 books. It is one of the largest museums in Japan.

The museum displays valuable handicrafts and folk crafts, mainly Japanese antique ceramics and dyed or woven textiles that were selected by Japanese philosopher Yanagi Muneyoshi, collected from Japan and overseas.

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 exhibiting works of art under the theme of pumpkins, with a focus on the work of world-famous artist Yayoi Kusama. The museum also has a cafe. [Yayoi Kusama] A painter, avant-garde sculptor and novelist born in Nagano. She began painting pictures based on hallucinations she had in her early childhood. She went to the USA in 1957 and stayed in New York for 18 years, and has also represented Japan at Venice Biennial in 1993. After her retrospective exhibition tour around the US, she held a large-scale, one-woman exhibition at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, in 1999. In 2001, she won the Asahi Prize. Her work has appeared at the Yokohama Triennale. Access: From Yugawara Station, take the bus headed to Okuyugawara or Fudo-Taki for about 5 minutes We are five minutes' walk from the Shogakko-Mae bus stop

We display works created by people who have been designated as important intangible cultural properties, otherwise known as ”living national treasures.” We have a permanent special exhibition on the recent works of ceramic artist Morihiro Hosokawa. Access: From Yugawara Station, take the bus headed to Kajiya for about 5 minutes We are located right next to the Yamazaki bus stop

In 1998, an old Japanese inn was renovated and opened as the Yugawara Art Museum. We exhibit works by artists with a connection to Yugawara, such as Seiho Takeuchi, Sotaro Yasui, and Kokki Miyake. In the Reiji Hiramatsu Hall, Reiji Hiramatsu, one of Japan's leading artists, is currently creating an exhibition provisionally titled ”Ten Scenes of Yugawara.” In addition to viewing his works, the atelier where he creates his works is also open to the public. In the Japanese garden connected to the museum you can view seasonal flowers and ”Monet’s water lilies,” which were grown from water lily bulbs given to Reiji Hiramatsu by the Fondation Claude Monet. In the museum's cafe ”And Garden,” you can relax with food and tea while enjoying a fine view of the garden. Please enjoy appreciating great art in our peaceful, soothing museum. Access: From Yugawara Station, take the bus headed to Okuyugawara or Fudo-Taki for about 12 minutes We are right next to the Bijutsukan-Mae bus stop.

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.

We exhibit artworks produced through the use of fire, including antique chinaware and swords, that were collected by the Doctor of Engineering Kazuyoshi Kimura and his wife Doctor of Science Kinuko Kimura based on their conviction that ”the light and heat of the flame brings out the function and beauty of an object, while at the same time creating the beauty and culture that will last the longest in this world.” Access: From Yugawara Station, take the bus headed to Kajiya for about 5 minutes We are a two-minute walk north from the Miyato-Bashi bus stop