Best Museums Spot List

It is a museum where the Japanese maritime history can be learned from videos and valuable displays. The NYK Maritime Museum widely introduces the history of marine vessels along with the history of Nippon Yusen as a company. (NYK stands for Nippon Yusen Kaisha, a shipping company.)

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.

*Currently closed

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.

This is an art gallery established in 1926, located in the Meiji Jingu Gaien Park. About 80 masterpieces of Japanese and Western paintings are displayed in chronological order.

Museum of Yebisu Beer will teach you the history and the way to enjoy Yebisu beer at the birthplace of Yebisu beer.

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 history museum featuring precious cultural artifacts from the Kamakura Era.

The Perry Memorial Hall is a museum that illustrates the Perry Expedition (1853－1854), which paved the way to the opening of Japan, and the history leading to it through dioramas and historical documents.

This museum is dedicated to ukiyo-e. It houses one of the largest collections in the world.

Meet the two famous cats that manage the station

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

Japan's only sex museum, with full of humor.

Check out an Ageya (elegant-restaurant) of the red-light district from the Edo period

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

Learn about the nature, history, and culture of Kawayu at this facility

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.

Located inside the Yugawara Tourist Hall, this museum exhibits the works and information panels of various writers and artists who have visited Yugawara since the Meiji era, such as Doppo Kunikida, Soseki Natsume , Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Akiko Yosano, Toson Shimazaki, and Junichiro Tanizaki. It also features a walking map for sights connected to Yugawara’s literary history, a brief history of modern literature in Yugawara, as well as panels of photos showing Yugawara in the past and present, and temples, shrines and stone statues. Access: From Yugawara Station, take the bus headed to Okuyugawara or Fudo-Taki for about 10 minutes We are right next to the Ochiaibashi bus stop

The artist Kyotaro Nishimura visited Yugawara to rest and recuperate, and he was so enchanted by its climate and people that he decided to live here. The Nishimura Kyotaro Museum was opened in honor of him. In addition to more than 300 of his creations, we also exhibit items that represent his life as a writer, including handwritten manuscripts, large dioramas and his secret collection. Please stop by and get a new insight into the life and work of Kyotaro Nishimura. Access: From Yugawara Station, take the bus headed to Okuyugawara or Fudo-Taki for about 5 minutes We are three minutes' walk from the Shogakko-Mae bus stop

Experience a simulated ski jump at this winter sports museum