Best History Museums Spot List

Keeps precious materials belonging to the Ii Clan

The second-oldest national museum in Japan, located in Nara Park. It boasts the nation's greatest collection of Buddhist art.

The Yokohama Archives of History is situated near Kaiko Plaza Park, where the Kanagawa Convention or the US-Japan Peace and Amity Treaty was signed. It is a house of archives where you can learn about the history of Yokohama City.

You’ll feel as if you’ve gone back in time to prehistoric times.

An octagonal, three-story western-style home in Maiko Park

An exhibit featuring contact and change between Eastern and Western cultures

Learn how Hideyoshi Toyotomi bathed

Observe how sturdy silk fabrics are produced

Hokkaido's oldest museum of Ainu culture, with exhibits featuring lifestyle objects and clothing

Passing down Ainu lifestyle and culture

Buildings that saw actual usage offer a unique historical experience

Discover the history of a beer dating back to Hokkaido's frontier age

Showcases the culture of northern tribes in expert detail

Fukumatsu Tanaka, the ”Herring Magnate” leader of a fisherman's union, built this lodge in Tomari-mura. Displays include implements related to the herring industry

Chock-full of discoveries about northern peoples

All sorts of history-rich trains on display

Once a storehouse, now a museum showcasing Otaru's history and nature

This museum was once a ferry that connected Japan's main island to Hokkaido

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

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Expedition (1853－1854), which paved the way to the opening of Japan, and the history leading to it through dioramas and historical documents.