5 Best Sights in Side Trips from Tokyo, Japan

Only a few minutes' walk from the Miyanoshita Station (directions are posted in English), the museum houses an astonishing collection of 19th- and 20th-century Western and Japanese sculpture, most of it on display in a spacious, handsome garden. There are works here by Rodin, Moore, Arp, Calder, Giacometti, Takashi Shimizu, and Kotaro Takamura. One section of the garden is devoted to Emilio Greco. Inside are works by Picasso, Léger, and Manzo, among others.

A sister institution to the MOA Museum of Art in Atami, Hakone Museum of Art is at the second stop of the Hakone Tozan Cable Car. The museum, which consists of two buildings set in a beautiful Japanese garden, houses a modest collection of porcelain and ceramics from China, Korea, and Japan.

This museum was built in 1928 as a repository for many of the most important objects belonging to the shrines and temples in the area; many of these are designated Important Cultural Properties. Located along the east side of the Tsuru-ga-oka Hachiman-gu shrine precincts, the museum has an especially fine collection of devotional and portrait sculpture in wood from the Kamakura and Muromachi periods; the portrait pieces may be among the most expressive and interesting in all of classical Japanese art.

An unhurried visit to the precincts of Toshogu should definitely include the Treasure House, as it contains a collection of antiquities from its various shrines and temples. From the west gate of Rinno-ji temple, turn left off Omote-sando, just below the pagoda, onto the cedar-lined avenue to Futara-san Jinja. A minute's walk brings you to the museum, on the left.

Just a few minutes' walk from Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, this newly refurbished museum houses a collection of Japanese oil paintings and watercolors, woodblock prints, and sculpture.