17 Best Sights in Tokyo, Japan

The strength of the collection in these four spacious, well-designed rooms lies in the Tang- and Song-dynasty Chinese porcelain and in the Japanese ceramics—including works by Nonomura Ninsei and Ogata Kenzan. On display are masterpieces of Old Seto, Oribe, Old Kutani, Karatsu, and Kakiemon ware. The museum also houses outstanding examples of Zen painting and calligraphy, wood-block prints, and genre paintings of the Edo period. Of special interest to scholars is the resource collection of shards from virtually every pottery-making culture of the ancient world. The museum is on the ninth floor of the Teikoku Gekijo building, which looks down upon the lavish Imperial Garden. Check ahead on the website to see if reservations are required when you plan to visit.

Occupying the 52nd and 53rd floors of Mori Tower, this museum is one of the leading contemporary art showcases in Tokyo. The space is well designed (by American architect Richard Gluckman), intelligently curated, diverse in its media, and hospitable to big crowds. The nine galleries showcase exhibits that rotate every few months and tend to focus on leading contemporary art, architecture, fashion, design, and photography. Tickets include admission to the Roppongi Hills 52nd floor and the City View observation deck.

On view are traditional Japanese and Asian works of art owned by Meiji-period railroad magnate and politician Kaichiro Nezu. For the main building, architect Kengo Kuma designed an arched roof that rises two floors and extends roughly half a block through this upscale Minami Aoyama neighborhood. At any one time, the vast space houses a portion of the 7,400 works of calligraphy, paintings, sculptures, bronzes, and lacquerware that make up the Nezu's collection. The museum is also home to one of Tokyo's finest gardens, featuring 5 acres of ponds, rolling paths, waterfalls, and teahouses.

This four-building complex is one of the world's great repositories of East Asian art and archaeology. The museum has some 87,000 objects in its permanent collection, with several thousand more on loan from shrines, temples, and private owners.

The Western-style building on the left (if you're standing at the main gate), with bronze cupolas, is the Hyokeikan. Built in 1909, it was devoted to archaeological exhibits; aside from the occasional special exhibition, the building is closed today. The larger Heiseikan, behind the Hyokeikan, was built to commemorate the wedding of crown prince Naruhito in 1993 and now houses Japanese archaeological exhibits. The second floor is used for special exhibitions.

In 1878 the 7th-century Horyu-ji (Horyu Temple) in Nara presented 319 works of art in its possession—sculpture, scrolls, masks, and other objects—to the imperial household. These were transferred to the National Museum in 2000 and now reside in the Horyu-ji Homotsukan (Gallery of Horyu-ji Treasures), which was designed by Yoshio Taniguchi. There's a useful guide to the collection in English, and the exhibits are well explained. Don't miss the hall of carved wooden gigaku (Buddhist processional) masks.

The central building in the complex, the 1937 Honkan, houses Japanese art exclusively: paintings, calligraphy, sculpture, textiles, ceramics, swords, and armor. Also here are 84 objects designated by the government as National Treasures. The more attractive Toyokan, to the right of the Honkan, was completed in 1968 and recently renovated; it is devoted to the art and antiquities of China, Korea, Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East, and Egypt.

Formerly the Bridgestone Museum of Art, the Artizon Museum is one of Japan's best private collections of French impressionist art and sculpture and of post-Meiji Japanese painting in Western styles by such artists as Shigeru Aoki and Tsuguji Fujita. The collection, assembled by Bridgestone Tire Company founder Shojiro Ishibashi, also includes works by Rembrandt, Picasso, Utrillo, and Modigliani. The museum also puts on exhibits featuring works from other private collections and museums abroad.

Fumio Asakura, Japan's foremost artist of modern sculpture, was also an avid cat lover with an uncanny ability to capture a sense of motion in his sculptures. The museum—formerly the artist's home and studio—houses a selection of the artist's works, and the building and garden are a lovely stop when wandering through the Yanaka area. Since the museum is housed in an old residence, you will be removing your shoes to enter and it should also be noted that it is not wheelchair accessible. 

On the far-eastern end of Kiyosumi-Shirakawa, occupying the northernmost part of the sprawling Kiba Park, this modern museum has spaces that rotate between displays of contemporary art from its own collection and special exhibitions. The latter in recent years have included shows devoted to Jean Prouve and David Hockney, while the 2023 schedule includes the work of visual and installation artist Wendelien van Oldenborgh and a look at the designs of Christian Dior. If you need a break while here, there are a café and a restaurant on-site. The museum sometimes closes between exhibitions for reinstallations.

Founded in 1952 and moved to its present site in 1969, this was Japan's first national art museum. Often referred to by its acronym, MOMAT, it features a range of 20th- and 21st-century Japanese and Western artworks. On the second to fourth floors, it houses a permanent collection, which includes paintings, prints, and sculptures by Rousseau, Picasso, Tsuguji Fujita, Ryuzaburo Umehara, and Taikan Yokoyama.

Along with castings from the original molds of Rodin's Gate of Hell, The Burghers of Calais, and The Thinker, the wealthy businessman Matsukata Kojiro (1865–1950) acquired some 850 paintings, sketches, and prints by such masters as Renoir, Monet, Gauguin, van Gogh, Delacroix, and Cézanne. Matsukata kept the collection in Europe, but he left it to Japan in his will. The French government sent the artwork to Japan after World War II, and the collection opened to the public in 1959 in a building designed by Swiss-born architect Le Corbusier. Since then, the museum has diversified a bit; more recent acquisitions include works by Reubens, Tintoretto, El Greco, Max Ernst, and Jackson Pollock. The Seiyo is one of the best-organized, most pleasant museums to visit in Tokyo.

The gift of former Toho Mutual Life Insurance chairman Seizo Ota, this is probably the city's finest private collection of ukiyo-e, traditional Edo-period woodblock prints. Ukiyo-e (pictures of the floating world) flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries. The works on display are selected and changed periodically from the 12,000 prints in the collection, which include some extremely rare work by artists such as Hiroshige, Hokusai, Sharaku, and Utamaro.

The multi-level museum began its life to showcase works by painter Seiji Togo (1897–1978) who was a master at capturing grace on canvas, but now hosts not only exhibits of his work from their collection alongside pieces by other Japanese and Western artists, such as Gauguin and Cezanne, at any given time. The museum also houses van Gogh's Sunflowers.

Based on the principle of dividing profits three ways, Suntory, Japan's beverage giant, has committed a third of its profits to what it feels is its corporate and social responsibility to provide the public with art, education, and environmental conservation. The establishment of the Suntory Art Museum in 1961 was just one of the fruits of this initiative, and the museum's current home at Tokyo Midtown Galleria is a beautiful place to view some of Tokyo's finest fine-art exhibitions. Past displays have included everything from works by Picasso and Toulouse-Lautrec to fine kimonos from the Edo period. The museum also runs occasional tea ceremonies; check the website for the monthly schedule.

Another attraction almost next door to Sanrio Puroland, this museum has an eclectic collection on display. You’ll find fine art, prints, sculpture, photography, and even crafts, largely by artists with a connection to the university since it was established in the 1930s.

Tokyo's largest rotating exhibition space is home to major international modern and contemporary exhibits as well as smaller shows (usually free) and is worth visiting for the architecture alone. Architect Kisho Kurokawa, a cofounder of the influential metabolist movement in 1960, created a stunning facade that shimmers in undulating waves of glass, and the bright exhibition space with its soaring ceilings feels a bit like being inside the set of a utopian sci-fi movie. The building houses seven exhibition areas; a library; a museum shop; a pair of cafés; and a restaurant, Brasserie Paul Bocuse Le Musée, offering fine French dishes.

By far the most eclectic of Ueno's art museums, the Tokyo Metropolitan hosts large-scale exhibitions ranging from classic masterpieces to modern architecture. The museum's smaller galleries often play home to group exhibitions of painting, photography, calligraphy, sculpture, and nearly any other kind of art one can dream up. Many smaller exhibits are free.

The museum specializes in Nihonga (a type of traditional Japanese painting) from the Meiji period on and has a private collection of masterpieces by such painters as Taikan Yokoyama, Gyoshu Hayami, Kokei Kobayashi, and Gyokudo Kawai. Exhibits, which sometimes include works borrowed from other collections, change seven or eight times a year. Visitors can take a break at Café Tsubaki, which offers tea and wagashi (a genre of local sweets) as well as cake sets.