7 cities · 14 museums
The best museums in Japan are Adachi Museum of Art, Hakone Open-Air Museum and Kyoto National Museum. World Museum Guide covers 14 museums in Japan across 7 cities, with admission prices, opening hours and highlights for each. Check each guide for current prices and free days.
Visitor information last reviewed 30 June 2026. Check the official museum site for current details.
| # | Museum | City | Admission | Time needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adachi Museum of Art | Yasugi | ¥2,300 | 1.5–2 hours |
| 2 | Hakone Open-Air Museum | Hakone | ¥1,600 | 2–3 hours |
| 3 | Kyoto National Museum | Kyoto | ¥700 | 1.5–2 hours |
| 4 | MOA Museum of Art | Atami | ¥1,600 | 2–3 hours |
| 5 | Mori Art Museum | Tokyo | ¥2,000 | 1.5–2 hours |
| 6 | Nara National Museum | Nara | ¥700 | 1.5–2 hours |
| 7 | National Art Center, Tokyo | Tokyo | Varies by exhibition | 1.5–2 hours |
| 8 | National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo | Tokyo | ¥500 | 1.5–2 hours |
| 9 | National Museum of Western Art | Tokyo | ¥500 | 1.5–2 hours |
| 10 | Nezu Museum | Tokyo | ¥1,500 | 1.5–2 hours |
Yasugi, Japan
Art Museum · Best for art lovers & garden enthusiasts
Founded by businessman Zenko Adachi in 1970, the museum is built around six interconnected Japanese gardens that change with the seasons. Adachi believed the gardens themselves should be considered living scrolls.
¥2,300 · ⏱ 1.5–2 hours
Hakone, Japan
Art Museum · Best for art lovers & families
Founded in 1969, the Hakone Open-Air Museum (Hakone Chokoku no Mori Bijutsukan) was Japan's first open-air sculpture museum, displaying around 120 works across seventy thousand square metres of mountain meadow and forest in the Hakone resort area.
¥1,600 · ⏱ 2–3 hours
Kyoto, Japan
Art Museum · Best for art lovers & history enthusiasts
The Kyoto National Museum opened in 1897 in Tokuma Katayama's brick neo-Renaissance Imperial Museum building. The Heisei Chishinkan Wing by Yoshio Taniguchi opened in 2014 to display the permanent collection.
¥700 · ⏱ 1.5–2 hours · Closed Mondays
Atami, Japan
Art Museum · Best for japanese art lovers & garden enthusiasts
The MOA Museum of Art stands on a forested hillside above Atami, a hot-spring resort on the Izu Peninsula. Founded in 1982 by Mokichi Okada, it houses his collection of Japanese and East Asian art in a building designed to harmonise with the natural landscape.
¥1,600 · ⏱ 2–3 hours · Closed Thursdays
Tokyo, Japan
Art Museum · Best for art lovers & architecture enthusiasts
Mori Art Museum opened in 2003 on the 53rd floor of Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, founded by developer Minoru Mori with an emphasis on Asian contemporary art, architecture, and urban culture.
¥2,000 · ⏱ 1.5–2 hours
Nara, Japan
Art Museum · Best for art lovers & history enthusiasts
Established in 1895, the Nara National Museum specialises in Buddhist art — particularly sculpture, painting, and ritual objects from temples in the Nara region. It sits in Nara Park, surrounded by free-roaming deer and within walking distance of Tōdai-ji and Kōfuku-ji.
¥700 · ⏱ 1.5–2 hours · Closed Mondays
Tokyo, Japan
Art Museum · Best for art lovers & architecture enthusiasts
Opened in 2007 in Roppongi, the National Art Center has no permanent collection. Instead it programmes the largest exhibition space in Japan — fourteen thousand square metres across twelve halls.
Varies by exhibition · ⏱ 1.5–2 hours · Closed Tuesdays
Tokyo, Japan
Art Museum · Best for art lovers & japanese art enthusiasts
Founded in 1952, the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (MOMAT) was Japan's first national art museum. Its current building by Yoshiro Taniguchi opened in 1969 in Kitanomaru Park beside the Imperial Palace moat and was renovated in 2002.
¥500 · ⏱ 1.5–2 hours · Closed Mondays
Tokyo, Japan
Art Museum · Best for art lovers & architecture enthusiasts
The National Museum of Western Art opened in 1959 in Le Corbusier's only completed building in Japan. The original building and recent additions form a UNESCO-listed work of modern architecture.
¥500 · ⏱ 1.5–2 hours · Closed Mondays
Tokyo, Japan
Art Museum · Best for art lovers & garden enthusiasts
The Nezu Museum was founded in 1941 to preserve Tobu Railway president Kaichirō Nezu's collection. Kengo Kuma's serenely austere building reopened in 2009 around the original Nezu garden.
¥1,500 · ⏱ 1.5–2 hours · Closed Mondays
Tokyo, Japan
Art Museum · Best for art lovers & families
teamLab Borderless first opened in Odaiba in 2018 and reopened in 2024 in a new home at the Azabudai Hills complex in central Tokyo. Exhibits are produced by the Tokyo-based collective teamLab.
¥3,800 · ⏱ 2–3 hours
Tokyo, Japan
Art Museum · Best for art lovers & history enthusiasts
The Tokyo National Museum is an art museum in Ueno Park in the Taitō ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is the oldest national museum in Japan, the largest art museum in Japan, and one of the largest art museums in the world.
1000 JPY · ⏱ 2–4 hours · Closed Mondays
Tokyo, Japan
Art Museum · Best for families & art lovers
The Ghibli Museum opened in 2001 to share the world of Studio Ghibli's animated films. Hayao Miyazaki himself designed the labyrinth of stairs, hidden rooms, and stained-glass windows.
¥1,000 · ⏱ 2 hours · Closed Tuesdays
Hiroshima, Japan
Art Museum · Best for history enthusiasts
Designed by Kenzo Tange and opened in 1955, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum sits within Peace Memorial Park alongside the Cenotaph and the preserved Atomic Bomb Dome — a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
¥200 · ⏱ 1.5–2 hours
The best museums in Japan are Adachi Museum of Art, Hakone Open-Air Museum, Kyoto National Museum, MOA Museum of Art and Mori Art Museum, ranked by visitor numbers and collection strength.
World Museum Guide covers 14 museums in Japan across 7 cities.
Most charge admission, but Tokyo National Museum offer free or reduced entry on certain days or for certain visitors. See each guide for the rules.
