The back story
Screens, stages and white cubes: Tokyo’s arts
The national treasures of Ueno, the museums of the Roppongi Art Triangle, Nezu’s garden and Kōrin’s irises, kabuki in Ginza, opera at the New National Theatre and the concert halls: how to spend your cultural days.
Photo Credit
Image courtesy of © Wiiii · CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia CommonsTokyo’s collections are spread across the city, but they cluster. Ueno Park holds the Tokyo National Museum, Japan’s oldest museum, and the National Museum of Western Art, in a Le Corbusier building that is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site. Roppongi’s “Art Triangle” links the Mori Art Museum, The National Art Center, Tokyo and the Suntory Museum of Art. Aoyama has the Nezu Museum, Kyōbashi the Artizon, Shirokanedai the Art Deco Teien.
Ueno
The Tokyo National Museum (13-9 Ueno Park) holds Japan’s greatest collection of its own art; the National Museum of Western Art (7-7 Ueno Park) is housed in Le Corbusier’s building, part of “The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier”, inscribed by UNESCO in 2016.
The Roppongi triangle
The Mori Art Museum, near the top of Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, shows contemporary art; The National Art Center, Tokyo (7-22-2 Roppongi) has no permanent collection and holds large exhibitions under a rippling glass façade; the Suntory Museum of Art and 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT are in and beside Tokyo Midtown.
Photo Credit
Image courtesy of © Takipoint123 · CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia CommonsMany museums close on Mondays (or the next day after a holiday): check before you set out.
Houses of art
The Nezu Museum, in Minami-Aoyama, keeps Japanese and East Asian art in a building by Kengo Kuma, with a woodland garden of tea houses behind. The Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum (5-21-9 Shirokanedai) is an Art Deco residence of the 1930s. The Artizon Museum (1-7-2 Kyōbashi) and the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum in Marunouchi are a short walk from Tokyo Station.
Photo Credit
Image courtesy of © Tak1701d · Public domain via Wikimedia CommonsOn stage
Kabuki is performed at the Kabuki-za in Ginza; opera, ballet and drama at the New National Theatre, Tokyo; orchestras at Suntory Hall and Tokyo Opera City; and the all-female Takarazuka Revue at its Tokyo theatre in Hibiya.
Our advice: buy a single-act ticket at the Kabuki-za for a first taste: one act is enough to be enthralled.
Why it's on our list
- Ueno
- The Roppongi triangle
- Houses of art
- On stage
Location
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