22 of the best · Tokyo, Japan
The Tokyo National Museum and Le Corbusier’s museum in Ueno, the Mori Art Museum and The National Art Center in Roppongi, the Nezu Museum’s garden, kabuki at the Kabuki-za, opera, ballet and the concert halls.
Our 22 favourites, listed A–Z · Updated October 2026
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Three Tokyo moments we keep going back to: Sensō-ji before the shops open, a bowl of soba in Kagurazaka, and the Shibuya crossing from the rooftop at dusk.
Japan’s oldest museum
Japan’s greatest collection of its own art, from Jōmon pottery and samurai armour to screens, scrolls and national treasures, in several buildings in Ueno Park.
13-9 Ueno Park, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-8712Explore View on map
Art and a woodland garden
Japanese and East Asian art in a calm building by Kengo Kuma, with a woodland garden of ponds and tea houses behind.
Art near the top of Roppongi Hills
Contemporary art near the top of Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, open late most evenings, with the Tokyo City View deck beside it.
Ueno’s treasures, the Roppongi triangle, kabuki and the concert halls.
The back story
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.
Visual arts
National treasures in Ueno, Kōrin and the tea garden at the Nezu, an Art Deco house and Hokusai at home.
Impressionists to now
A modern museum near Tokyo Station, from Impressionist painting to Japanese modern art and contemporary shows.
1-7-2 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, TokyoExplore View on map
A red-brick museum
A museum of 19th-century art in a red-brick building in Marunouchi, with a garden courtyard.
Art and a woodland garden
Japanese and East Asian art in a calm building by Kengo Kuma, with a woodland garden of ponds and tea houses behind.
Hokusai at home
A museum of Katsushika Hokusai in the district where he was born, in an aluminium-clad building by Kazuyo Sejima.
2-7-2 Kamezawa, Sumida-ku, Tokyo 130-0014Explore View on map
The beauty of everyday life
Lacquer, glass, ceramics and textiles in Tokyo Midtown, shown in changing exhibitions.
Le Corbusier, UNESCO
European painting and sculpture, with Rodin in the courtyard, in Le Corbusier’s building in Ueno Park, part of a UNESCO World Heritage site.
7-7 Ueno Park, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0007Explore View on map
An Art Deco house
A 1930s Art Deco residence with Lalique glass doors and a lawned garden, used for changing exhibitions.
5-21-9 Shirokanedai, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0071Explore View on map
Japan’s oldest museum
Japan’s greatest collection of its own art, from Jōmon pottery and samurai armour to screens, scrolls and national treasures, in several buildings in Ueno Park.
13-9 Ueno Park, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-8712Explore View on map
The Roppongi triangle and the city’s contemporary museum.
Design by Tadao Ando
A design gallery in the garden of Tokyo Midtown, its folded steel roof by Tadao Ando.
Art near the top of Roppongi Hills
Contemporary art near the top of Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, open late most evenings, with the Tokyo City View deck beside it.
MOT
The city’s museum of contemporary art, beside Kiba Park, in a district of coffee roasters and galleries.
A wave of glass
Japan’s largest exhibition space, with no permanent collection, under a rippling glass façade by Kisho Kurokawa.
7-22-2 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-8558Explore View on map
The red-brick station of 1914, the tower of 1958 and a great temple gate.
Red brick and domes
The red-brick station of 1914, restored with its two domes, facing the avenue to the palace.
1958, white and orange
The orange-and-white tower of 1958, with its Main Deck and Top Deck, best of all when lit at night.
With Tokyo Tower behind
A great Jōdo-shū temple whose red Sangedatsumon gate frames Tokyo Tower, with rows of small stone jizō statues in the grounds.
4-7-35 Shibakōen, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0011Explore View on map
Performing arts
The vineyard hall in Ark Hills and the timber hall at Hatsudai.
The vineyard hall
Tokyo’s great concert hall, in Ark Hills, its seats rising around the stage in vineyard terraces.
The Takemitsu hall
A concert hall with a soaring timber ceiling, and an art gallery, in the tower at Hatsudai.
3-20-2 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 163-1403Explore View on map
Kabuki in Ginza and the all-female Takarazuka Revue in Hibiya.
Kabuki in Ginza
The home of kabuki, in Ginza, where you can buy a ticket for the whole programme or a single act.
The Takarazuka Revue
The Tokyo stage of the all-female Takarazuka Revue: musicals and revues with grand staircases and feathers.
Japan’s national stage for opera and ballet.
Opera, ballet and drama
Japan’s national stage for opera, ballet, contemporary dance and drama, by Hatsudai station.
Folk & cultural traditions
Knives and lacquer for the city’s chefs, and paper for everyone.
The red paperclip
A tall stationery shop under the red paperclip sign on Chūō-dōri: pens, papers and notebooks floor by floor.
The kitchen street
A street of shops for chefs, between Asakusa and Ueno: knives, lacquerware, ceramics and the plastic food models of restaurant windows.
3-18-2 Matsugaya, Taito-ku, Tokyo 111-0036Explore View on map
