Museum

National Museum of Western Art

Address: 7-7 Uenokoen, Taito City, Tokyo
Area: Tokyo, Japan

Mon: Closed
Tue: 09:30–17:30
Wed: 09:30–17:30
Thu: 09:30–17:30
Fri: 09:30–20:00
Sat: 09:30–20:00
Sun: 09:30–17:30
Hours: Admission ends 30 minutes before closing. The museum opens on national-holiday Mondays and closes the following Tuesday; additional irregular closures may occur.
Price: Permanent collection: adults ¥500, college students ¥250; special exhibitions require a separate fee.
How to visit: Photography in the galleries is allowed without flash, but may be prohibited for some exhibitions or artworks. Service dogs are allowed; a limited number of wheelchairs and baby carriages are available. The museum is about a 1-minute walk from JR Ueno Station’s Park Exit.
Hours: Ticket required
Hours: About 60–90 min

Why it is worth the detour

Le Corbusier's only building in East Asia (1959, UNESCO), built around the Matsukata collection of Monet and Rodin.

The National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo is Japan's premier public gallery for Western art, featuring works from the Renaissance to the early 20th century. It is housed in a UNESCO-listed building designed by Le Corbusier.

What else is close by

The nearest places we have written up, with straight-line distance from here.

250 m
Former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen Station
This unexpectedly grand little station opened in 1933 on former Imperial land to serve Ueno Zoo and the museums. Falling passenger numbers ended service in 1997, but its Western-style entrance survived closure and redevelopment as a sealed architectural ghost beside Ueno Park, occasionally opened for special programs.
350 m
Ueno Toshogu Shrine
A gilded 1651 shrine to Tokugawa Ieyasu that survived the 1868 battle, the 1923 earthquake and the 1945 raids intact.
400 m
Tokyo National Museum
Japan's oldest and largest museum (1872): samurai swords, Buddhist sculpture, kimono and the Horyu-ji treasures.
550 m
Ueno Park
The former grounds of the powerful Kaneiji temple became a battlefield in 1868 and later Tokyo's great museum and cherry-blossom park.
650 m
Ameyoko Market
A post-war black market under the Yamanote tracks that became a 400-metre bazaar of fish, candy, sneakers and spices.
1.2 km
Yanaka Cemetery
This atmospheric cemetery contains the grave of the last Tokugawa shogun and preserves the quiet, temple-filled character of old Yanaka.