What to do and see in Tokyo Prefecture, Kanto: The Best Specialty Museums

November 30, 2021 Merry Kessler

Discover the best top things to do in Tokyo Prefecture, Japan including Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum, Hino Auto Plaza, Itsukaichi Kyodokan, Ghibli Museum Mitaka, National Hansen's Disease Museum, Ogasawara Ocean Center, Samurai Museum, teamLab Borderless, Fire Museum, Keio Rail Land.
Restaurants in Tokyo Prefecture

1. Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum

3-7-1 Sakuracho Koganei Park, Koganei 184-0005 Tokyo Prefecture +81 42-388-3300 http://www.tatemonoen.jp/
Excellent
56%
Good
37%
Satisfactory
6%
Poor
1%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 349 reviews

Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum

The Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum was established by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in 1993 as a branch museum of the Edo-Tokyo Museum. In the seven-hectares wide site of the museum situated in the Metropolitan Koganei Park, historic buildings that have high cultural value but became unable to stand in their original location are relocated to, and reconstructed, preserved, and exhibited. In total 30 buildings are displayed presently.

Reviewed By 96lukel - Metro Manila, Philippines

A very underrated museum. Its popularity does not seem to match its greatness. Most people do not know about this place, hence the almost zero crowd. While it's a good thing for me personally, it deserves more recognition. The buildings are attractive, the guides are very helpful (some even try their best to explain in English even though I can speak basic Japanese). It is definitely the highlight of my Tokyo trip this year. Not to mention, the park it is located in also deserves some stroll as well

2. Hino Auto Plaza

5-28-5 Minamino, Hachioji 192-0916 Tokyo Prefecture +81 42-637-6600 http://www.hino.co.jp/autoplaza/
Excellent
50%
Good
40%
Satisfactory
10%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 10 reviews

Hino Auto Plaza

3. Itsukaichi Kyodokan

920-1 Itsukaichi, Akiruno 190-0164 Tokyo Prefecture +81 42-596-4069
Excellent
33%
Good
67%
Satisfactory
0%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 3 reviews

Itsukaichi Kyodokan

4. Ghibli Museum Mitaka

1-1-83 Shimorenjaku, Mitaka 181-0013 Tokyo Prefecture +81 570-055-777 [email protected] http://www.ghibli-museum.jp/
Excellent
58%
Good
28%
Satisfactory
10%
Poor
3%
Terrible
1%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 1,898 reviews

Ghibli Museum Mitaka

The brainchild of award-winning Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki, this museum includes a theater showing film excerpts, a whimsical children's play zone, a rooftop garden, and exhibits related to his movies, including Spirited Away.

Reviewed By Janis857

Amazing museum for Ghibli fans. Not overwhelming - works its way into your heart, just like their productions. Relies on triggering your recall of things Ghibli that you love. I also enjoyed their presentation of the rooms and desks where the drawings were created, and the equipment used to create the moving animation. Must get tickets in advance, and line up early - aim for 10AM opening time tickets, and get in line by 9:30.. Easy 17 minute train ride on JR Chuo Line Rapid to Mitaka from Shinjuku station in Tokyo and then walk thru park to the museum -- or ride the quick, local Community Bus , stop 9 at south exit of JR Mitaka station. There is real attention to making exhibits accessible to small children. The cheerful cafe has a menu with hotdog type food - aimed for kids. After visit, recommend eating lunch at a great French restaurant - Fuyotei- located at edge of park.

5. National Hansen's Disease Museum

4-1-13 Aobacho, Higashimurayama 189-0002 Tokyo Prefecture +81 42-396-2909 http://www.hansen-dis.jp/
Excellent
50%
Good
38%
Satisfactory
13%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 16 reviews

National Hansen's Disease Museum

6. Ogasawara Ocean Center

Chichijima Byobudani, Ogasawara-mura 100-2101 Tokyo Prefecture +81 4998-2-2830 http://bonin-ocean.net/
Excellent
42%
Good
54%
Satisfactory
4%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 52 reviews

Ogasawara Ocean Center

Reviewed By Expedition804234 - Tokyo, Japan

They keeps various sea turtles to support conservation. Newborn turtles are sweet and adorable. The facility is a bit run down except the clean pools for turtles, which shows their commitment. I donated at the exit wishing their effort to be continued. For those with kids, do not miss their beautiful backyard behind turtle pools. There are hand-made swings under giant trees and local kids seems to love it.

7. Samurai Museum

2-25-6 Eiwa Dairoku Bldg 1F, Kabukicho, Shinjuku 160-0021 Tokyo Prefecture +81 3-6457-6411 [email protected] http://www.samuraimuseum.jp/en/
Excellent
67%
Good
24%
Satisfactory
6%
Poor
1%
Terrible
2%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 1,906 reviews

Samurai Museum

Feel the real Samurai spirit.Samurai Museum is located in the KABUKICHO district of Shinjuku, which is one of the urban areas in Tokyo. It displays various kinds of authentic artifacts such as Samurai armor, helmets and weapons. The mission for the museum is to share true Samurai spirits with you so that you can have a better understanding of Samurai , including how they fought, who they were, what they believed. The museum offers an English guided tour that runs frequently for you to learn rich Samurai history at a deeper level. Many interesting facts about Samurai are covered in this tour.In addition, it has a photo booth where you are allowed to take pictures wearing Samurai outfits or Kimono. Also, the museum offers a special sword show at 2,3,4 and 5 pm everyday for you to watch two trained actors doing a sword fighting performance. The Museum shop is also worth visiting to buy cool gifts such as Katana.

Reviewed By jason3216

The museum has a private collection of some of the best samurai armor, swords and other accessories I have seen. There are guided tours in English that run about every hour (About 1hr duration). Tickets are reasonably priced and includes an informative guided tour, a chance to try on a samurai helmet with a sword as well as other garments such as kimonos. There is also a samurai sword-wielding demonstration that runs at set intervals during the day (You can return during the day to see the demonstration). Easy walking distance from Shinjuku station. A must see.

8. teamLab Borderless

1-3-8, Aomi Odaiba Palette Town, MORI Building Digital Art Museum: teamLab Borderless, Koto 135-0064 Tokyo Prefecture +81 3-6406-3949 http://borderless.teamlab.art/
Excellent
64%
Good
18%
Satisfactory
7%
Poor
4%
Terrible
7%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 1,324 reviews

teamLab Borderless

teamLab Borderless is a group of artworks that form one borderless world. Artworks move out of the rooms freely, form connections and relationships with people, communicate with other works, influence and sometimes intermingle with each other. Create new experiences with others, immerse yourself in borderless art, and explore the world with your body. In a vast complex, three-dimensional 10,000 square meter space, 520 computers and 470 projectors create a completely new world, the likes of which have never been seen before. Closed day: June 22nd, 25th, July 9th, 23rd, August 10th, 27th.

Reviewed By DouglasA587

teamLab Borderless (The Odaiba Edition of teamLab), was our first experience of this kind of interactive digital light and sound exhibit. We've visited our fair share of classical, modern and interactive galleries. But this was something quite different, as evidenced by the throngs off people waiting to get in at 10am (opening time), and the queues 10 deep, 50m back outside the door when we left at 1pm. Other reviews and their own website give you the general sense of what's happening: clever use of light and sound in a dark space, some of them with interactive, and even physical elements (like climbing through the 3 dimensional bouldering wall). But that doesn't capture the magic of being there in the dark, wondering what new and beautiful creature is about to come dancing around the corner. There's mo map and genuinely a surprise around every corner. We went around and around to make sure we left no nook undiscovered. Although initially you feel lost and perhaps a little overwhelmed, after a while the layout starts to make sense. For all that, we couldn't visit one of the most famous rooms, with the lanterns, because by the time we got to it, there was an additional 1 hour queue that we decided was too much on top of 3 hours already spent. I do recommend pre-booking online and turning up at opening time, or even 15 minutes before so you're in ASAP when it's as empty as possible. There are coin operated lockers, and luggage locks, so dump your stuff. Having bags around is a drag. Even though you'll be captivated from the first large open area, do head straight to the Lantern room, and consider doing the upstairs section early because it has more elements to queue for. Young (and old) kids will also get more of a blast upstairs where everything is interactive and designed more for the younger (although me and my wife did our crayon drawing that got turned into a digital life-form that we happily chased around the floor). Also take advantage of the En Tea House early, which is located on the upper floor. This isn't not your ordinary Japanese tea experience and is really a full exhibit in its own right. Don't just take the tea, but take the ice cream set. Hint: the tea and the ice cream behave differently. We pre-booked and arrived at opening time on a Christmas Sunday (Dec 21) and the queue was already full but they were selling tickets at the door. They only sell a certain volume off tickets for the day, and when we left at 1pm, they were selling tickets that could only be used from 3pm. Despite the crowd control, it was quite busy inside, although the area is larger than I thought, so it easily swallows several thousand people I would think. Many people say they took one or two hours. We were there 3, and I think we could have stayed longer just to soak up the ambience. It's easily accessible from the Tokyo Teleport station, or the Aomi station. Both are on private lines, so you need an IC card or special ticket, since they are neither JR nor Metro. TeamLab also have a similar exhibit in Shanghai and another "Planets" exhibit in Tokyo which we didn't go to, but looks more for kids.

9. Fire Museum

3-10, Yotsuya, Shinjuku 160-0004 Tokyo Prefecture +81 3-3353-9119 http://www.tfd.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/ts/museum.html
Excellent
36%
Good
49%
Satisfactory
14%
Poor
0%
Terrible
1%
Overall Ratings

4.0 based on 266 reviews

Fire Museum

Reviewed By Valkyrie_108

I had this museum high on my list considering my father is a firefighter in Australia. The history levels and the static displays of the fire fighting equipment was fascinating, comparable to the Fire Museum in Penrith, Australia with the amount of displays of vehicles, in air sea and on the ground. The day I visited, the displays you could usually sit in where closed to the public; though you could still view them. It will be on my father's list to visit when he is able to.

10. Keio Rail Land

3-36-39 Hodokubo, Hino 191-0042 Tokyo Prefecture +81 42-593-3526 http://www.keio-rail-land.jp/
Excellent
28%
Good
46%
Satisfactory
22%
Poor
3%
Terrible
1%
Overall Ratings

4.0 based on 67 reviews

Keio Rail Land

ThingsTodoPost © 2018 - 2024 All rights reserved.