Tokyo / Roppongi & Azabu / Museum

The National Art Center, Tokyo

国立新美術館 こくりつしんびじゅつかん

Kisho Kurokawa's wave of glass — no collection, only exhibitions, and a restaurant on an inverted cone.

Worth itArt · Architecture · Rainy day · Free

Japan's largest exhibition space has no collection of its own: twelve galleries host loan shows, from the great artists' associations' annual salons to blockbuster surveys, several at once. The building is the reason to come regardless — Kurokawa's undulating glass façade, and behind it an atrium of concrete cones, on top of one of which sits a restaurant by Paul Bocuse. The foyer, the cafés and the bamboo-planted forecourt are free and the best place in Roppongi to sit for an hour. It is a five-minute walk from both Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown.

Don't miss

Map of central Tokyo Tokyo Ueno Akihabara Shinjuku Shibuya Shinagawa Ikebukuro Shimbashi Kabukiza Theatre Chuo-dori and the Sunday promenade Ginza Six Ginza Itoya Hama-rikyu Gardens The Ginza gallery walk Tsukiji Hongwanji The Ginza bar streets Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building Imperial Palace East Gardens Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum Marunouchi Naka-dori KITTE and the rooftop garden Idemitsu Museum of Arts Nihonbashi Bridge Mitsukoshi Nihombashi Main Store The old shops of Nihonbashi Artizon Museum Fukutoku Shrine and the Coredo lanes Nihonbashi river cruise Sensoji Temple Kappabashi kitchen street Sumida river water bus The craft and coffee streets west of the temple A kimono day in Asakusa Tokyo Skytree Asakusa Shrine and Sanja Matsuri Tokyo National Museum National Museum of Western Art Ueno Park and Shinobazu Pond Yanaka Ginza and the Yanesen lanes Nezu Shrine Ameyoko market street Asakura Museum of Sculpture Akihabara Electric Town Jimbocho book town Kanda Myojin Shrine Holy Resurrection Cathedral (Nikolai-do) Kanda's old noodle houses Yushima Seido and the Confucian hall Mori Art Museum and Tokyo City View The National Art Center, Tokyo Tokyo Midtown and the Suntory Museum of Art Azabu-Juban shopping street Tokyo Tower and Zojoji Temple Roppongi after dark Nezu Museum The Omotesando architecture walk Aoyama Cemetery Meiji Jingu Gaien ginkgo avenue The Aoyama and Minami-Aoyama back streets Meiji Jingu Yoyogi Park Takeshita Street and Cat Street Ota Memorial Museum of Art Togo Shrine Shibuya scramble crossing and Hachiko Shibuya Sky Nonbei Yokocho and the Shibuya alleys Udagawacho record shops and Shibuya vintage Tomigaya and Kamiyamacho Live music in Shibuya Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building observatories Golden Gai Omoide Yokocho The Isetan food hall Hanazono Shrine Tsukiji Outer Market Toyosu Market and the tuna auction teamLab Planets The Tsukiji-to-Ginza walk The Meguro River cherry trees Daikanyama T-Site Daikanyama's low-rise streets Ebisu Garden Place and the Ebisu restaurant streets Nakameguro's back streets Kagurazaka's stone lanes Akagi Shrine Dining in Kagurazaka Zenkokuji Bishamonten Ryogoku Kokugikan and sumo Edo-Tokyo Museum Kiyosumi Garden Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT) The Kiyosumi-Shirakawa roasters The National Art Center, Tokyo
A hand-drawn sketch for orientation — each place links to an exact map.
Tip
Check what is on; the public salons can be enormous and uneven, while the loan surveys are often the best show in town.
Best time
Weekday afternoon; closed Tuesdays.
Allow
90 min
Station
Nogizaka (Chiyoda line), exit 6, direct; Roppongi, 5 minutes
Official site — hours, prices, closures
www.nact.jp · Map

Appears in

In this area: Roppongi & Azabu

Museum Essential

Mori Art Museum and Tokyo City View森美術館と東京シティビュー

Contemporary art on the 53rd floor, a 360-degree view on the 52nd, and an open-air roof above them both.

150 min · Roppongi (Hibiya line, exit 1C; Oedo line, exit 3)
Museum Worth it

Tokyo Midtown and the Suntory Museum of Art東京ミッドタウンとサントリー美術館

A garden of a daimyo estate, a museum of lacquer, glass and tea utensils, and the design galleries around it.

120 min · Roppongi (Oedo line, exit 8, direct; Hibiya line, exit 4a)
District Worth it

Azabu-Juban shopping street麻布十番商店街

A village high street between the embassies — taiyaki since 1909, a soba house since 1789, and a public bath.

75 min · Azabu-juban (Namboku / Oedo lines), exit 4

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