Tokyo / Ueno & Yanaka / Museum

National Museum of Western Art

国立西洋美術館 こくりつせいようびじゅつかん

Le Corbusier's only building in East Asia, a World Heritage Site, with Rodin in the forecourt and Monet inside.

EssentialArt · Architecture · Rainy day

The Matsukata collection — bought in Europe by a shipbuilder in the 1920s, seized by France in the war and returned in 1959 on condition a museum was built for it — got its museum from Le Corbusier: a square box on pilotis with a spiralling ramp inside, one of his "museums of unlimited growth", listed by UNESCO in 2016. In the forecourt stand Rodin's Thinker, Burghers of Calais and Gates of Hell; inside, medieval panels to Monet's Water Lilies and the Picassos of the Matsukata years. The building is the exhibit as much as the paintings.

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 National Museum of Western Art
A hand-drawn sketch for orientation — each place links to an exact map.
Tip
The permanent collection ticket is cheap and the rooms are quiet even when a special exhibition is packed.
Best time
Weekday afternoon.
Allow
90 min
Station
Ueno (JR, park exit), 1 minute
Official site — hours, prices, closures
www.nmwa.go.jp · Map

Appears in

In this area: Ueno & Yanaka

Museum Essential

Tokyo National Museum東京国立博物館

The national collection — swords, Buddhas, screens, kimono, tea bowls — in six buildings on the edge of the park.

150 min · Ueno (JR, park exit), 10 minutes across the park; Uguisudani (JR), 10 minutes
Park Essential

Ueno Park and Shinobazu Pond上野公園と不忍池

Japan's first public park — the cherry avenue, the lotus pond, a Toshogu shrine in gold, and a zoo.

90 min · Ueno (JR / Ginza / Hibiya lines), park exit
Street Essential

Yanaka Ginza and the Yanesen lanes谷中銀座と谷根千の路地

A 170-metre shopping street of croquettes, cats and shopkeepers who know each other, at the bottom of a flight of "sunset stairs".

150 min · Nippori (JR / Keisei), west exit, 5 minutes

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