Tokyo / Aoyama & Omotesando / Museum

Nezu Museum

根津美術館 ねづびじゅつかん

A bamboo-lined approach by Kengo Kuma, tea ceramics and Chinese bronzes inside, and a hillside garden of tea houses behind.

EssentialArt · Nature · Quiet · High-end · Seasonal · Architecture

The industrialist Nezu Kaichiro collected East Asian art around the tea ceremony — bowls, scrolls, Chinese bronzes of the Shang dynasty — and the museum Kengo Kuma built for it in 2009 is approached along a bamboo corridor that removes Omotesando from your mind before you enter. The galleries are small and dark; the garden behind is the reason to come. Seventeen thousand square metres of hillside with a pond, stone lanterns, four tea houses and paths that wind for an hour. The café at the edge of the garden serves lunch behind glass. Every spring the Irises screens by Korin come out for a month, and the garden's irises bloom at the same time.

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 Nezu Museum
A hand-drawn sketch for orientation — each place links to an exact map.
Tip
Book the timed ticket; then give the garden longer than the galleries.
Best time
Late April–May for the irises; late November for maples; any weekday morning.
Allow
120 min
Station
Omotesando (Ginza / Chiyoda / Hanzomon lines), exit A5, 8 minutes
Official site — hours, prices, closures
www.nezu-muse.or.jp · Map

Appears in

In this area: Aoyama & Omotesando

Street Essential

The Omotesando architecture walk表参道の建築散歩

A kilometre of zelkova trees and buildings by Ando, Ito, Sejima, Herzog & de Meuron and MVRDV — free, and best walked twice.

60 min · Omotesando (Ginza / Chiyoda / Hanzomon lines) to Meiji-jingumae (Chiyoda / Fukutoshin lines)
Park For a second visit

Aoyama Cemetery青山霊園

Tokyo's grandest cemetery, a hillside of Meiji statesmen, foreign teachers and a cherry avenue the city walks in April.

45 min · Gaienmae (Ginza line) or Nogizaka (Chiyoda line), 5 minutes
Park Worth it

Meiji Jingu Gaien ginkgo avenue明治神宮外苑いちょう並木

Three hundred metres of ginkgo trees pruned into cones, gold for three weeks in late November.

40 min · Aoyama-itchome (Ginza / Hanzomon / Oedo lines) or Gaienmae (Ginza line), 5 minutes

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