Unofficial visitor guide · Tokyo
東京国立博物館 · Google Maps
Official audio guide · English Yes · 4 languages · Free
Object labels at the Tokyo National Museum are in Japanese and English, but many longer explanatory panels are in Japanese only. Here is what the museum offers and how to hear the labels in your own language.
Independent guide by the makers of Tales of Museums. Not affiliated with the Tokyo National Museum.
Checked on 26 October 2026 from the sources linked above. Museums change their guides and rules; confirm on the official Tokyo National Museum website before you go.
Checked on 26 October 2026 from the sources linked above. Museums change their guides and rules; confirm on the official Tokyo National Museum website before you go.
Swipe for the works and stories worth knowing before you go.
The museum acquired this 17th-century teahouse from Jigen'in at Kofukuji in Nara in 1875, but the ship carrying it sank off the Izu Peninsula. Its timbers were fished out and it was rebuilt here in 1877. The stone water basin at its entrance was once part of a pagoda built in 925.
For the 1873 World's Fair in Vienna, Japanese officials collected two of every local product: one set travelled to Vienna, the other was kept for permanent display in a museum at home. So the young museum kept a twin of the local products Japan showed the world.
Nearly 24,000 people gave 400,000 yen to build this gallery as a wedding gift for the Crown Prince; it was finished in 1908. When the 1923 earthquake left every other museum building too damaged to open, the museum carried on here, reopening in 1924 and exhibiting in the Hyokeikan until the new Honkan opened in 1938.
tnm.jp: Royal Gallery (Hyokeikan) · tnm.jp: The Great Kanto Earthquake and the Museum
When Kofukuji's Main Hall was built, a silver bowl, mirrors, coins and glass and agate beads were buried under its dais to placate the gods of the land and see the work safely done. The bowl is now a National Treasure, shown with its companions in Honkan Room 11 when on rotation.
In Room 1 on the first floor, on view until 18 April 2027, a gilt-bronze ceremonial banner is believed to be the very item listed in Horyuji's inventory of 747. The temple gave it, among more than 300 treasures, to the Imperial Household in 1878. The same collection holds a seven-stringed zither whose ink inscription says it was made in Sichuan, China, in 724.
The first director, Machida Hisanari, wanted a zoo, a botanical garden and a library alongside the collections. On 20 March 1882, with Emperor Meiji present, Josiah Conder's main building and the zoo were opened together on the former grounds of Kan'eiji temple, whose buildings burnt down in the Boshin War.
The literary giant Mori Ogai ran this museum from 1917 until his death in 1922, and a marker shows where his office stood. The grounds also hold a statue of the English doctor Edward Jenner, made by Yonehara Unkai in 1896 for the centenary of vaccination, with Jenner's name spelled out in kanji on its base.
This one-bay log storehouse from Jurinin temple in Nara was moved here in 1882. Paintings of the sixteen protector deities inside show it once guarded the Great Prajnaparamita Sutra. You can't go in, but look at the stones under the floor: the same sixteen deities are carved there, on all four sides.
After the 1923 earthquake wrecked the old main building, designs were invited from the public, in an Eastern style rooted in Japanese taste. The chosen plan, by Watanabe Jin of Ginza Wako fame, put a tiled Japanese roof on a modern hall. It took six years and seven million yen and opened on 10 November 1938.
tnm.jp: Construction of the new Honkan · tnm.jp: TNM Architecture Walk
This gate once fronted the Edo mansion of the Ikeda lords of Tottori, then moved to the Crown Prince's residence and to Prince Takamatsu's villa before arriving here in 1954. It is ranked with the University of Tokyo's Akamon among daimyo gates, and on weekends and holidays, weather permitting, you can walk through it.
Tales of Museums reads the label or panel in front of you aloud in your language, including the Japanese-only panels. The museum's free Wi-Fi covers most areas.
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Object labels are in Japanese and English. Some panels are also in Chinese and Korean, but many longer explanations are in Japanese only. tnm.jp: FAQ
Displays rotate regularly to protect fragile objects, so famous pieces are shown only for limited periods. Check the museum's schedule before you go. tnm.jp: FAQ
Many paintings, calligraphy and textiles are very sensitive to light and heat, so lighting is kept low to protect them. tnm.jp: FAQ
National Treasure and Important Cultural Property are Japanese government designations. Important Cultural Properties have high artistic or academic value; the most valuable of them are designated National Treasures. As of April 2026 the museum holds 90 National Treasures and 652 Important Cultural Properties. tnm.jp: FAQ
Yes in the collection galleries, without flash, except objects with a no-photography sign. Photography is not allowed in the special exhibition galleries. tnm.jp: photography
Adults pay 1,000 yen and university students 500 yen for the collection galleries; school pupils, anyone under 18 or over 70 (bring proof of age), and disabled visitors with one caregiver enter free. Everyone gets in free on 3 November 2026, and a special exhibition ticket also covers the collection galleries the same day. tnm.jp: visitor information · tnm.jp: accessibility information
The Tokyo National Museum is open 9:30 am to 5 pm, until 8 pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and also on Sundays before a Monday public holiday, and closed on Mondays (the next day instead when Monday is a public holiday). Buy tickets online: the museum warns that waits at the Main Gate counters can pass 30 minutes at busy times. tnm.jp: visitor information
The Tokyo National Museum is about a 10-minute walk from JR Ueno or JR Uguisudani station, and about 15 minutes from the Ginza and Hibiya line Ueno station. Enter at the Main Gate, where bags go through a security check; suitcases are not allowed inside, and the museum has no car park. tnm.jp: visitor information
The Tokyo National Museum suggests allowing at least an hour, and says a whole day may not be enough if you want to look carefully. If it is your first visit and time is short, its recommended Highlights of Japanese Art course, the chronological display on the 2nd floor of the Japanese Gallery (Honkan), takes about 30 minutes. Until 25 April 2027 parts of that floor are closed for maintenance: Room 4 from 26 October 2026, and Rooms 2 and 3 from 14 December 2026. You can leave and come back the same day: have your ticket stub stamped at the Main Gate on the way out. tnm.jp: FAQ · tnm.jp: Plan your visit (recommended courses)
Yes, and under-18s enter the Tokyo National Museum's collection galleries free. Children aged 0 to 6 and their parents can use the Family Space on the 1st floor of the Heiseikan, there are hands-on areas such as the Japanese Culture Plaza (Honkan Room C) and a replica ancient bronze bell you can ring in the Japanese Archaeology gallery, and the downloadable 'Welcome to the Museum' guide gives viewing tips for preschoolers. Strollers are allowed in the galleries (when it is crowded, staff may ask you not to use them), a limited number can be borrowed at the Honkan information desk, and there are nursing rooms at the Main Gate Plaza and on Honkan B1F. tnm.jp: For visitors with children · tnm.jp: FAQ (baby carriages, nursing rooms)
At the Tokyo National Museum, THE RESTAURANT and the Garden Cafe are on the 1st floor of the Asian Gallery (Toyokan), OKUNO serves sushi kaiseki in The Gallery of Horyuji Treasures, Tohaku Chakan is a Japanese tea café in the garden, and the Ueshima Coffee Shop is at the Kuroda Memorial Hall. Food trucks in front of the Japanese Gallery (Honkan) sell light meals and drinks. If you bring your own food, eat it in the Heiseikan lounge (1st floor), the Honkan basement drink corner, on the Toyokan terrace or on the outdoor benches. tnm.jp: Restaurant & Café · tnm.jp: FAQ (restaurants, eating your own food)
Bags go through a metal-detector and baggage check at the Tokyo National Museum's Main Gate, and suitcases are not allowed in the museum at all. For storage, each exhibition hall has lockers, and the museum asks you to put large luggage in them; if your things do not fit, ask the staff at the information counter. Umbrellas go in the special umbrella lockers outside the galleries, although a small folding umbrella can come with you in a plastic bag. tnm.jp: accessibility information (lockers) · tnm.jp: photograph and other guidelines · tnm.jp: visitor information (admissions and tickets)
Yes: every exhibition building at the Tokyo National Museum has lifts and ramps, so wheelchair users can reach every facility and floor except the teahouses in the garden, though the Japanese Gallery (Honkan) and the Hyokeikan have steep entrance ramps and small 1–2 cm steps inside, where staff will help. Wheelchairs are lent at the information counter of every exhibition hall except the Hyokeikan, which is also the only building without an accessible restroom. Disabled visitors and one helper enter free on showing a disability certificate at the entrance, without going to the ticket booth. tnm.jp: accessibility information
Tales of Museums is an independent app and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to the Tokyo National Museum. Translations, narration and the extra facts use AI and can contain mistakes, so for anything important, check the museum's official information and the linked sources. Please follow the museum's photography rules.