[Autumn/Winter 2026] Marunouchi, Kyobashi and Nihonbashi Art Guide: Artizon, Mitsubishi Ichigokan, Tokyo Station Gallery and More

On the Marunouchi and Yaesu sides of JR Tokyo Station, museums are clustered within walking distance of one another. There are six: the Tokyo Station Gallery inside the station building; the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum and the Seikado Bunko Art Museum (Seikado@Marunouchi) in Marunouchi; the Artizon Museum in Kyobashi; the Mitsui Memorial Museum in Nihonbashi; and The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, near Takebashi Station on the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line. This guide summarizes exhibitions on view as of Saturday, October 31, 2026, three exhibitions opening from Saturday, November 21, opening hours and admission, and how to get around.

What kind of area are Marunouchi, Kyobashi and Nihonbashi?

Marunouchi, on the west side of Tokyo Station, is home to the Tokyo Station Gallery, the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum and Seikado@Marunouchi. Stretching east from Yaesu to Kyobashi and Nihonbashi are the Artizon Museum and the Mitsui Memorial Museum. The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo is in Kitanomaru Park and can be reached by subway to Takebashi Station or on foot from Tokyo Station.

Each building also has its own history. The Tokyo Station Gallery is inside the Marunouchi Building of Tokyo Station (Important Cultural Property), built in 1914 to a design by Kingo Tatsuno. The Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum is a reconstruction of “Mitsubishi Ichigokan,” designed by Josiah Conder and built by Mitsubishi in 1894. The Meiji Seimei Kan (completed in 1934), which houses Seikado@Marunouchi, and the Mitsui Main Building (completed in 1929), which houses the Mitsui Memorial Museum, are both designated national Important Cultural Properties. The Artizon Museum opened in 2020.

This autumn and winter, new exhibitions open at the Tokyo Station Gallery and Seikado@Marunouchi on Saturday, November 21, and at the Mitsui Memorial Museum on Saturday, December 12. The Artizon Museum, the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum and The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo continue their current exhibitions into the new year. The Idemitsu Museum of Arts, formerly in the Teigeki Building in Marunouchi, is closed.

Exhibitions, hours and admission at each museum (as of October 31)

The museums are listed in walking order from Nihonbashi to Kyobashi, Tokyo Station, Marunouchi and Takebashi.

Mitsui Memorial Museum: “100 Selected Tea Bowls” runs until November 23, followed by the National Treasure “Pine Trees in Snow” from December 12

The museum is on the 7th floor of the Mitsui Main Building in Nihonbashi Muromachi, with its entrance in the 1st-floor atrium of Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower. The Mitsui Main Building was completed in 1929 and designated a national Important Cultural Property in 1998. Opened in October 2005, the museum holds items collected by the Mitsui family since the Edo period, among others. Its art and craft holdings number about 4,000, including 6 National Treasures and 75 Important Cultural Properties.

Until Monday, November 23 (national holiday), the museum is showing “100 Selected Tea Bowls from the Collection: From National Treasures to Handmade Tea Bowls.” From its tea bowls, the museum has selected 100, including masterpieces designated National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties and bowls associated with the Mitsui family. According to the museum, this is its first tea bowl exhibition drawn from its own collection in about 30 years, since “Thirty Selected Famous Tea Bowls of the Mitsui Family” at the Mitsui Bunko Annex in 1995. It is organized in six chapters—Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Raku, Eiraku (Hozen and Wazen) and handmade—and includes the Momoyama-period National Treasure “Shino Tea Bowl, named Unohanagaki.” The audio guide costs ¥800 (Japanese only). For details, see our article on “100 Selected Tea Bowls.”

From Saturday, December 12 to Saturday, January 30, 2027, the museum presents “National Treasure ‘Pine Trees in Snow’ and the Four Seasons.” As is customary over the New Year period, it shows Maruyama Okyo’s National Treasure “Pine Trees in Snow” folding screens, and introduces how the four seasons and weather were expressed and evoked in East Asian art through calligraphy, paintings and crafts from its collection. It is the first time in about six years that the museum shows the “Three Shikishi”—the Tsugi Shikishi, Sunshoan Shikishi and Masu Shikishi—together, and four “Seashore in the Four Seasons” folding screens in the style of the Maruyama school are shown for the first time. Highlights are introduced in our article on “National Treasure ‘Pine Trees in Snow’ and the Four Seasons.”

Hours are 10:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30), and the museum is closed on Mondays. “100 Selected Tea Bowls” is open on its final day, Monday, November 23 (national holiday). “Pine Trees in Snow and the Four Seasons” is open on January 4 (Mon) and January 11 (Mon, national holiday), and the museum is closed for the year-end and New Year holidays from December 28 (Mon) to January 3 (Sun). Admission for both exhibitions is ¥1,200 for adults, ¥700 for university and high school students and ¥1,000 for those aged 70 and over (proof required). Junior high school students and younger, and holders of a disability certificate with one caregiver, are free. Show your ticket stub during the exhibition to enter at the group rate (¥1,000 for adults) on second and subsequent visits. No reservation is needed, though entry may be restricted when crowded. Advance tickets for “Pine Trees in Snow and the Four Seasons” (¥1,000 for adults, ¥600 for university and high school students) are sold at the reception desk on opening days through November 23 and are also available through ART PASS.

1-minute walk from Exit A7 of Mitsukoshimae Station on the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line; 4-minute walk from Exit B9 of Nihombashi Station on the Ginza and Tozai lines; 7-minute walk from the Nihonbashi Exit of JR Tokyo Station.

Artizon Museum: Hikaru Fujii’s “WHOSE LIGHT?” and “Étrangers” on one ticket

This museum of the Ishibashi Foundation is located in Museum Tower Kyobashi in Kyobashi 1-chome. Until Sunday, January 31, 2027, two exhibitions on the 6th floor and the 5th and 4th floors can be seen with the same ticket.

On the 6th floor is “Jam Session: Ishibashi Foundation Collection × Hikaru Fujii, WHOSE LIGHT?” It is the seventh installment of the series pairing the Ishibashi Foundation Collection with an artist, held every year since the museum opened in 2020. Hikaru Fujii is an artist who has explored the relationship between art, society and history through meticulous research and fieldwork. Taking as a clue the “light = truth” of the allegory of the cave in Plato’s Republic, he reverses the question from what the light illuminates to “who is shining that light.” Along a timeline from antiquity to the postwar era, 22 works from the collection by Dürer, Pollock, Giacometti and others are shown alongside a dozen or so works by Fujii, including new pieces. The museum cautions that some works feature flashing lights. For details, see our article on Hikaru Fujii’s “WHOSE LIGHT?”

On the 5th and 4th floors is “Étrangers: Western-Style Painters’ Experiences in Europe.” It presents more than 100 works from the Ishibashi Foundation Collection made in Europe by painters who traveled there after the Meiji Restoration and encountered classical painting and the latest art movements. Works by Seiki Kuroda, Takeji Fujishima, Sotaro Yasui, Tsuguharu Foujita and others are on view, including Takeji Fujishima’s “Black Fan” (Important Cultural Property). The exhibition content is summarized in our article on “Étrangers.”

Hours are 10:00–18:00 (until 20:00 on Fridays; last entry 30 minutes before closing). The museum is closed on Mondays (open November 23 and January 11), as well as November 24 (Tue), December 28 (Mon) – January 4 (Mon) and January 12 (Tue). Admission is by timed-entry reservation: for adults, web reservation tickets are ¥1,200 and counter tickets ¥1,500. Counter tickets are sold only when reservation slots are available. University, vocational school and high school students are free but must reserve online; junior high school students and younger, and holders of a disability certificate with one companion, are free without a reservation.

A 5-minute walk from the Yaesu Central Exit of JR Tokyo Station, Exits 6 and 7 of Kyobashi Station on the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line, or Exit B1 of Nihombashi Station. The next exhibition is “ARTIZON NOW: An Expanding, Connecting Collection,” from Tuesday, February 23 (national holiday) to Sunday, May 30, 2027.

Tokyo Station Gallery: “Water Margin” runs until November 8, followed by the Astrup exhibition from the 21st

This museum is inside the Marunouchi Building of Tokyo Station. It opened inside the station building in 1988 and reopened in autumn 2012 after the restoration of the building. The entrance is on the 1st floor and the galleries on the 2nd and 3rd floors, which are known for their brick walls that convey the history of the station building. The entrance is in front of the Marunouchi North Exit ticket gates, inside the Marunouchi North Exit dome.

Until Sunday, November 8, the museum is showing “Water Margin,” which traces the background to the birth of the “Water Margin” in China, its popularity in Japan and the multiplying layers of its imagery. All 74 known sheets of Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s series “One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Water Margin” are shown together. Also on display are Kazuo Shiraga’s “Tenkaisei Kohogi” (1964), original manga drawings by Takao Saito and costumes from the TV drama series “Kenzo Kitakata’s Water Margin.” Same-day admission is ¥1,600 for adults, ¥1,100 for high school and university students, and free for junior high school students and younger. The museum is closed on Mondays but open on November 2 (Mon). The exhibition content is introduced in our article on the “Water Margin” exhibition.

From Saturday, November 21, the museum presents “Nikolai Astrup: The Creative Garden” (until Sunday, January 31, 2027; organized by the Tokyo Station Gallery and The Sankei Shimbun). Astrup (1880–1928) is regarded as one of the most outstanding Norwegian painters of the early 20th century. He grew up in a lakeside village in western Norway, spent his whole life there and painted its nature, the lives of its people and the garden he created himself. The museum describes the exhibition as “the first retrospective in Japan,” and in addition to oil paintings it introduces prints combining woodcut and oil paint, woodblocks, and textile work made in collaboration with his mother. Major works include “Midsummer Eve Bonfire,” “Foxgloves” and “Rhubarb.” For details, see our article on the Astrup exhibition.

Same-day admission to the Astrup exhibition is ¥1,800 for adults, ¥1,300 for high school and university students, and free for junior high school students and younger. Advance tickets (¥200 off each) are sold online until Friday, November 20. The museum is closed on Mondays (open November 23, January 11 and January 25), November 24 (Tue), January 12 (Tue) and December 28 (Mon) – January 2 (Sat).

Both exhibitions are open 10:00–18:00 (until 20:00 on Fridays; last entry 30 minutes before closing). Tickets are sold online (e-tix) and at the 1st-floor entrance, and the museum advises that buying online in advance makes entry smoother. About 3 minutes from Tokyo Station on the Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line and about 5 minutes from Otemachi Station on the Tozai Line.

Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum: Fontanesi’s “first major retrospective in Japan”

The red-brick building in Marunouchi 2-chome is a reconstruction of “Mitsubishi Ichigokan,” designed by Josiah Conder and built by Mitsubishi in 1894. The exhibition begins with an elevator ride up to the 3rd floor.

Until Sunday, January 24, 2027, the museum is showing “Fontanesi: Italian Light, Landscapes of the Heart.” The 19th-century Italian painter Antonio Fontanesi (1818–1882) was invited to Japan in 1876, at the age of 58, to teach painting at the Technical Fine Arts School, where his students included early Western-style painters such as Chu Asai and Shotaro Koyama. With the cooperation of GAM – Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Turin and the Fondazione Torino Musei, the exhibition surveys his career from his early years to his last with about 200 works, also looking at his influence on his Japanese students and on Italian painters of his own and the following generation. The museum calls it “the first major retrospective in Japan.” Works are changed during the exhibition.

The small gallery on the 1st floor is also hosting a special chapter, “Fontanesi’s ‘April’ and ‘Clouds,’ and Modern Japanese Western-Style Painting.” “Clouds” (1880) is a large work measuring 200.0 cm high and 301.0 cm wide. For details, see our article on the Fontanesi exhibition.

Hours are 10:00–18:00, and until 20:00 on Fridays (except national holidays), the second Wednesday of the month (November 11, December 9 and January 13) and weekdays in the final week of the exhibition (last entry 30 minutes before closing). The museum is closed on Mondays but open on national holidays and substitute holidays, and on November 30, December 28 and January 18, which are “Talk Free Days” when visitors can view the works while sharing their impressions. Closed December 31 (Thu) and January 1 (Fri). Admission is ¥2,300 for adults, ¥1,300 for university students and ¥1,000 for high school students. Junior high school students and younger are free (free tickets issued at the counter), holders of a disability certificate pay half price, and one companion is free. From 17:00 on the second Wednesday of the month, a counter-only “Magic Hour Ticket” (¥1,600) is also available. Tickets can be bought online through e-tix or at the counter on the day without a reservation.

5-minute walk from the Marunouchi South Exit of JR Tokyo Station (about 350 m; an underground route also keeps you out of the rain); 3-minute walk from Exit 1 of Nijubashimae (Marunouchi) Station on the Chiyoda Line or Exit B7 of Hibiya Station on the Toei Mita Line. Next, from Friday, February 19 to Sunday, May 23, 2027, the museum will hold “Montmartre: Lautrec, Suzanne Valadon and the Unknown Painters of Paris (provisional title).”

Seikado@Marunouchi: The Kanjiro Kawai exhibition runs until November 8, followed by “THE MASKS” from the 21st

The Seikado Bunko Art Museum (Seikado@Marunouchi) is on the 1st floor of the Meiji Seimei Kan. Completed in 1934 (Showa 9) to a design by Shin’ichiro Okada, the Meiji Seimei Kan became in 1997 the first Showa-era building to be designated a national Important Cultural Property. In October 2022, Seikado moved its exhibition venue from Setagaya to this building. On the 1st and 2nd floors of the building, Meiji Yasuda offers free historical displays and architectural models (9:30–19:00, last entry 18:30, closed Mondays).

Until Sunday, November 8, the museum is showing “Mingei SHOCK!!: Kanjiro Kawai at Seikado, 60 Years After His Death.” Kanjiro Kawai (1890–1966), a leading potter of the Taisho and Showa eras, encountered “mingei” (folk crafts) in the latter half of the Taisho era and created ceramics conscious of the “beauty of use.” The exhibition presents 51 works by Kanjiro from the museum’s collection and explores the sources of his creativity. The National Treasure “Yohen Tenmoku Tea Bowl (Inaba Tenmoku)” is also on display. Admission is ¥1,500 for adults, ¥1,000 for university and high school students, free for junior high school students and younger, and ¥700 for holders of a disability certificate (one companion free). The museum is closed on Mondays and open until 19:00 on November 6 (Fri) and 7 (Sat).

From Saturday, November 21, the museum presents “THE MASKS: People Captivated by Masks” (until Sunday, January 17, 2027), with the first period until Sunday, December 20 and the second from Tuesday, December 22. The museum explains that through Tessai Kano’s replicas of gigaku masks, a wooden demon mask formerly owned by Takeshiro Matsuura and a group of Noh masks formerly owned by the Mizoguchi family, lords of the Shibata domain, it traces the gaze of people from the early modern to the modern era who were drawn to old masks, collected them and copied them. Admission is the same as for “Mingei SHOCK!!”: ¥1,500 for adults, ¥1,000 for university and high school students, and free for junior high school students and younger. The museum is closed on Mondays (open November 23 and January 11), November 24 (Tue), December 28 (Mon) – January 1, 2027 (Fri) and January 12 (Tue), and is open until 20:00 on the fourth Wednesdays, November 25 and December 23, and until 19:00 on January 15 (Fri) and 16 (Sat). For details, see our article on the “THE MASKS” exhibition.

Hours are 10:00–17:00 (last entry 30 minutes before closing). Timed-entry reservations take priority, and same-day tickets are also sold. Every Thursday is a “Talk Free Day,” when visitors can talk while viewing. There is also a repeater discount: show your previous ticket at reception for ¥200 off adult admission.

Directly connected to Exit 3 of Nijubashimae (Marunouchi) Station on the Chiyoda Line; 5-minute walk from the Marunouchi South Exit of JR Tokyo Station and the Kokusai Forum Exit of JR Yurakucho Station.

The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo: The Takehisa Yumeji exhibition and the “MOMAT Collection”

This national museum in Kitanomaru Park has collected more than 14,000 works since it opened in 1952. The nearest station is Takebashi Station on the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line, a 3-minute walk from Exit 1b. Because Exit 1b has no elevator, the museum directs wheelchair and stroller users to a route from Exit 2 (about 500 m).

Until Monday, January 11, 2027 (national holiday), the special exhibition gallery on the 1st floor is hosting “Takehisa Yumeji—An Artist Who Defined His Era” (organized by The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo and The Mainichi Newspapers). It gathers about 500 works and materials from Yumeji collections across Japan, organized in five chapters: “The Beginnings of the Yumeji Style,” “Yumeji-Style Design,” “Creating Retro-Modern,” “In Search of a Utopia of Beauty in Daily Life” and “Modern Girls in Kimono and Western Dress.” His masterpiece “Kurofuneya” (1919) will be shown in Tokyo for the first time in about 40 years, thanks to the cooperation of its owner, the Takehisa Yumeji Ikaho Memorial Museum. The first period runs until Monday, November 23 (national holiday), and the second from Wednesday, November 25, with some works changed. For details, see our article on the Takehisa Yumeji exhibition.

Same-day admission to the Yumeji exhibition is ¥2,100 for adults, ¥1,200 for university students and ¥700 for high school students. Junior high school students and younger, and holders of a disability certificate with one companion, are free. The museum’s counter sells same-day tickets only. A Yumeji exhibition ticket also gives same-day access to the collection exhibition “MOMAT Collection” on the 4th to 2nd floors and the small exhibition “Amis de Paris: Japanese Artists in Paris” in Gallery 4 on the 2nd floor.

The MOMAT Collection runs until January 11. Across 12 rooms, it traces the course of modern and contemporary Japanese art from the late 19th century to the present, with about 200 works in each rotation. Among Important Cultural Properties, Kaburaki Kiyokata’s “Tsukiji Akashi-cho,” “Shintomi-cho” and “Hamacho-gashi” are on view until Sunday, November 15, and Yukihiko Yasuda’s “Camp at Kisegawa” from Tuesday, November 17. Rooms 3 and 4 introduce the art and culture of the Taisho era in connection with the Yumeji exhibition. “Amis de Paris” introduces Japanese artists who went to Paris before and after World War II and exhibited at the Salons, with works by Tsuguharu Foujita, Yuzo Saeki, Kanae Itakura, Taro Okamoto and others. Admission to the MOMAT Collection and “Amis de Paris” is ¥500 for adults and ¥250 for university students (¥300 and ¥150 after 17:00 on Fridays and Saturdays), and free for high school students and younger, those under 18 and those aged 65 and over.

Hours are 10:00–17:00 (until 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays; last entry 30 minutes before closing). The museum is closed on Mondays (open November 23 and January 11), as well as November 24 (Tue) and December 28 (Mon) – January 1 (Fri).

Idemitsu Museum of Arts: Closed for the reconstruction of the Teigeki Building, with no reopening date set

The Idemitsu Museum of Arts, which opened in Marunouchi in 1966 and was housed in the Teigeki Building, has been closed long-term since December 25, 2024, due to the building’s reconstruction. The museum says it plans to reopen on the same site after the reconstruction, but it will announce the reopening date on its official website; as of October 31, no date had been announced.

During the closure, ceramics from the collection are shown at the “Idemitsu Museum of Arts Gallery,” located in the same building as The Middle Eastern Culture Center in Japan Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo. “Sake Vessels and Banquet Scenes” runs until Friday, December 18, followed by “The Ceramics of Hazan Itaya” from Tuesday, January 12, 2027. The gallery is generally open on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays (closed on national holidays) from 10:00 to 16:00 (last entry 15:00), and an admission ticket to The Middle Eastern Culture Center in Japan Museum (¥1,000 for adults) is required.

An exhibition marking the museum’s 60th anniversary will be held at The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts, from Saturday, March 27 to Sunday, May 23, 2027. Titled “Idemitsu Museum of Arts 60th Anniversary: Treasures of the Idemitsu Collection at Geidai,” it will show all the scrolls of the National Treasure “Ban Dainagon Emaki” (Illustrated Scroll of Courtier Ban Dainagon) for the first time in ten years.

Getting around and access: Station exits and walking order

West and east of Tokyo Station, plus Takebashi

The six museums fall into three groups: the Marunouchi side (west) of Tokyo Station, the Yaesu, Kyobashi and Nihonbashi side (east), and Takebashi.

On the Marunouchi side, the Tokyo Station Gallery is right in front of the Marunouchi North Exit ticket gates. The Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum (2-6-2 Marunouchi) and Seikado@Marunouchi (2-1-1 Marunouchi) are both in Marunouchi 2-chome, each a 5-minute walk from the Marunouchi South Exit. From Nijubashimae (Marunouchi) Station on the Chiyoda Line, the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum is a 3-minute walk from Exit 1, and Seikado@Marunouchi is directly connected to Exit 3.

On the east side, the Artizon Museum is a 5-minute walk from the Yaesu Central Exit and the Mitsui Memorial Museum a 7-minute walk from the Nihonbashi Exit. Starting from Nihombashi subway station, the Artizon Museum is a 5-minute walk from Exit B1 and the Mitsui Memorial Museum a 4-minute walk from Exit B9, making it easy to visit the two in succession.

The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo is a 3-minute walk from Exit 1b of Takebashi Station. You can also walk from Tokyo Station, and the museum publishes a “MAP & GUIDE” with walking routes from Tokyo Station on its official website. The Tokyo Metro Tozai Line connects Takebashi Station (The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo), Otemachi Station (about 5 minutes to the Tokyo Station Gallery) and Nihombashi Station (Artizon Museum and Mitsui Memorial Museum) on a single line.

Around Nihonbashi, the free “Metrolink Nihonbashi” shuttle bus runs, and the Mitsui Memorial Museum is a 1-minute walk from the “Mitsui Memorial Museum” stop. The nearest stop to the Meiji Seimei Kan is “Meiji Yasuda Village / Seikado” on the Marunouchi Shuttle.

Plan your order around closing times

The Mitsui Memorial Museum and Seikado@Marunouchi (17:00) and The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (17:00 except Fridays and Saturdays) close earliest. The Artizon Museum, the Tokyo Station Gallery and the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum are open until 18:00. It is easiest to visit the museums that close at 17:00 first during the day and those open until 18:00 later.

If you walk from the east, one route is to start at the Mitsui Memorial Museum, which opens at 10:00, continue past Nihombashi Station to the Artizon Museum, pass through Tokyo Station and finish at the Tokyo Station Gallery by the Marunouchi North Exit. If you stick to the Marunouchi side, it is easy to go from Seikado@Marunouchi to the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum and then on to the Tokyo Station Gallery.

On Friday evenings, the Artizon Museum, the Tokyo Station Gallery, the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum (except national holidays) and The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo are open until 20:00. On Saturday evenings, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo is open (until 20:00).

Watch out for closing days and exhibition changeovers

All museums are generally closed on Mondays. On Monday, November 23 (national holiday), the Artizon Museum, the Tokyo Station Gallery, the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Seikado@Marunouchi, the Mitsui Memorial Museum and The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo are open, and the following day, Tuesday the 24th, the Artizon Museum, the Tokyo Station Gallery, Seikado@Marunouchi and The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo are closed. The Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum is also open on the Monday Talk Free Days (November 30 and December 28).

Between exhibitions, the Tokyo Station Gallery and Seikado@Marunouchi have no exhibition on view from November 9 (Mon) to 20 (Fri), and the Mitsui Memorial Museum from November 24 (Tue) to December 11 (Fri).

Year-end and New Year closures differ by museum: the Artizon Museum is closed December 28 – January 4, the Tokyo Station Gallery December 28 – January 2, the Mitsui Memorial Museum December 28 – January 3, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo December 28 – January 1, the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum December 31 and January 1, and Seikado@Marunouchi December 28 – January 1.

Winter light events on the way home

In winter, there are also light events you can drop by after a day of museum-hopping. The Marunouchi event is introduced in our article on Marunouchi Illumination 2026, Tokyo Midtown Yaesu on the Yaesu side of Tokyo Station in our article on its Christmas events, and Tokyo Square Garden in Kyobashi in our article on its winter illumination.

Editor’s perspective

Many of the museums in this area show the collections of foundations and companies in buildings that convey the history of the city: the Taisho-era Marunouchi Building of Tokyo Station, the reconstruction of Mitsubishi Ichigokan built by Mitsubishi in 1894, and the Mitsui Main Building and the Meiji Seimei Kan, both Important Cultural Properties completed in the early Showa era. Many museums also have galleries that are attractions in their own right, such as the brick-walled galleries of the Tokyo Station Gallery and the display case in Gallery 3 of the Mitsui Memorial Museum that recreates the interior of the tea room “Joan.”

This season, three museums allow visitors to compare the relationship between Japanese Western-style painting and Europe: Fontanesi, who came to Japan in the early Meiji era and taught Chu Asai and others (Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum); works made in Europe by Western-style painters who traveled there after the Meiji era (“Étrangers” at the Artizon Museum); and Japanese artists active in Paris before and after the war (“Amis de Paris” at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo). Within walking distance, you can trace both painters who came to teach and painters who went abroad to learn.

As for the treatment of light, the Hikaru Fujii exhibition at the Artizon Museum takes Plato’s allegory of the cave as a clue to ask “who shines the light.” Works by an artist who has reexamined history through diagrams and video installations are arranged along a timeline with the collection from antiquity to the postwar era, including works with flashing lights. A structure that considers light not from the side of “what is illuminated” but from “the one who illuminates” also prompts visitors to pay attention to the lighting of the exhibition space itself. We also introduce choosing museums by their buildings in our article on Tokyo museums chosen for their architecture, nearby galleries in Ginza in our Ginza art gallery guide, and Ryogoku and Kiyosumi-Shirakawa to the east in our Ryogoku and Kiyosumi-Shirakawa art guide.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a reservation?

The Artizon Museum requires timed-entry reservations and asks visitors to buy web reservation tickets before their visit (counter tickets are available if reservation slots remain). University, vocational school and high school students are free but must reserve online. The Mitsui Memorial Museum requires no reservation. The Tokyo Station Gallery and the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum sell tickets online and at the counter on the day, and the Tokyo Station Gallery advises that buying online in advance makes entry smoother. For the Takehisa Yumeji exhibition at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, same-day tickets are sold at the museum’s counter. At Seikado@Marunouchi, timed-entry reservations take priority, and same-day tickets are also sold.

What are the prices for students and children?

All the exhibitions featured here are free for junior high school students and younger. At the Artizon Museum, university, vocational school and high school students are also free (web reservation required). The MOMAT Collection at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo is free for high school students and younger, those under 18 and those aged 65 and over. The Mitsui Memorial Museum has a rate for those aged 70 and over (¥1,000, proof required).

Which museums are open in the evening?

On Fridays, the Artizon Museum, the Tokyo Station Gallery, the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum (except national holidays) and The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo are open until 20:00. The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo is also open until 20:00 on Saturdays. The Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum is also open until 20:00 on the second Wednesday of the month and on weekdays in the final week of the exhibition. Seikado@Marunouchi is open until 19:00 on November 6 (Fri) and 7 (Sat), and until 20:00 on November 25 (Wed) and December 23 (Wed). Last entry is 30 minutes before closing at all of them.

When will the Idemitsu Museum of Arts reopen?

The museum has been closed long-term since December 25, 2024, due to the reconstruction of the Teigeki Building. It says it plans to reopen on the same site after the reconstruction, but as of October 31 no reopening date had been announced. During the closure, ceramics from the collection are shown at the “Idemitsu Museum of Arts Gallery” in Mitaka.

*Information as of October 31, 2026. Opening days, hours and exhibition content may change, so please check each museum’s official website for the latest information.

*Top image: The Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum and the Marunouchi skyline, 2023 (Photo: Brian Yang, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on information from the official websites of the Artizon Museum, the Tokyo Station Gallery, the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, the Seikado Bunko Art Museum, the Mitsui Memorial Museum, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo and the Idemitsu Museum of Arts (accessed October 31, 2026), announcements by the Idemitsu Museum of Arts (March 25, 2024, December 26, 2024 and September 11, 2026) and Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance’s information on the Meiji Seimei Kan.

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team