[Autumn/Winter 2026] Shinjuku, Hatsudai and Waseda Art Guide: Tokyo Opera City, ICC, SOMPO Museum of Art, Yayoi Kusama Museum and More

Tokyo Opera City Tower in Hatsudai (Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku City) houses two art venues: the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, devoted to contemporary art, on the 3rd floor, and the NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC], which presents media art, on the 4th floor. Near the west exit of Shinjuku Station is the SOMPO Museum of Art, which owns Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers,” while Waseda and Bentencho are home to university museums, the Yayoi Kusama Museum and the Natsume Soseki Memorial Museum. This guide summarizes exhibitions on view as of Saturday, October 31, 2026, the schedule through December, opening hours, closing days and admission, and how to get around from the stations. Admission to Waseda University’s three museums is free.

What are the art venues in Shinjuku, Hatsudai and Waseda like?

The area divides broadly into two parts. The first is around Hatsudai Station on the Keio New Line and the west exit of Shinjuku Station. Hatsudai Station connects directly to the Tokyo Opera City Building and is one stop, about two minutes, from Shinjuku Station. The SOMPO Museum of Art is within walking distance of the west exit of JR Shinjuku Station, and from early evening, video is projected onto the facade of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building No. 1. The second is around Waseda Station on the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line, where Waseda Campus is home to the Aizu Museum, the Theatre Museum and the Waseda International House of Literature (The Haruki Murakami Library). Also within walking distance of Waseda Station are the Yayoi Kusama Museum (Bentencho) and the Natsume Soseki Memorial Museum (Waseda Minamicho).

Key closing and opening dates as of October 31 are as follows.

• Tuesday, November 3 (national holiday): The first half of “Hakuin World” at the Aizu Museum ends (the second half began November 7)

• Sunday, November 8: “ICC Annual 2026” at ICC and “The World Seen Through Miss Saigon” at the International House of Literature end

• Thursday, November 19: A display of special editions of a Haruki Murakami book opens at the International House of Literature

• Saturday, December 5: The exhibition “Who Does My Body Belong To?” opens at ICC

• Sunday, December 6: The special exhibition “Botchan Goes to Matsuyama!” at the Natsume Soseki Memorial Museum ends

• Tuesday, December 8: “Hakuin World” at the Aizu Museum ends

• Sunday, December 13: “Albert Marquet” at the SOMPO Museum of Art ends

• Sunday, December 20: “Seeds and Roots” at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery ends

• Sunday, January 31, 2027: The exhibition at the Yayoi Kusama Museum and “Crossroads of Color and Form” at the Aizu Museum end

What’s on at each venue? Hours and admission (as of October 31)

Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery: “Seeds and Roots” runs until December 20

Opened on September 9, 1999, on the 3rd floor of Tokyo Opera City Tower, the gallery houses a collection of postwar art donated by Kotaro Terada (1927–2018) and continues “project N,” a series introducing young artists, in the 4th-floor corridor. The current exhibition, “Seeds and Roots: Cultivating the City,” turns to the new ecosystems that emerge in the city’s gaps, such as roadsides and vacant lots, with works by ten artists who seek to renew our relationship with a changing nature. Participants include Yuriko Asano, who explores regional food cultures and the uses of plants; architect Rui Itasaka; Yoko Utenahara, who creates two-dimensional works by tufting wool; and fashion designer Yoshikazu Yamagata. A performance by Akane Saijo at 16:00 on Saturday, November 7 requires no reservation and can be viewed with a same-day admission ticket. The concurrent “Collection Exhibition 088: Autumn Landscapes from the Terada Collection” and “project N 104: Ai Tanaka” are included in the same ticket. For details, see our article on “Seeds and Roots.”

Dates: Saturday, October 17 – Sunday, December 20, 2026
Hours: 11:00–19:00 (last entry 18:30)
Closed: Mondays (open November 23) and Tuesday, November 24
Admission: Adults ¥1,800; university and high school students ¥1,100 (¥1,600 and ¥900 with various discounts); free for junior high school students and younger
Next exhibition: “Kaj Franck: Finnish Design Beyond Time,” Saturday, January 16 – Monday, March 22, 2027 (substitute holiday)
Address: Tokyo Opera City Tower 3F, 3-20-2 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Access: Within a 5-minute walk from the east exit of Hatsudai Station (Keio New Line)
Official website: https://www.operacity.jp/ag/

[Ended] NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC]: “ICC Annual 2026” runs until November 8, followed by “Who Does My Body Belong To?” from December 5

Opened in Tokyo Opera City Tower on April 19, 1997, as a project commemorating the centennial of telephone service in Japan (1990), ICC is a cultural facility operated by NTT East. It aims to foster dialogue between science and technology and the arts, with “communication” as its central theme. ICC Annual is a long-term exhibition held since fiscal 2022 that carries on the concept of the “Open Space” exhibitions held from fiscal 2006 to 2021; this year’s edition is titled “Leave / Remain / Receive.” According to an NTT East press release, it focuses on the relationships among history, technology and media, considering how they have been involved in shaping history and memory, and what the act of “leaving behind” means. The eight participants are Wu Chi-Yu, Young Eun Kim, Ryo Kobayashi, SUGAI KEN, suzueri + Satoru Higa, Rei Hayama, Rosa Menkman and Yasuhiro Morinaga. The free area features Toshio Iwai’s “Marshmallow Monitor” and the video archive “HIVE.” For the history of media art and ICC’s place in it, see our explainer on media art.

From Saturday, December 5, Gallery A will host the exhibition “Who Does My Body Belong To?” (until March 7, 2027). According to an ICC press release (October 28), it looks at situations in which the standards that define one’s own body are left to others and to social systems through medicine, law and social norms. Five artists—Shun Ikezoe, Lisamarina Komiya, Shin Hanagata, Hiwa K and Shiho Fukuhara—reexamine the boundaries and values surrounding the body from perspectives such as cell culture and reproduction, mental fluctuations and their care, the relationship between the body and technology, and modern medicine and indigenous knowledge. Admission is ¥800 for adults and ¥600 for university students, with priority entry for those who book in advance. Check the official website for opening status between the end of the Annual and December 4.

Dates: Saturday, June 20 – Sunday, November 8, 2026 (Gallery B)
Hours: 11:00–18:00 (last entry 17:30)
Closed: Mondays (or the following day if a national holiday or substitute holiday)
Admission: Adults ¥800; university students ¥600 (an additional ¥200 to experience the anechoic room work). Free for those aged 65 and over, high school students and younger, holders of a disability certificate and one caregiver, and Grutto Pass users
Next exhibition: “Who Does My Body Belong To?,” Saturday, December 5, 2026 – Sunday, March 7, 2027 (Gallery A)
Address: Tokyo Opera City Tower 4F, 3-20-2 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Access: 2-minute walk from the east exit of Hatsudai Station (Keio New Line)
Official website: https://www.ntticc.or.jp/

SOMPO Museum of Art: “Albert Marquet” runs until December 13, with drawings rotated from November 3

The museum opened in July 1976 as the Seiji Togo Museum on the 42nd floor of the headquarters building of Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance (now Sompo Japan), with the cooperation of the Western-style painter Seiji Togo. It began exhibiting Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers,” which the company purchased in 1987, and in July 2020 moved to a new museum building on the headquarters grounds. The “Albert Marquet” exhibition, commemorating the museum’s 50th anniversary, traces the career of Marquet (1875–1947), who developed a Fauvist style alongside his peers and loved to paint the Seine and waterside scenes from his travels. According to the museum, it is the first major solo exhibition of his work in Japan in 35 years, with about 90 works on display. About 25 drawings and similar works are rotated: the first period runs until Sunday, November 1, and the second began Tuesday, November 3 (national holiday). Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” and Cézanne’s “Apples and Napkin” from the collection are also on view, and some works may be photographed. For the works on display, see our article on the Albert Marquet exhibition; the next exhibition, “Seiji Togo: 130th Anniversary of His Birth,” is covered in our article on the Seiji Togo exhibition.

Dates: Tuesday, September 22 – Sunday, December 13, 2026
Hours: 10:00–18:00 (until 20:00 on Fridays; last entry 30 minutes before closing)
Closed: Mondays (open November 23) and Tuesday, November 24
Admission: Adults (26 and over) ¥2,000; 25 and under ¥1,200 (advance tickets ¥1,800 and ¥1,100). Free for elementary, junior high and high school students and holders of a disability certificate. Same-day tickets are sold at the ticket counter
Next exhibition: “Seiji Togo: 130th Anniversary of His Birth,” Saturday, January 9 – Sunday, February 21, 2027
Address: 1-26-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Access: 5-minute walk from the west exit of JR Shinjuku Station; 6-minute walk from Exit C13 of Nishi-Shinjuku Station (Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line); 7-minute walk from Exit A1 of Tochomae Station (Toei Oedo Line)
Official website: https://www.sompo-museum.org/

Yayoi Kusama Museum: An exhibition tracing Kusama’s art through “light” runs until January 31, 2027; advance reservations required

Founded by avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama, the museum opened in October 2017 and is operated by the Yayoi Kusama Foundation. On its official website, the foundation has posted a message from its representative director announcing that its founder, Kusama, died on August 14, 2026, at the age of 97. The current exhibition, “Light Bursts Forth, and All Kinds of Things Sparkle into View,” interprets Kusama’s art through the lens of “light.” It traces her work from drawings of the 1950s and collages made after her return to Japan, through the “Infinity Nets” series she established during her years in the United States, to the metallic sheen of her recent large-scale painting series “My Eternal Soul,” and also features a mirror room made with mirrors and lights, prints and sculptures using glitter, and a large sculpture decorated with metal-leaf mosaic tiles. There is also an outdoor sculpture of a ladder made with mirrors, shown for the first time in Japan.

Dates: Thursday, October 8, 2026 – Sunday, January 31, 2027
Open: Thursdays to Sundays and national holidays, 11:00–17:30
Closed: Mondays to Wednesdays (open on national holidays), during exhibition changeovers and at other times; year-end and New Year closure from December 28, 2026 to January 6, 2027
Admission: Adults ¥1,100; elementary, junior high and high school students ¥600 (tax included); free for preschool children
Reservations: Admission is by date-and-time reservation only, with limited capacity (90 minutes per session; entry slots on the hour from 11:00 to 16:00). Tickets are sold only on the museum’s website
Address: 107 Bentencho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Access: About a 7-minute walk from Exit 1 of Waseda Station (Tokyo Metro Tozai Line); about a 6-minute walk from the east exit of Ushigome-yanagicho Station (Toei Oedo Line); 9-minute walk from Exit 2 of Kagurazaka Station (Tozai Line). A short walk from the “Ushigome Hoken Center-mae” and “Ushigome Bentencho” stops on Toei Bus route Shira 61
Official website: https://yayoikusamamuseum.jp/

Waseda University Aizu Museum: “Hakuin World” runs until December 8, free admission

Named after Yaichi Aizu, a scholar of East Asian art history, poet and calligrapher, this university museum opened on May 15, 1998. It occupies Building 2, completed in 1925 as the university library, which the university describes as the debut work of architect Kenji Imai; the building is also a Tokyo Metropolitan Selected Historic Building. The museum holds more than 20,000 works and materials, centered on East Asian art, modern art and archaeology. “Hakuin World: The Encounter of the Shigenori Tomioka and Moritatsu Hosokawa Collections,” the museum’s first joint project with the Eisei Bunko Museum, introduces the links between the Zen painting and calligraphy collections of Moritatsu Hosokawa and the businessman Shigenori Tomioka (about 900 works from Tomioka’s former collection are held by the museum). About two years of research revealed that Tomioka’s collection included works formerly owned by Moritatsu. On display are works including Hakuin’s “Self-Portrait” owned by Shoin-ji Temple (shown throughout the exhibition); the first period runs until Tuesday, November 3 (national holiday), and the second began Saturday, November 7. We cover the exhibition, including the venue at the Eisei Bunko Museum (Bunkyo City), in our article on “Hakuin World”. The modern art gallery on the 1st floor is also showing “Crossroads of Color and Form: Artists Who Went to New York,” which presents works by Shusaku Arakawa, Risaburo Kimura, Masaaki Sato, Ay-O and others who moved from postwar Japan to New York, alongside the Pop Art and Op Art movements widely embraced there in the 1960s and ’70s.

Dates: “Hakuin World,” Friday, October 9 – Tuesday, December 8, 2026; “Crossroads of Color and Form,” Friday, October 9, 2026 – Sunday, January 31, 2027
Hours: 10:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30)
Closed: Generally Wednesdays, as well as days the university is temporarily closed, the year-end and New Year holidays, and other times
Admission: Free
Address: Waseda Campus Building 2, 1-6-1 Nishi-Waseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Access: 5-minute walk from Exit 3a or 3b of Waseda Station (Tokyo Metro Tozai Line)
Official website: https://www.waseda.jp/culture/aizu-museum/

Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum, Waseda University: No special exhibition; permanent exhibition open, free admission

The museum was founded in October 1928 to commemorate Shoyo Tsubouchi’s 70th birthday and the completion of his translation of the complete works of Shakespeare in 40 volumes. At Tsubouchi’s suggestion, the building was designed after the Fortune Theatre, a 16th-century English playhouse. Its holdings exceed one million items. As of October 31, no special exhibition is being held, and the next one is listed as “in preparation.” The permanent exhibition consists of the Machiko Kyo Memorial Special Exhibition Room (Japanese film and television) on the 1st floor, the Tsubouchi Shoyo Memorial Room on the 2nd floor, and galleries on the history of Japanese and Western theater on the 3rd floor. The Shoyo Memorial Room, formerly a reception room for distinguished guests, incorporates Elizabethan design, and its ceiling features sheep ornaments in reference to Shoyo’s Chinese zodiac sign.

Hours: 10:00–17:00 (until 19:00 on Tuesdays and Fridays)
Closed: Days the university is temporarily closed and other times (check the calendar on the official website for opening days)
Admission: Free
Address: 1-6-1 Nishi-Waseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Access: 7-minute walk from Exit 3a or 3b of Waseda Station (Tokyo Metro Tozai Line)
Official website: https://enpaku.w.waseda.jp/

Waseda International House of Literature (The Haruki Murakami Library): Special editions on display from November 19

The library opened on October 1, 2021, after Building 4 on Waseda Campus was renovated to a design by Kengo Kuma. The current exhibition, “The World Seen Through Miss Saigon: War, Refugees and Literature” (until November 8), takes the musical “Miss Saigon” as its starting point to explore the Vietnam War and the culture and literature of refugees (held at two venues together with the Waseda University History Museum). From Thursday, November 19, the 2nd-floor gallery will host “Craftsmanship Breathes Life into a Story: The World of the Special Edition of Haruki Murakami’s ‘What I Talk About When I Talk About Running’” (until May 23, 2027). Through 12 special-edition books created by Denmark-based copperplate engraver Martin Mörck, letterpress printer Erling Jørgensen and bookbinder Klara Kölqvist, together with the copper plates, preparatory drawings, type, bookbinding tools and photographs documenting production, the exhibition traces how the books were made. According to the library, printing every page of the text took seven years. Running shoes actually used by Murakami will also be on special display.

Hours: 10:00–17:00
Closed: Wednesdays and other days (winter closure from December 21 to January 13, 2027)
Admission: Free (no reservation required; advance reservations required for groups of 21 or more)
Address: Waseda Campus Building 4, 1-6-1 Nishi-Waseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Access: 7-minute walk from Exit 3a or 3b of Waseda Station (Tokyo Metro Tozai Line)
Official website: https://www.waseda.jp/culture/wihl/

Shinjuku City Natsume Soseki Memorial Museum: The special exhibition “Botchan Goes to Matsuyama!” runs until December 6

The museum opened on September 24, 2017, the 150th anniversary of Natsume Soseki’s birth, on the site of “Soseki Sanbo,” the home where he spent about nine years until his death in 1916. Soseki Sanbo was destroyed in an air raid in 1945; the museum recreates part of it—the study, the drawing room and part of the veranda-style corridor—on its 1st floor. The current special exhibition, “Botchan Goes to Matsuyama!,” commemorates the 120th anniversary of the publication of “Botchan.” The introductory exhibition on the 1st floor, which covers Soseki’s life and his connections to Shinjuku, is free.

Dates: Saturday, October 10 – Sunday, December 6, 2026
Hours: 10:00–18:00 (last entry 17:30)
Closed: Mondays (or the next non-holiday if a Monday is a holiday) and the year-end and New Year holidays (December 29 – January 3)
Admission: During the special exhibition, adults ¥500 and elementary and junior high school students ¥100 (free for elementary and junior high school students on Saturdays, Sundays, national holidays and certain other days). The introductory exhibition on the 1st floor is free
Address: 7 Waseda Minamicho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Access: 10-minute walk from Waseda Station (Tokyo Metro Tozai Line); 15-minute walk from Ushigome-yanagicho Station (Toei Oedo Line); 2-minute walk from the “Ushigome Hoken Center-mae” stop on Toei Bus route Shira 61
Official website: https://soseki-museum.jp/

Getting to and around Hatsudai/Nishi-Shinjuku and Waseda/Bentencho

Hatsudai and Nishi-Shinjuku: From Opera City to evening projections at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

Hatsudai Station on the Keio New Line is the first stop toward Sasazuka from the Keio New Line’s Platform 4 at Shinjuku Station, and it connects directly to the Tokyo Opera City Building. The Art Gallery is within a 5-minute walk from the east exit of Hatsudai Station, and ICC is a 2-minute walk. The Art Gallery offers a reciprocal discount: show a ticket for a concurrent ICC exhibition and you can enter at the group rate (check eligibility with each venue). The SOMPO Museum of Art is a 10-minute walk from Shinjuku Station on the Keio New Line (according to the museum’s FAQ). All three are closed on Mondays, so from Tuesday to Sunday you can visit them in the following order.

1. 10:00: SOMPO Museum of Art (open until 20:00 on Fridays).

2. From midday: Take the Keio New Line to Hatsudai for ICC (11:00–18:00; the Annual runs until November 8) and the Art Gallery (11:00–19:00).

3. From 17:30: Watch “TOKYO Night & Light” at Tomin Plaza at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.

TOKYO Night & Light is a projection mapping show on the east facade of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building No. 1, screened daily except in bad weather and on certain other occasions. According to the annual schedule on its official website, from November to January shows start every 30 minutes from 17:30 to 20:30, plus 21:30. Tomin Plaza connects directly to Tochomae Station on the Toei Oedo Line and is about a 10-minute walk from the west exit of JR Shinjuku Station. The works being screened are introduced in our article on the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building projection mapping.

Waseda and Bentencho: Three university museums, the Yayoi Kusama Museum and the Natsume Soseki Memorial Museum

The starting point is Waseda Station on the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line. The three museums on Waseda Campus are a 5- to 7-minute walk from Exit 3a or 3b, the Yayoi Kusama Museum is about a 7-minute walk from Exit 1, and the Natsume Soseki Memorial Museum is listed as a 10-minute walk. Both the Yayoi Kusama Museum and the Natsume Soseki Memorial Museum give the “Ushigome Hoken Center-mae” stop on Toei Bus route Shira 61 as their nearest bus stop.

The Yayoi Kusama Museum is open only Thursdays to Sundays and on national holidays, and the Aizu Museum and the International House of Literature are generally closed on Wednesdays, so Thursday to Sunday works best if you want to visit them all. Reserve an entry slot at the Yayoi Kusama Museum first, then fit in the three university museums (open from 10:00) and the Natsume Soseki Memorial Museum (last entry 17:30) before or after. The Yayoi Kusama Museum has no waiting area and asks visitors not to arrive before their entry time.

Editor’s perspective

In this area, venues for light and digital expression stand in the same buildings as, or within walking distance of, exhibitions that engage with nature and the body. This year’s Annual at ICC, which has championed dialogue between science, technology and art since 1997, considers the formation of history and memory and the act of “leaving behind” at a time when information is generated at unprecedented speed and scale through generative AI and other tools, and selected by algorithms. One floor below in the same tower, “Seeds and Roots” explores our relationship with nature through the ecosystems that emerge in the city’s gaps, so visitors can see the contrasting themes of technology and nature one after the other. The Yayoi Kusama Museum presents mirror rooms and works using glitter and metal leaf through the lens of “light,” and at night images appear on the facade of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. Expressions of light can be compared inside and outside the museum.

In Waseda, the exhibition spaces themselves have a history. The Aizu Museum occupies the former library completed in 1925, the Theatre Museum uses a building modeled on a 16th-century English playhouse, and the International House of Literature is housed in Building 4, renovated to a design by Kengo Kuma. Admission to all three is free. The exhibition opening at the International House of Literature on November 19 focuses on the handiwork of three craftspeople—in copperplate engraving, letterpress printing and bookbinding—and shows how a book is made, alongside the original plates and tools. The Natsume Soseki Memorial Museum recreates the room where the author wrote. Within walking distance of one another are exhibitions that present books and writers through the work of their makers and the places where they were written.

Frequently asked questions

Which venues require reservations?

The Yayoi Kusama Museum operates on a date-and-time reservation system with limited capacity; tickets are sold only on the museum’s website, not at the door. Tickets for the month after next go on sale at 10:00 (Japan time) on the 1st of each month, and sales close 30 minutes before each entry time. The Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery and the International House of Literature do not require reservations (the latter requires advance reservations for groups of 21 or more). The Theatre Museum also requires no advance application if you are exploring the museum on your own.

Which venues are free?

Waseda University’s Aizu Museum, Theatre Museum and International House of Literature are free. At the Natsume Soseki Memorial Museum, the introductory exhibition on the 1st floor is free. ICC is free for those aged 65 and over and high school students and younger, the SOMPO Museum of Art for elementary, junior high and high school students, and the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery for junior high school students and younger.

Which venues are open on Mondays?

The Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, ICC, the SOMPO Museum of Art and the Natsume Soseki Memorial Museum are closed on Mondays, and the Yayoi Kusama Museum is closed Mondays to Wednesdays (open on national holidays). Open on Mondays are the Aizu Museum and the International House of Literature, which are generally closed on Wednesdays, and the Theatre Museum, which lists Monday opening hours (all are closed on days the university is temporarily closed). On Monday, November 23 (national holiday), the Art Gallery, the SOMPO Museum of Art, the Yayoi Kusama Museum and the Natsume Soseki Memorial Museum are open; the Art Gallery, the SOMPO Museum of Art and the Natsume Soseki Memorial Museum close the following day, November 24.

Are venues open on Tuesday, November 3 (national holiday)?

The Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, ICC, the SOMPO Museum of Art, the Yayoi Kusama Museum (reservations required) and the Natsume Soseki Memorial Museum are open. The SOMPO Museum of Art begins the second period of drawings on this day, and it is the last day of the first period of “Hakuin World” at the Aizu Museum. Check each museum’s calendar for the opening days of the three university museums.

*Information as of October 31, 2026. Please check each venue’s official website for the latest information.

*Top image: Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum, Waseda University (Photo: Wiiii, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on the official websites and press releases of the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery; NTT East and ICC (press releases of April 27, June 19 and October 28, 2026); the SOMPO Museum of Art; the Yayoi Kusama Museum; Waseda University (the Aizu Museum, the Theatre Museum and the International House of Literature); Shinjuku City (Koho Shinjuku, October 5, 2026 issue, and the Natsume Soseki Memorial Museum); and TOKYO Night & Light (all accessed October 31, 2026).

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team