Tour Details
Duration
2 hours
Product Type
Tour
Venues
Tokyo National Museum
Photos & Highlights
- Learn about Japan's rich culture in Tokyo National Museum tour
- Led by an expert in Japanese art and history
Select a date
Tour Description
This two-hour guided tour of Tokyo's National Museum, led by a Japanese art expert or historian, provides a deep dive into Japanese culture and history. Located in the beautiful Ueno Park, the 1872 National Museum houses one of the largest and most impressive collections of objects, sculptures, and paintings related to Asian art and archeology, with a particular focus on Japan. From samurai swords to kimonos, this fine collection tells the story of the history of Japan through its art. Together, we'll explore and discuss a number of the national treasures, touching on some of the 110,000 individual items dating from the earliest years of civilization on the Japanese islands, all the way through to the Edo period and modern day.
Experts
While Tokyo National Museum is split into numerous collections, the majority of our focus on this Tokyo National Museum guided tour will be on the Japanese Gallery. We will use the museum’s Meiji paintings, splendid screens, ancient scrolls, and intricately carved woodblocks to cover themes that range from the importance of visual arts in daily life to tea ceremonies and religious traditions.
Our course through the museums can take many forms, depending on the specific interests of the group: we let the itinerary be shaped by which eras and styles of Japanese art the group is most interested in, as well as the specialization and proclivity of our guide. We'll dig deeply into a number of art forms that are foreign to the West but hold great significance in Japan, in the process developing a context for deeper appreciation.
At the end, we'll emerge from our time together with a better understanding of Japanese art and its relation to the larger sphere of both Japanese and Asian culture and history. For a look at Japanese aesthetics in a more contemporary context, try our Introduction to Tokyo tour.
For more information about Context tours, please visit our FAQs.
Is it okay to tip my guide in Japan?
Yes. Context clients generally tip anywhere from 10-25% of the purchase price of a personal service such as this, depending on the quality of the experience and their tipping habits.
Do exhibits change over time?
The exhibits change once a month, so each experience is different, as is the main theme of the visit. Due to the fragile nature of most Japanese art, the museum cannot leave it out for longer periods.
Do exhibits change over time?
The exhibits change once a month, so each experience is different, as is the main theme of the visit. Due to the fragile nature of most Japanese art, the museum cannot leave it out for longer periods.
Book with confidence — see Context's flexible cancellation policy here.
Where You'll Start
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159 Reviews
Reviews can only be left by Context customers after they have completed a tour. For more information about our reviews, please see our FAQ.
Rafael was perfect - extremely knowledgeable, communicates well, and provided a great blending of Japanese history, art, religion, and culture. Couldn’t have been better
Evelyn
Reviewed on:
Jun 22, 2024
What an amazing experience we had with Rafael. He started off with a brief yet thorough introduction to Japanese culture and history, which provided the necessary context for everything we would see inside the museum. We were simply enthralled. As an architect and professor, Rafael brought this new information to life through ingenious analogies and illustrations that we saved as a valuable memento. He is also a member of the National Museum’s board of directors, so he had valuable insights about the exhibits we saw. Everyone in our family group (three generations, ages 23 to 86) agreed that this was probably the most informative guided tour we had ever had, and we are avid travelers.
Sonia
Reviewed on:
Jun 22, 2024
Maria was wonderful! She conveyed such appreciation for the beautiful art that we saw at the Tokyo National Museum. Her comprehensive knowledge of art history was very helpful, and we left with a much better understanding of Japanese art and culture. We felt that our tour with Maria knit together many of the things that we had encountered on our incredible trip to Japan. Highly recommend!
Julie
Reviewed on:
Jun 21, 2024
