Tokyo National Museum

Definitely worth a visit. While some stuff is only in Japanese, most exhibits have English, Korean, and Chinese signage as well.

Only ¥1000 for the regular ticket, or around ¥2000 or a little more if you want tickets for the special exhibit.

Amazing museum with a big collection of artefacts from Japan, East, and southeast Asia , and even some stuff from the south pacific and even ancient Egypt.

The Japanese collection is obviously the most thorough and extensive. An incredible collection from each period of Japanese history including gowns, artwork, statues of Buddha , samurai swords and armour etc.

Very good place to learn and discover about Japanese culture in an official way! I thought I would have never seen so many Samurai Swords in my life except animations!! Some of them are even super famous ones!
The staffs in the museum are super friendly and helpful, I think it's top rated museum to visit if you love Japenese culture a lot!

A massive, astonishing collection of historical treasures that are sure to delight anyone with even a passing interest in Japanese history. The museum's collection is displayed wonderfully, allowing for optimal viewing even when factoring in the crowds, and with everything from finely-forged blades to historic Buddhist relics on display, there's something for everyone to appreciate. As with the nearby Ueno Zoo, the Tokyo National Museum is also incredibly affordable, easily capable of being the day's main activity.

The museum is huge and full of interesting itineraries. There are rooms with cutting-edge interaction tools to discover curiosities about the past. The rooms are well signposted and I particularly liked the part on the history of Japanese tailoring. There is also a room where you can compose a souvenir with stencils and colours, using them as you prefer or reproducing famous works. It worth a visit.

This museum is quite big, took us 3 hours to see everything. Nice vintage architecture design.
Majority of the exhibits are about samurai era, from the ancient armours, to clothing, swords, quite impressive and unique.
Most of them have English Chinese Japanese descriptions.

TL;DR:
Tokyo National Museum is a must for history enthusiasts with a 1000 yen ticket. Check the website for special exhibits and ongoing renovations. Explore a beautiful garden and interactive exhibits. Highly recommended!

Full Review:
If you're a history enthusiast, Tokyo National Museum is a must-visit. The 1000 yen ticket (with discounts) is well worth it for the rich experience it offers. Permanent exhibits and limited-time displays provide a thorough look at Japan's history. Check the official website for details on special exhibits and ongoing renovations. Don't miss the beautiful garden for a tea break. Note that some exhibits prohibit cameras. For added fun, explore the interactive exhibits. Highly recommended for history buffs!

A wonderful museum with multiple exhibits in large buildings and halls. A great place to spend a few hours. Houses displays from local Japan and also artifacts from other countries. Large courtyard area to rest with vendors also. Surrounding area also has other museums and displays and is a short walk from the station.

Very affordable entrance fee of a couple dollars and there are so many buildings on the site you could literally spend a week going to them all.
Went through the main hall and saw pieces from all the different era of Japan's history.
Some of the other buildings had seasonal exhibits that likely change so you could always come back to something different.
Great place to spend a day.

Great experience here in Tokyo. The museum is humongous and split into different sections. So much information and visuals of ancient Japan. Very interactive for kids also. I’d recommend starting on the left of the entrance as you come in and work your way round. We stayed there for around 3 hours and had lunch in the gardens.

One of my highlights of Tokyo. I read that if you were only doing one museum then this was the one and yea it really is. Amazing exhibits filled with history. Would happily
Go again when I return

This museum was a great surprise to me. The Japanese (Honkan) gallery was filled with scrolls, Buddhist tapestries, samurai armor and weaponry, and many other things that I have never seen before. I greatly enjoyed it.

We were fortunate enough to visit in October and the gardens were open. It was a lovely stroll through the wooded area with a small pond.

There are two small cafes to eat, but there was a wait at both. I would recommend bringing snacks if you plan on being there for a long time.

Fantastic museum, world class. Although the second floor and room 13 of the main building Japanese Gallery were closed from 5 December 2023 for 2 weeks maintenance, there is still so much else to see and admire on the first floor. Thereafter do not miss walking to the southwest corner of the museum park to visit the brilliant Tokyo National Museum Gallery of Horyuji Treasures. Not only a wonderful modern architectural gem of a building. Inside you will find a huge collect of extraordinary fine in design and well-conditioned Buddhist art of the 7-8th centuries. A real highlight.

Ueno is an amazing area to stay in! We visited the tokyo national museum early in the morning to beat the crowds. It was soo beautiful! The lovely 300+ year old tea house felt serene to dine at while enjoying the garden🍵
Loved all the artwork, the kimonos were crafted so nicely. Its great to learn a little more of Japan's rich history, the garden grounds was a cute stroll through a replica village. We collected our stamps & made a stamp postcard to take home in the main hall of the museum!

The "ueno de bueno" was a fun salsa event randomly outside in the Ueno park area.

There was so much to do in this one area, we honestly didn't have to leave the park all day

A full room of samurai swords! This museum is a great way if you want to appreciate and understand the culture of Japan more. The regular exhibition displays the origins and development of Japanese culture with a versatile collection and interactive technology. The topics range from kimono to ukiyo-e, giving you a full experience of the traditional Japanese way. One thing to notice is that the rooms are not exactly air-conditioned as they’ve cooled down by water-cooling fans. Also remember to use deodorant before coming, as my trip tarnished by an unknown person with *extremely* strong body smell. Alas! Overall a very educational experience. Highly recommended.

Incredibly vast collection of exponates from a period of thousands of years.
I actually spent over 6 hours there and only saw 3 out of 5 halls full of objects.
All is properly presented and explained on cards in 4 languages (Japanese, Chinese, Hangul, and English).
The admission fee is only 1000 ¥/ adult, which is ridiculously low for this quality of exhibition.
Definitely more than worth the time and money.

I didn't expect the museum to be so vast. There are 3 buildings inside the compound and you'll spend around 3-4 hours to absorb everything. I visited here then had lunch at the adjoining Metropolitan Art Museum followed by the exhibition. There was a short queue at the ticket gate where you have the option of paying via cash or card. The cash machine is the quicker option. There is also a beautiful pond/park in the middle to sit back and relax, after you are done with the exhibition.

Really vast collection of Japanese art. You can spend hours there. There are always temporary exhibits so if you plan to see them make sure you buy tickets for them at the counter before you enter the museum. Would recommend the exhibition by Tadanori Yooko

This was a nice visit on a rainy day in Tokyo I would highly recommend the museum The tickets at the front entrance are kind of difficult to use dried many times multiple credit cards but they would always fail depend insertion ended up paying cash. The museum will keep you busy there are many exhibits it's been quite a bit of history.

We're not big on going to museums but this particular one was vastly memorable.
Things you should know:
I. SERVICE
There is a ticket gate where you have the option of paying cash or card. WiFi is provided throughout the property. The compound composes of 3 total buildings. We only visited two and spent about 2 hours absorbing all there was to see. You'll also notice a beautiful lilly pad pond and historic display of homes behind the center structure.
II. QUALITY
Well mapped out and organized in various languages. The building to the right of entry not only included Japanese history but also the history of surrounding Asian countries. It was very rich with quality, priceless items.
Our favorite building was the center one. Inside there were samurai swords! Actual hand crafted weapons that have seen battle! The fact that we were staring at weapons of mass destruction.. of conquerors.. now stagnant and harmless.. still amazes me.
III. CAPACITY
We came and the crowd mainly resides at the ticket machines. You wouldn't run into too severe foot traffic elsewhere unless there was an interactive display.

Great place for learning about the roots of Japan and fantastic cultures. The ticket is valuable and not expensive at all. The musuem provides the story about the development in Japanese life, art, weapon and costumes. As a Yaiba and Zoro fan, I pretty love about weapon, especially, tachi and katana. I just acknowledged the differences between these weapon. I feel really excited to see the old and preciously historical katana with my eyes. I took like 3 hrs. to finish walking inside the musuem. Great memories.