Ideal day-off ideas –visiting museums

Molly
2019.09.25
470 views

When you have a day-off while you are living in a foreign country, it would be an exciting day! You would make up many plans but it is equally understandable if you are exhausted from busy life and simply have a lie-in day.

Maybe visiting museums and galleries would be somehow in between…it would be less stressful than visiting a busy place; but it would be a bit constructive and could be an inspirational day than staying at home.

museums in Japan

There are so many museums in Japan.（apparently the 3^rd in the world after USA and Germany) People would see at least few Japanese visitors in any museums around the globe; thus it’s natural for Japanese people to have own museums. There are four national museums and there are many private museums. (wiki said about more than 150 in 1945)

Sadly, the famous museums would be war related museums in Japan. Understandably, it is important for Japanese people to keep passing on its history to own people as well as visitors. It is a duty for the only country to be victimized by anatomic bombs; and the very tragic history about well known Kamikaze attack unite. There are other war related museums all over Japan.

Japanese car is very popular around the world; therefore, there are museums for cars. Toyota and Honda have their own dedicated museums for their proud history. There are many transport related museums all over Japan; they are very popular amongst tourists. Some have very impressive collections and some offer old steam engine train demonstrations.

History related museums would be in each prefecture, displaying unique artifacts from local area. Some would be very old as far back as the stone age. Museums in suburban areas, might have difficult access without cars; but museums in big cities would have a great public transport access.

Anime/Manga fan would not be disappointed! There are dedicated museums for those too. Famous authors and creators would normally have their own museums where visitors can enjoy their world as much as they want and buy some special souvenirs.

art galleries in Japan

There are many art galleries in Japan exhibiting the world class collections of classic, modern and even digital arts. Some of art galleries are in interestingly designed buildings, so you can enjoy their architectures as well as content inside. They are great places for photo shoot so if you are an instagramer, you must check. (Often an art gallery can be translated to “a museum” so do not get confused )

exhibitions

Major museums regularly have special exhibitions. Some get so popular and tickets get sold out very quickly. This means that the venue would be so crowed, long queuing up for the entry, and may be an unpleasant place to visit. So you need to do some research.

Some upcoming artists may offer some interesting exhibitions; this includes some new technology and digital media as well as old fashion water-color paintings or the traditional calligraphy.

Unlike London, Japanese museums are not free to enter; but surely people can find something they are interested in. Major museums would offer guides in many different languages. Why don’t you have a cultural day-out!