Tokyo has no shortage of world-class art museums, galleries, and exhibits that could fill up anyone’s itinerary. With tourism at an all-time high, it seems like everyone is just going to the same places over and over again. If you want to explore the road less traveled, see a side of Tokyo that has a handful of equally interesting but far less famous and downright strange—museums that are worth visiting. If you’d like to explore the quirky side of Japan, here are twelve of Tokyo’s unusual museums bound to pique your curiosity.
1. Tokyo Trick Art Museum
Photo: Tokyo Trick Art Museum
Whether traveling with the family, spending a day with friends or going out on a date, you’ll have enormous fun at the Tokyo Trick Art Museum pretending to be chased by sharks, spooked by Japanese ghosts or trapped in Dracula’s wine glass. This maze of 3D paintings and optical illusions features five areas, including a “Ninja House” and an “Edo Area” to add an extra bit of time travel to the experience.
2. Tobacco and Salt Museum
Photo: Tobacco & Salt Museum[/img-copyright]
Seemingly unrelated at first glance, tobacco and salt are two products that have shaped much of Japan’s industrial history and culture. This museum’s exhibits include ukiyo-e woodblock prints, smoking pipes, tobacco paraphernalia and different utensils.
3. Kite Museum
Photo: Heidi SarolThough less popular in recent years, kites were a major source of entertainment for Japanese children and at traditional festivals in the days of yore. This museum, located on the fifth floor of popular restaurant Taimeiken, exhibits kites of all shapes and sizes from across Japan and other countries. Visitors can also purchase rare, hand-made kites as souvenirs.
4. Meguro Parasitological Museum
Save this one for after lunch. This unique museum exhibits 300 different parasite specimens, including the display of an 8.8-meter-long tapeworm found in a 40-year-old man. Hard to imagine, but we challenge you to view it with your own eyes—hard to forget. Surprisingly, this rare exhibition is also one of Tokyo’s top date spots.
5. The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
Everything you ever wanted to know about the past and present of Japanese baseball, curated for the love of the game. Located inside Tokyo Dome, one of the meccas for the country’s favorite pastime.
6. Meiji University Museum Criminal Materials Department
A true journey through crime and punishment, this frightful exhibition explores the history of suppressed human rights, devices used to catch criminals in Japan, as well as torture and execution tools. A French guillotine is also on display.
7. Ochanomizu Origami Kaikan
Photo: Heidi SarolAn exhibition center offering a store, gallery and a workshop dedicated to origami, the traditional Japanese art of paper folding. Visitors can see the professional process of dyeing washi (Japanese paper) and have a hands-on-experience making their own origami souvenirs.
8. Museum of Sewerage
This museum is not about fancy, high-tech washlets or historical old-school toilets—it really is all about the sewage. Here, you can learn how this, ahem, circle of life occurs. And if you’ve ever dreamt of seeing the world from the inside of a sewage pipe, you’ve find the right venue.
9. Metropolitan Police Museum
Photo: Heidi SarolThis museum showcasing the history of Japan’s law enforcement can be quite fun, especially if you’re bringing the kids along. They can dress as policemen and even hop on a helicopter for a memorable shot.
10. Calligraphy Museum
Photo: Calligraphy MuseumA wonderful collection of over 16,000 historical artifacts related to shodo, the Chinese and Japanese calligraphy with immense artistic and archaeological value. Recommended to anyone interested in exploring the history of Chinese characters and Japanese syllabaries.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service
I will share this with friends who live in Tokyo. And keep it for the next time I go there with my wife. THANKS!
While stationed in Japan, I was in Aomori Perfecture and flew to Atsugi from Misawa and I caught the Japanese National Railroad to the Tokyo Railway and ended up at Ueno Station, I caught the Tokyo Subway to the Stars and Stripes Building where I stayed one week, Ill always remember because it was May 1- 5 (boys week).
I happened to visit a nearby hotel, where I was able to take a tour bus around Tokyo, we went by the Diet Building, Ginza District, Shinjuku District and visited a Pearl factory, Japanese Shrine, and took our shoes and sit in an old traditional farm house.