Art, architecture and design

An art and architecture trip to Japan begins on the Seto Inland Sea, where the islands of Naoshima and Teshima bring together museums by the architect Tadao Ando, the Teshima Art Museum and a hotel inside a museum, where you sleep among the works. Tokyo, Hakone and Kanazawa round out the journey with their museums, and several hotels in our selection are architect-designed buildings in their own right, from Kenzo Tange to Kengo Kuma. Allow two nights on Naoshima, one or two in Hakone and two or three in Kanazawa, and check the winter 2027 calendar, which has several closures.

Where to go: what to see

Naoshima and Teshima, Ando's islands

The Seto Inland Sea, between Honshū and Shikoku, is Japan's region for contemporary art. Its museums make up Benesse Art Site Naoshima, the museums and outdoor works that the Benesse company and the Fukutake Foundation have created across several islands.

The Chichu Art Museum, opened in 2004, is largely underground. Tadao Ando designed it around three artists: five of Claude Monet's Water Lilies, three works by James Turrell, including Open Sky, and a 2.2 m sphere by Walter De Maria. Entry must be booked for a date and time slot, 2,500 ¥ (about 15 €) online on weekdays and 2,700 ¥ (about 16 €) at weekends, with no sales on site once it is full. The evening programme shows Open Sky at sunset: 45 minutes for 3,700 ¥ (about 21 €), entry included.

The Naoshima New Museum of Art, opened in spring 2025, is Tadao Ando's tenth building on the island and shows artists from across Asia. The Benesse House Museum and the Valley Gallery, in the south, combine indoor and outdoor works, among them Yayoi Kusama's Pumpkin. The Teshima Art Museum, 20 minutes away by boat, is a building by the architect Ryūe Nishizawa that houses a single work, Rei Naitō's Matrix, installed in 2010; it too is booked for a time slot, 1,800 ¥ (about 11 €) online.

Two nights on Naoshima give time for its three museums and a day on Teshima, as long as Naoshima does not fall on a Monday or Teshima on a Tuesday. The islands are reached from the port of Uno, 47 to 57 minutes by JR train (Japan Railways, the national rail companies) from Okayama, then 20 minutes by ferry. The Islands and beaches page covers the boats and the other islands.

Museums in Tokyo, Hakone and Kanazawa

In Tokyo, the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno Park presents the art and archaeology of Japan and Asia, from 9:30 to 17:00, until 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays, except Mondays; the permanent collections cost 1,000 ¥ (about 6 €). The Okura Museum of Art, next to The Okura Tokyo hotel, founded in 1917 by the industrialist Okura Kihachiro, describes itself as Japan's oldest surviving private art museum; its 1928 pavilion, in classical Chinese style, is by the architect Ito Chuta.

In Hakone, around 80 minutes by train from Shinjuku, the Hakone Open-Air Museum near Gora station is a sculpture park of some 70,000 m² with around 120 works by modern and contemporary sculptors on permanent display, open daily from 9:00 to 17:00 for 2,000 ¥ (about 12 €). The Okada Museum of Art, opened in 2013, shows Japanese and East Asian painting and ceramics. While the Hakone Ropeway closes in sections, between Ōwakudani and Sōunzan from 7 to 24 December 2026 and between Tōgendai and Ōwakudani from 12 January to 26 February 2027, these two museums make the best day out.

In Kanazawa, 2 hours 30 from Tokyo by shinkansen (Japan's high-speed train), the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art opened in 2004. It is the work of Kazuyo Sejima and Ryūe Nishizawa of SANAA, built on a round plan 113 m across; the Swimming Pool installation can be seen by reservation. The museum is closed from 6 May 2027 to March 2028. The D. T. Suzuki Museum, designed by Yoshio Taniguchi and devoted to the Zen Buddhist thinker, opens from 9:30 to 17:00, except Mondays, for 310 ¥ (about 2 €).

Staying in a piece of architecture

Several hotels in our selection are part of the trip for their building or their art, from Tadao Ando to Kengo Kuma and Kenzo Tange.

Benesse House is the one place where you sleep inside a museum: 10 rooms among the works, which guests can visit on their own until 23:00. In the other buildings, some suites have a work by Richard Long, a wall drawing by David Tremlett, a sound work by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller or a work by Lee Ufan. Children are welcome from age 6 in the Museum and the Oval.

Capella Kyoto, opened on 22 March 2026 in Miyagawa-chō, one of the city's geiko districts (Kyoto's geishas), is a four-storey building by Kengo Kuma's practice. It follows the plan of the machiya, the Kyoto townhouse, with narrow passages and tsuboniwa, small inner gardens. Park Hyatt Tokyo occupies floors 39 to 52 of Kenzo Tange's Shinjuku Park Tower; the Jouin Manku studio redesigned its 171 rooms in 2024-2025, keeping Isamu Noguchi's lamps, and the restaurants show murals by Valerio Adami.

Azumi Setoda was restored by the Kyoto architect Shiro Miura in sukiya-zukuri style, the timber architecture that grew out of the tea ceremony, on the principle of restoring rather than reinventing. The guntû, an 81 m boat by Yasushi Horibe, takes passengers aged 15 and over. At Hoshinoya Kyoto, the architect Rie Azuma started from a century-old inn; its wooden building is the reason for the minimum age of 12. Other houses have an art angle: The Okura Tokyo opens the Okura Museum of Art to Club Room guests and closes its spa from 12 to 15 January 2027; the Imperial Hotel Kyoto occupies the Yasaka Kaikan, a 1936 theatre on the register of cultural properties; at Beniya Mukayu, which takes children from age 7, a work by the designer Kenya Hara reinterprets the stone basin of tea gardens; at KAI Kaga, the baths are decorated with Kutani porcelain signed by eight artists.

The winter 2027 calendar

Spring and autumn suit the islands best, as you walk between outdoor works and boats: in Takamatsu, across from Naoshima, the JMA (Japan Meteorological Agency) normals give an average high of 19.8 °C in April and 23.2 °C in October. To see both the Chichu and the 21st Century Museum on one trip in 2027, the window runs from 20 March to 5 May. This year's blossom and autumn-colour dates are in our seasons guide.

Which trip to choose

The Kyoto, Miyajima and the art islands in 10 days itinerary is built for a couple who love contemporary art and architecture; it ends with two nights at Benesse House. The Kanazawa, Shirakawa-gō and Takayama in 10 days trip takes in Kanazawa's museums and ends at Capella Kyoto; schedule it before 6 May 2027 to see the 21st Century Museum. The 11-day honeymoon combines Park Hyatt Tokyo, Hoshinoya Kyoto and the guntû.