On October 1, Tokyo Citizens’ Day, commemorating the establishment of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, some art museums, zoos, and museums in Tokyo will offer free admission. Here are some museums and exhibitions currently being held that we recommend you visit on this day.
1, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
Japan’s first public art museum, created in 1926 as the “Tokyo Prefectural Art Museum. Free of charge is the exhibition “Listening to the Earth: Attention and Touch” from July 20 to October 9, which introduces the works of five contemporary artists who are deeply involved with nature and continue to create art. Also on view at the same time is “Tanaka Isson: Light of Amami, Paintings of the Soul,” which presents a complete picture of Isson with over 250 works, mainly paintings, but also sketches, crafts, and documents.
📍 8-36 Ueno Koen, Taito-ku
👉Official website🚇About 7 minutes walk from Ueno Station
2, Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum
The main building of the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum was built in 1933 as the private residence of the imperial family Asakamiya, and opened as an art museum in 1983. The museum will be open to the public free of charge fromSeptember14 to November10 for the exhibition “Building Open House 2024: Akari, Akari, Toru Toki“ focusing on one of the highlights of the building, “Lighting”.
📍 About a 7-minute walk from Meguro Station, about a 6-minute walk from Shirokanedai Station.
👉Official website5-21-9 Shirokanedai, Minato-ku
3, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
An art museum that exhibits photography and video with a hall attached that screens high-quality works under the title “Movies to Watch at the Museum of Photography” (experimental theater). Free of charge will be “TOP Collection: The Jugo of Seeing” on view from July 18 to October 6, and “Itoshio Iwai x Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography 100 Kaidate no Ie of Light and Motion: Connecting 19th Century Visual Devices and Media Art” on view from July 30 to November 3.
📍 Yebisu Garden Place, 1-13-3 Mita, Meguro-ku, Tokyo
👉Official website🚇About 7 minutes walk from Ebisu Station
4, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
The museum opened in 1995 as an institution for the systematic research, collection, preservation, and exhibition of contemporary art from Japan and abroad, with a focus on postwar Japanese art in a broad range of genres. The free exhibition “ Chikurin no Shichien / Feature Exhibition: Kazuhiro Nomura / Eye to Eye – Seeing” focuses on seven female artists on the first floor, while “Eye to Eye – Seeing” on the third floor introduces a variety of artworks, changing the theme of each room. The “Eye to Eye: Seeing” section on the third floor introduces a variety of artworks, changing from room to room.
📍 4-1-1 Miyoshi, Koto-ku
👉Official site🚇About 9 minutes walk from Kiyosumi-Shirakawa Station, about 13 minutes walk from Kiyosumi-Shirakawa Station
5, Edo Tokyo Open-Air Architectural Museum
Established in 1993 as a branch of Tokyo Metropolitan Edo Tokyo Museum. It aims to restore, preserve, and exhibit historical buildings of high cultural value that cannot be preserved on-site, and to hand them down to the next generation as valuable cultural heritage. Admission will be free on this day. In addition to restoring and exhibiting the exteriors and interiors of the buildings, there is also an area where various aspects of life and commerce in each period are reproduced.
📍 3-7-1 Sakura-machi, Koganei-shi, Tokyo (in Metropolitan Koganei Park)
👉Official website🚇Five minutes by bus from the north exit of Musashi Koganei Station