Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum

Museum

Prefecture

Tokyo

Type

Museum

N/A

0 reviews

¥200

Entry Fee

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About This Destination

The 1933 home of Prince Asaka, with main rooms by the French Art Deco designers Henri Rapin and René Lalique, opened as an art museum in 1983 and is an Important Cultural Property. Exhibition tickets vary by show, while the lawn, Japanese garden and Western garden cost 200 yen on their own.

Prince Asaka Yasuhiko lived in Paris in the 1920s, saw the 1925 Art Deco exposition, and came home wanting a house like that. The result, finished in 1933, is the main building here: a reinforced-concrete mansion designed by the Imperial Household Ministry's architects, with the main rooms decorated by Henri Rapin and René Lalique. After the war it was the official residence of prime minister Shigeru Yoshida and later as a state guesthouse, and it opened as an art museum in 1983. Exhibitions change through the year and are hung inside the rooms themselves, so you see the work and the house together. Most of the time photos are not allowed indoors; the exception is the yearly exhibition about the building itself, and some shows that permit it. The garden is the cheap option: 200 yen gets you the wide lawn, a Japanese garden with a pond and the 1936 tea house Koka, and a Western garden with Washington cherry trees. Exhibition tickets are timed for popular shows. From Meguro, the Meguro-dori route is gentler than the back streets.

Location

Prefecture: Tokyo

Address: Tokyo, Japan

Nearest Station: Shirokanedai Station

Opening hours: Tue–Sun 10:00–18:00

Closed: Mondays (when Monday is a national holiday it opens and closes the next weekday instead) and the New Year holidays. The main building also closes between exhibitions.

Hours note: Last entry 17:30. From October to March some paths in the Japanese garden close at 16:30, and the tea house Koka is open 10:00 to 16:30 all year (standing-room area only). Some exhibitions add evening openings to 20:00.

Best time to visit: Spring for the Washington cherry trees in the Western garden and autumn for maple colour in the Japanese garden; the yearly building-focused exhibition is the time to photograph the interiors

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Visitor Information

Credit Cards: Unknown

Official Website

Frequently Asked Questions

How much is admission?

Exhibition prices change with each show, and most need a timed booking; check the current show on the official site. The gardens alone cost 200 yen for adults, 160 yen for university students and 100 yen for high school students and those 65 and over; junior high students and younger are free.

Can I take photos inside the mansion?

Usually not. Photos indoors are allowed during the yearly exhibition about the building and some shows where artists and lenders agree. Personal photos of the gardens and the exterior are fine, without tripods or reflectors.

What are the opening hours?

10:00 to 18:00 for both the exhibitions and the gardens, with last entry at 17:30, and closed on Mondays. From October to March some Japanese garden paths close at 16:30.