Tokyo museums

My husband and I (early 30s) will be in Tokyo for 8 days before going to Kyoto. We plan on shopping, doing day trips and sightseeing. We%26#39;re not normally into museums but I%26#39;ve read some reviews and guidebooks and decided to add just a few Japanese museums to our intinery becuase they seemed interesting, fun and interactive. The only problem is that there are so many choices and I%26#39;m not sure how to narrow my list down from:

1. Museum of Emerging Science (odaiba)

2. National Science museum (ueno)

3. Edo Tokyo (Ryoguku)

4. Mori Art (Roppongi) - I heard there is a maths maze/puzzle? I would really like to go if it is still there and ppl recommend it!

5. Science Museum (marunouchi)

6. Shitamachi Museum (ueno)

Can anyone offer ideas on which ones will be the most fun, most interactive and interesting?

Tokyo museums

Not sure when you are traveling but at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation on Odaiba from March 19 to June 28 will be a special exhibit featuring items from the Terminator 4 movie.

The Odaiba area is nice to begin with so its nice to stop in the museum, then after continue with the visit on Odaiba.

The Edo Tokyo Museum is a nice and good museum detailing the history of Tokyo to modern times (been there twice), though not much hands on interactivity.

Tokyo museums

I forgot to add, but the National Museum in Ueno is excellent museum as well.

We visited the Tokyo Edo Museum. BEAUTIFUL + FASCINATING. WELL worth the time to see it.

Maybe your %26#39; typical %26#39; museum. Loads of things to look at, but not highly interactive.

Our Japanese hosts also scheduled us for a tour with an English speaking Japanese man, he added immensely to the experience, and could answer any questions we had.

The National Art Center is one of my favorites, just because I like the building.

http://www.nact.jp/english/index.html

The war museum at Yasukuni is interesting for its alternative view on WWII and display of relics.

This is a city of museums, interesting even for non-museum folks. The ones you%26#39;ve listed are all the good basic ones, just pick the ones that are the easiest to reach with stuff to do in that area of interest to you. It%26#39;s the best break between shopping and eating.

macsubi

I%26#39;m not a museum person, either but I recommend Edo Tokyo Museum. It%26#39;s quite interesting to see how people lived in the Edo era.

If you combine Mori Art and Tokyo City View (both in Mori Tower) it%26#39;ll be worthwhile. The view from Tokyo City View is just fantastic!! It%26#39;s the best observatory in Tokyo

http://www.roppongihills.com/tcv/en/

Recommended are:

Mori Museum of Art (with view as on top of 50 storey building) as shows are usually first class. Don%26#39;t know about the maze at all.

National Art Museum which is close to Mori

Suntory Museum of Art in Mid Town Centre (close to Mori)- more traditional exhibitions

21/21 Design Museum (just outside Mid Town Centre)- modern art and ceramics etc. Designed by Ando, famous Japanese architect

So all above are close together, new interesting buildings and will have English.

Older and other museums can be limited with English.

for art look at www.tokyoartbeat.com for listings

The Edo-Tokyo museum is my #1 choice. The museum emphasizes ordinary life in Edo/Tokyo throughout its history. Keep your pace up or you%26#39;ll run out of energy before you get to the fascinating section on Tokyo in WWII.

The National Science Museum in Ueno is huge also, but I would be hard pressed to say that it covers topics in science differently than you would encounter in any major science museum. But I%26#39;m not an expert in this.

I also went to the Emerging Science Museum in Odaiba with my 10-year-old daughter. She enjoyed it, but I would say that this museum really is more oriented to children.

I love the Fuji-TV building in Odaiba, though.

Two museums that you didn%26#39;t mention that are quite good are the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno for Japanese art and the museum at the Yakusuni Shrine (also mentioned by another poster). You will see there why visits by the Prime Minister of Japan to this shrine are controversial.

Thank you all for your advice. I really really appreciate it. It looks like Edo Tokyo museum, national museum and Mori Art museum are definite winners and I%26#39;ll see some of the others depending on time constraints.

By the way, I researched more into the math maze at Mori Art. It was called ';Arithmetik Garden'; by Sato Mashahiko, and I believe that exhibit finished early last year. Shame.

If you%26#39;ll be visiting several museums, get the Gurutto Pass and you can save a fair amount of money.

www.osaka21.or.jp/english/gurutto/index.html

Last time I was in Tokyo I visited the recently remodeled war museum at Yasukuni Shrine and it was amazing! Spent 2 hours there!