Hikaru Museum — Attraction in Takayama

This unusual museum is impressive in many senses of the world. As a piece of architecture, it is extraordinary - built at great expense to resemble a Mayan pyramid and clad inside with what seems to be acres of cool French limestone, it’s a very memorable building to wander about. Built by an eccentric Japanese philanthropist who founded his own universal religion, the actual art collections within seem almost to be besides the point to non-adherents. The striking exceptions are the wonderful Hokusai exhibit of the famous wood print series “36 Views of Mr Fuji” accompanied by good bilingual notes, and the small but significant collection of Impressionist paintings by Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir and others. A number of interesting contemporary works and sculptures are scattered about the building, forming a counterpoint to the monumental architecture, centered about the jaw-dropping subterranean “pyramid hall”. The rest of the exhibits however on the upper levels veer between esoteric and bizarre, which further contributes to the memorable atmosphere of the whole complex. There’s a history gallery which races through cherry-picked ancient civilizations such as the Mayans (naturally), Egypt, and China, with a mixture of real artifacts and not-very-good replicas. There’s an open courtyard with 2 dinosaur models, and a geology exhibit. Most interesting of all is the sprawling section given over to the hagiography of the museum’s founder Kotama Okada and his Mahikari religion, culminating in an awe-inspiring “chapel” with a gold statue of the man himself at the crowning point of the museum. The restaurant serves a mean curry and chiffon cake. Very memorable, and worth going for all who are attracted to monumental architecture and to...

The lack of visitors should have made me more suspicious. This museum was created by a Christianity-based cult religion using the money of their misled followers. The museum cleverly hides this fact until you reach the final room, which is dedicated to deifying the founder of the religion. They think he is a god with healing powers. Look it up. There's even a golden statue of him in the largest room where, conveniently, photos are forbidden. Aside from that, the exhibits are quite random but nice to look at. The problem is that their intention wasn't made clear from the start, and after wandering through beautiful art and architecture, you're suddenly blindsided by cult indoctrination in a way that is honestly terrifying. I just can't shake the slimy, disgusting feeling I got from this place. I wish I had researched it more...

Cautions: This building is maintained by a religious cult. ⚠️ The building was really good and interesting. But it looked like a tomb after thinking about it. We went there to see the wave from kanagawa. The 36 views from Mount fuji were outstanding. The great room in the middle was also really impressive. But after a while, we realized that there were not many other visitors. The audio guide was translated by AI. And there was a picture from the building with a holy glow. It was far away, so you can not directly see it. The last room was a warship room for their religion and their leaders who passed away. After that room we immediately got out of the museum. So after all. The building and the art ist godd but the background is...