Tokyo National Museum - Toyokan (Asian Gallery)

PROS ➕ Dark and quiet ➕ Interactive objects

CONS ➖ Mundane artifacts

Date visited: 04/29/2024

At one end of Ueno Park, there are three towering buildings, and among them stands the Tokyo National Museum Toyokan, which holds artifacts from all over Asia. This place has been on my to-go list for a while.

The museum is set apart from the busy park. Tickets are 1000 yen each, a small price for what it offers.

Leaving behind the noise of the park, I step into a place that feels worlds away: quieter, darker, almost like stepping into another time. The inside has an elegance, a kind of mystique, with glass cases and stairwells that seem to protrude from the walls and ceiling.

There are multiple floors, each one dedicated to a different culture. I won’t list them here; it’s something best experienced in person. Some artifacts are hands-on, or rather, recreated for people to touch and explore.

Funny enough, it isn’t the ancient artifacts that capture me, or even the architecture itself. It’s the calm that fills the entire building. Inside, people step lighter, speak softer, and are more aware of what’s around them. It’s as if something deep and instinctual has awaken within us, something we lose sight of most of the time.