---
name: "Tokyo National Museum"
lat: 35.717556
lng: 139.775543
official_url: "https://www.tnm.jp/"
fee: "The museum's own collection galleries cost 1,000 yen for adults and 500 yen for university students. Everyone through high school, anyone under 18, and anyone 70 or over gets in free — show something that proves the age, such as a student card, health insurance card or driving licence. A visitor with a disability and one carer each go free on showing the certificate. Special exhibitions are priced separately, but a special exhibition ticket also lets you into the collection galleries the same day. Three days in 2026 are free for everyone: 19 May (International Museum Day), 21 September (Respect for the Aged Day) and 3 November (Culture Day)."
last_verified: "2026-08-12"
---

# Tokyo National Museum

Japan's oldest museum began with an exhibition in 1872, and holds some 120,000 objects, 90 of them National Treasures. Honkan runs Japanese art from Jomon to Edo, and Toyokan spirals up from China to Egypt. The Horyuji gallery keeps treasures from the seventh century. Heiseikan's archaeology room, the one the museum names for children, gathers the clay figures and bronze bells of the schoolbooks. A family room sits in Heiseikan, a calm-down space in Honkan, and a garden of five teahouses behind.

- Area: tokyo_ueno
- Type: sightseeing
- Average stay: 60 min
- Hours: 9:30 to 17:00, with the last entry 30 minutes before closing. On Fridays and Saturdays — and on a Sunday when the Monday after it is a public holiday — the museum stays open until 20:00. Closed Mondays; when a Monday is a public holiday it opens and closes the next weekday instead. The year-end closure runs 26 to 31 December 2026, reopening on 1 January 2027 (opening hours for that day not yet announced). The garden is open 9:30 to 17:00. Two things to check before you go. Hyokeikan only opens for special exhibitions and events. And two closures are already announced: Honkan rooms 17-20 and the whole of Toyokan are shut from 30 November to 31 December 2026, and Honkan room 4 — the room used for the family exhibition 'Parent and Child Gallery' — is shut from 26 October 2026 to 26 April 2027.
- Last verified: 2026-08-12

## Family facts (value + conditions + source + verified date)

| Feature | Value | Conditions | Verified | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stroller friendly | Yes | Strollers are allowed both on the grounds and inside the galleries — the museum says so in as many words — though when it is crowded it may ask you not to use one indoors, for the child's safety. Loaner strollers are kept at the Honkan information counter; the museum recommends them up to age 2 and says numbers are limited. (Wheelchairs and canes are lent at every gallery counter except Hyokeikan.) Nothing on the official pages mentions a fee or a reservation for the loan — only where it is, the age guide and the limited number. Note that since 1 August 2026 suitcases cannot come inside, so a stroller loaded with luggage will need the lockers. | 2026-08-12 (web) | [source](https://www.tnm.jp/modules/r_free_page/index.php?id=2670&lang=ja) |
| Stroller rental | Yes | Lent at the Honkan information counter. The museum recommends it up to age 2 and says the number is limited; it does not publish a price, a way to reserve one, or how many there are. | 2026-08-12 (web) | [source](https://www.tnm.jp/modules/r_free_page/index.php?id=2670&lang=ja) |
| Nursing space | Yes | There are nursing rooms, but the museum's own pages disagree on how many. The 'Visiting with children' page lists three — Main Gate Plaza, Honkan B1F, and the Family Space in Heiseikan. The FAQ lists two, Main Gate Plaza and Honkan B1F. Both add that you may also nurse in the first-aid rooms of Honkan, Toyokan and Heiseikan. The Family Space on Heiseikan 1F holds two private nursing booths. The rooms are available any time the museum is open, no reservation is needed, and you tell the information counter when you want to use one. | 2026-08-12 (web) | [source](https://www.tnm.jp/modules/r_free_page/index.php?id=2670&lang=ja) |
| Diaper changing table | Yes | Changing mats for babies are in the restrooms of Main Gate Plaza, Honkan, Heiseikan, Toyokan and the Gallery of Horyuji Treasures. Baby beds are listed for those same restrooms plus the Kuroda Memorial Hall. The changing area on Heiseikan 1F also has a stand-up changing table for older children, and a nappy vending machine at its entrance. The museum does not say whether the men's restrooms have them. | 2026-08-12 (web) | [source](https://www.tnm.jp/modules/r_free_page/index.php?id=2670&lang=ja) |
| Family restroom | Yes | Every gallery except Hyokeikan has a multipurpose restroom usable in a wheelchair. Ostomate fittings are inside the multipurpose restrooms of Honkan B1F, Heiseikan 1F, Toyokan 1F, Main Gate Plaza 1F and the Kuroda Memorial Hall 1F. As for a baby seat — the strap-in chair that holds a child while a parent uses the cubicle — the official accessibility map has a symbol for one in its legend, but marks the places only as icons on the drawing, so there is no published text saying which restrooms have one. | 2026-08-12 (web) | [source](https://www.tnm.jp/modules/r_free_page/index.php?id=128&lang=ja) |
| Diaper disposal bin | Not checked yet |  |  |  |
| English support | English menu & signs | Signs around the museum and some of the explanatory panels are in English, Chinese and Korean, and the object data is in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean. The general guide leaflet with the site map comes in six languages: English, Chinese, Korean, French, German and Spanish. The museum's own app, 'Tohaku Navi', gives audio guidance to the galleries and the works. The official website itself has English, simplified Chinese and Korean versions. What the museum does not state anywhere is whether staff handle enquiries in English. | 2026-08-12 (web) | [source](https://www.tnm.jp/modules/r_free_page/index.php?id=156&lang=ja) |
| Outside food allowed | Designated areas only | Outdoors you may eat and drink freely. Indoors there are four places where eating is allowed — the lounge on Heiseikan 1F, the lounge on Honkan B1F, the lounge beside the front entrance of the Research and Information Center 1F, and the covered terrace on Toyokan 3F — and nowhere else. In some of the no-eating spaces you may still drink from a closed container. Food you bring yourself can be eaten at the drink corners on Heiseikan 1F and Honkan B1F and on the Toyokan terrace, and on a fine day the museum itself suggests the outdoor benches in front of Honkan. The Family Space on Heiseikan 1F takes drinks only, in containers that close completely; food goes to the Heiseikan 1F lounge. There are vending machines for drinks and ice cream on Heiseikan 1F and Honkan B1F. | 2026-08-12 (web) | [source](https://www.tnm.jp/modules/r_free_page/index.php?id=128&lang=ja) |
| Kids' toilet seat & step stool | Not checked yet |  |  |  |
| Elevator | Yes | Each gallery has lifts and ramps, and the museum states that every facility and floor except the teahouses in the garden can be reached in a wheelchair — which is also the best available sign that a wide stroller will get through. Two cautions come from the museum itself: Honkan and Hyokeikan have a steeply pitched ramp at the entrance and small steps of one to two centimetres inside. The garden is entered from the path in front of the restaurant at the Toyokan annexe, but you cannot go inside the garden teahouses (including TOHAKU Chaka) in a wheelchair. | 2026-08-12 (web) | [source](https://www.tnm.jp/modules/r_free_page/index.php?id=128&lang=ja) |
| Indoor / outdoor | Indoor & outdoor | Six gallery buildings, all indoors — Honkan (Japanese Gallery), Toyokan (Asian Gallery), Heiseikan, the Gallery of Horyuji Treasures, the Kuroda Memorial Hall and Hyokeikan. Outdoors there is the garden that spreads north of Honkan, with a pond and five teahouses, and the forecourt in front of Honkan with its benches. The garden opens 9:30 to 17:00. | 2026-08-12 (web) | [source](https://www.tnm.jp/modules/r_free_page/index.php?id=121&lang=ja) |
| Child switch (rider swap) | Not checked yet |  |  |  |
| Steps & slope caution | Barrier-free | The museum states that every facility and floor except the garden teahouses can be reached in a wheelchair, with lifts and ramps in each gallery. Three cautions all come from the museum's own accessibility page. Honkan and Hyokeikan have a steeply pitched entrance ramp and one-to-two-centimetre steps inside. The garden teahouses cannot be entered. And the walk from the station matters: the route from Uguisudani has narrow stretches of pavement and steeply cut kerb ramps, while Tokyo Metro Ueno and Nezu and Keisei Ueno are 800 to 1,200 metres away over steep slopes and steps. | 2026-08-12 (web) | [source](https://www.tnm.jp/modules/r_free_page/index.php?id=128&lang=ja) |
| Best-fit ages (guide) | Yes | The Family Space on Heiseikan 1F is meant mainly for preschool children — the museum writes 0 to 6 — together with a parent; children on their own or adults on their own cannot use it. The archaeology gallery, also on Heiseikan 1F, is the room the museum names for children on its own site map: 'you meet the works you saw in your textbook' and 'recommended for children too'. For children old enough to read there is a downloadable sheet of the museum's requests for looking at exhibits, and for younger ones a welcome leaflet and an exploration map. | 2026-08-12 (web) | [source](https://www.tnm.jp/modules/r_free_page/index.php?id=2670&lang=ja) |
| Crowding (guide) | Yes | The museum publishes its own crowding chart, gallery by gallery, day of the week by day of the week, hour by hour: a circle means quiet, a triangle fairly quiet, a cross crowded. The Honkan row is a cross right through 10:30 to 14:30 on Sundays and public holidays, and a circle at 15:30 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The Gallery of Horyuji Treasures column is a circle at every hour of Tuesday through Sunday and holidays. Separately, the museum warns that buying a ticket at the Main Gate window can take more than 30 minutes when it is busy. | 2026-08-12 (web) | [source](https://www.tnm.jp/modules/r_free_page/index.php?id=2739&lang=ja) |
| Stroller access notes | Yes | From the Park Exit of JR Ueno Station it is about 500 metres to the Main Gate; from the South Exit of JR Uguisudani about 600 metres. The museum warns that the Uguisudani route has narrow stretches of pavement and steeply cut kerb ramps. Tokyo Metro Ueno and Nezu and Keisei Ueno are 800 to 1,200 metres away, with steep slopes and steps on the way. The shortest walk of all is about 100 metres, from the 'Tokyo National Museum' stop on the Taito ward loop bus Megurin. There is no car park and no bicycle park for general visitors; the free spaces for visitors with disabilities are few, and you ring 03-3822-1111 before coming. | 2026-08-12 (web) | [source](https://www.tnm.jp/modules/r_free_page/index.php?id=128&lang=ja) |
| Official family-friendly certification | Not checked yet |  |  |  |
| Quietness (guide) | Not checked yet |  |  |  |
| Lost-child support | Not checked yet |  |  |  |