The National Art Center, Tokyo

Before you go

• Babies and toddlers may enter at any age, but staff can ask you to step out of an exhibition room for a while if a child disturbs other visitors, and leaving quickly from deep inside is hard. Admission is normally one entry only; in 2019 staff told a parent that re-entry is possible with a reason, so ask at reception if a child needs a break.
• Childcare normally runs on the 2nd Thursday, 3rd Sunday and 4th Monday of each month (check the museum's calendar for the month), 12:30–15:30, in a 3rd-floor room, at ¥2,040 per child aged 0–1 and ¥1,020 for ages 2–12 (tax included), with a sitter of their own for each baby aged 0. Book early through the outside operator by phone or on the web because places are limited, and pay by bank transfer before the day; you may be asked for an exhibition ticket or stub, the time is not extended even when an exhibition is crowded, and a refund needs a call by 17:00 on the Friday of the week before.
• Entering the building is free, but each exhibition has its own ticket and its own rules for children. The "Shojo Manga Infinity" exhibition of three manga artists (from Oct. 28) is free for junior high students and under with proof of age, and the Dokuritsu open exhibition (Oct. 14–26) is free for university students and under; for the Louvre exhibition (Sept. 9–Dec. 13) the ticket page lists adults 2,400 yen on the day, college 1,400 and high school 1,000, so check the child price there. The ticket counter takes credit cards, transit IC cards and QR payments.
• Hours are 10:00–18:00 with last entry at 17:30; the museum says Friday and Saturday run until 20:00 while one of its own special exhibitions is on, and hours can differ by exhibition. It closes on Tuesdays (if the Tuesday is a holiday it opens and closes the next weekday instead) and over New Year. During the Louvre exhibition, Tuesdays Nov. 3 and Dec. 8 are open and Wednesday Nov. 4 is closed, and Dec. 7–13 needs a date-and-time ticket.
• Strollers are allowed inside, but when the building is crowded you may be asked not to use them; free loan strollers are at the first-floor information desk, first-come, first-served (the museum's guide gives 11; a Tokyo survey counted 8). Long umbrellas cannot go into the building (leave them in the stand at the entrance), and coin lockers are available. Nogizaka Station (Chiyoda Line) Exit 6 (the ticket gate toward Aoyama Cemetery) connects directly to the museum, and the connecting passage keeps you dry in rain; with a stroller or wheelchair, the station's only elevator (middle of the platform, toward the Ayase end) takes you up to the ticket-gate level.
• The baby care room is on the basement floor and men may enter: go down the central escalator from the first floor and keep straight, and it is on your left before the general restrooms. It has two changing tables, a diaper bin and a step for changing a child standing up; sources disagree on whether it has hot water for formula, so bring your own. Other floors have family restrooms with diaper-changing space, open to anyone with a baby or toddler.
• The basement cafeteria serves hot dishes 11:00–16:00 (last order 15:30), closing earlier than the cafés on the first and second floors, and the 3rd-floor French restaurant's lunch last order is 14:00 and its kids' menu is for ages 12 and under (for reservations and how to use the restaurant, the museum points to the operator Hiramatsu's website). The museum's October 2025 event notice said baby food could be brought into all four restaurants and cafés, and listed high chairs on loan at the cafeteria and the restaurant.