Contemporary Art of Japan Tour

Japan‘s growing art scene has been the catalyst for a museum boom throughout the country in recent years. With Tokyo’s cultural buzz being comparable to the metropolises of New York, London and Paris, Japan is an dazzling destination for art lovers.

For long, we have been fascinated with Japanese art. The Impressionists’ love of Japonisme is respond in kind, with some of the European masters’ paintings to be found amidst ancient and modern Japanese masterpieces on this journey.

A 100% customizable tour idea by Yoko.

This is a sample itinerary. Feel free to contact us anytime to order your very own customized program.

Day 1: Travel Day

After clearing customs and immigration, meet our representative and transfer by private car to your ideally located hotel.

Spend the remainder of the day at leisure.

The Artist Floor at Park Hotel is an exciting concept which was introduced in December 2012, where 31 selected Japanese artists were invited to individually decorate, in their own style, each one of the Artist Rooms on the floor.

Overnight at your 4**** hotel.
Park Hotel or equivalent.

Day 2 & 3: Tokyo

Tokyo has plenty of museums giving peeps into Japan’s rich and diverse history, but for those who are more contemporary-minded, Tokyo has a prolific artistic community, with an impressive number of small museums and galleries showcasing Japanese artists like Takashi Murakami or Yoshitomo Nara, and many of Japan’s foremost artists.

For those 2 days, you can also choose from a selection of our tours and experiences – the fish market of Tsukiji, Asakusa, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Harajuku and the Meiji shrine…

Not only in Tokyo, but during all your trip in Japan, we will of course give you restaurant advice for lunch and dinner. For example in the evening, we can suggest, “MoonFlower Sagaya Ginza, Art by teamLab”, a dining space born from a collaboration of Sagaya Ginza and the art collective teamLab.

Overnight at your 4**** hotel.
Park Hotel or equivalent.

Day 4: Tokyo/Hakone

Today, you will take a Shinkansen (bullet train) to the Fuji-Hakone National Park. Upon arrival at the station, you will transfer to your ryokan (traditional Japanese hotel) which is located in the mountains near the hot spring town of Hakone.

Nearby your ryokan is the Hakone Open-Air Museum, Japan’s first open-air museum, which opened in 1969. It has collections of artworks made by Picasso, Henry Moore, Taro Okamoto, Yasuo Mizui, Churyo Sato, and many others, featuring over a thousand sculptures and works of art.

The evening’s dinner, will be a traditional kaiseki featuring seasonal local ingredients with seafood from nearby Odawara port.

Overnight at your 5***** hotel.
Hakone Suishoen or equivalent.

Day 5: Hakone/Odawara/Kyoto

Your private car will pick you up and drive you to the Enoura observatory, perched on a hill with tangerine trees overlooking Sagami Bay, a project that artist Hiroshi Sugimoto has spent more than 20 years working on. It comprises a gallery space, two stages, a tea house, and other features that make the entire premise into a truly magnificent landscape.

Then you will take the shinkansen from Odawara to Kyoto, approximately 2h30.

Late afternoon and evening, catch a glimpse of a geisha or “geiko” as they’re known in Kyoto, with her white face and beautiful kimono, rushing to an appointment in the narrow streets of Kyoto’s Gion district.

Overnight at your private machiya.
Hosoo Residence or equivalent.

Day 6 & 7: Kyoto

Kyoto is world-famous for its magnificent temples and shrines, but it is just as famous for its splendid art museums!

We love artist’s houses like the Kawai Kanjirō Memorial Museum or the Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art. Originally built in the 1930s in the Imperial Crown Style architecture known as teikan, it has just reopened to the public following a contemporary, yet respectful renovation by architects Jun Aoki and Tezzo Nishizawa.

Or the Miho Museum designed by I. M. Pei, an internationally acclaimed architect who also designed the glass pyramid at the Louvre.

In the evening, experience the true, authentic taste of traditional Japan with a private kaiseki dinner with a maiko or apprentice geisha.

Overnight at your private machiya.
Hosoo Residence or equivalent.

Day 8: Kyoto/Setouchi Islands Cruise/Naoshima

In the morning, you will take the shinkansen to Okayama, approximately 2h30.

A car will then bring you to the Uno port, from which you will embark on an extraordinary and exclusive cruise art tour to encounter the life and culture treasured by the local people of Japan’s Setouchi region.

You will visit the Teshima Art Museum, a collaboration between world-renowned architect Ryue Nishizawa and artist Rei Naito.

And the ruins of a copper refinery, the heritage of modern industry, reborn as an art museum, the Inujima Seirensho Art Museum.

Overnight at your 5***** hotel.
Benesse Art Site or equivalent.

Day 10: Naoshima/Tokyo

Naoshima is a paradise for contemporary art, architecture and nature lovers. Art is blended into island life with theChichu Art Museum and Benesse House Museum that were designed by the world-famous architect Tadao Ando.

Artworks are not only exhibited inside buildings, but also displayed outside in natural spaces, creating settings that are unique to the island of Naoshima.

Late afternoon you will transfer by boat to Takamatsu for a flight back to Tokyo.

We hope you enjoyed this Contemporary Art of Japan Tour and that we will see you again.