How to Tap into Hakone Culture

Hakone Open-Air Museum opened in 1969, it is the first outdoor art museum in Japan with a picturesque view of Hakone. The outdoor venue changes with the seasons. In the 70,000 square meters of green space, more than 100 works of modern art from masters world-wide such as Rodin, Bourdelle, and Moore are exhibited. There are about 120 pieces of works by well-known modern sculptors here. The museum also has five exhibition halls including the Picasso Pavilion, a children's playground, a natural fountain foot bath, and various other facilities where travelers can relax and enjoy the beauty of nature.

The Hakone Museum of The Little Prince replicates the streets and buildings where the author of Little Prince lived in Saint-Exupéry, presenting the scenes depicted in the book, making people feel like they are in a southern France town. The characters in the book are also depicted in the park, a must-see attraction for "Little Prince" fans. Walking in the Museum of The Little Prince, perhaps you are walking on the "Geographer Lane" one moment, the next moment you will have arrived at the "Lamplighter Square", you can move on to the "Little Prince Lane", just as you are in the story, walking on the streets of France. Retracing the exhibition halls, auditoriums, museum shops, and restaurants over the author's career in Saint-Exupéry is also very interesting and fascinating.

Kanagawa Prefecture Venetian Glass Museum is nestled in the mountains of Hakone. The main building resembles a medieval European aristocratic villa, like in a fairy tale world. Art galleries, shops, and cafes are scattered in this vast garden. The museum houses about 100 pieces of works from 15th-19th century Venice and modern Venice. They are Venetian glass art that was once all the rage amongst European aristocracy. Many valuable works such as the Cobalt Blue Goblet passed down by the Rothschild family are also on public display. The most amazing is the Fontana Fountain, a splendid fountain tree that glitters in the sun. The sparkling trees, springs, and waterfalls are made of glass balls. The entire museum has exquisite decor. The open-air cafe offers views of the medieval Venetian courtyard, where authentic Canzona instrumental music is played live. There is also an experiential workshop where you can experience the production of glass artworks.

The Hakone Museum of Art was built in 1952 with an art gallery focused on ceramics. It displays ceramic crafts ranging from Jōmon period earthenware to Sanage, Bizen, Tamba, and Shigaraki pottery. Its collection includes ancient calligraphy works, watercolors, and porcelain from Japan, China, and Korea. From the art gallery you can look out over the Gora Park, with beautiful autumn scenery.

The Narukawa Art Museum opened in April 1988 on the shore of Lake Ashi in Hakone. The museum collection focuses on modern Japanese paintings, with more than 4,000 pieces, the number of which is still increasing. Among these, there are more than 150 representative works of the artist Yamamoto Yoshio who was a recipient of the Order of Culture as the core of the collection. There are more than 40 works (including sketches) of Ikuo Hirayama. The collection’s works by Fumiko Hori, Nobutaka Taki, Makin, Yuki Sekiguchi, Yoshihiko Yoshida, Takehiko Mori, Hirohiko Hiraiwa, Tadao Kashiwazaki, Jun Kobayashi, Toshihiko Maemoto, Takeshi Ushio, and Masato Yanagi are the best in Japan. In addition, its collection of Ryoko Morita, Tadashi Ishimoto, Yoshiyuki Nakano, Reiji Hiramatsu, Kaoru Kimura, Gojo Naito, Nagaharu Yaya, Tasai Yoshida, and others are among the best in Japan. There are about 100 permanent exhibitions, and 4 seasons exhibitions on rotation. Taking a break from the appreciation artworks, you can walk outside through the glass door on the front of the museum, stroll through the garden and enjoy the beautiful scenery of Hakone.

The Polaroid Museum showcases the collection by Suzuki Tsuji, the former president of Polaroid Group, created over the span of 40 years. It mainly features Impressionist works by Monet and Renoir. It also displays Japan’s Western paintings, Japanese paintings, prints, engraving, oriental ceramics, modern Japanese ceramics, glass artworks, makeup instruments ancient and modern both Western and Eastern, etc. The exhibition ranges widely and the art museum is very attractive.

The Hakone Museum of Photography opened on April 7th 2002. It was originally the home of Saito Yamada, and subsequently partially converted into an art gallery. The permanent photo exhibition here showcase Mt. Fuji works by the photographer Katsura Saito of Hakone. Also, the first floor displays Mt. Fuji changing across 4 seasons, while the second floor gallery would exhibit Japanese and international up-and-coming photographers on a non-periodic basis.

The Kitahara Toy Museum is an exhibition of a Japanese toy collection by Teruhisa Kitahara created over 30 years, including about 3000 pieces. The toys are divided by time period and category, and are analyzed based on the toys that are loved by boys and girls of each time period, as well as when the toys became popular and fell out of favor. The museum has two galleries, featuring iron fire trucks, trains, and Shinkansen, foreign clown characters and carriage toys and animal toys that can be wound up, as well as toys created around the themes of movies and animation. It is worth mentioning that the toys in the museum will start moving together at a set time, which is spectacular and interesting.