The Nezu Museum in Minami Aoyama recently got a facelift by Kengo Kuma. It is a private museum that started with a bequest from a rich industrialist with a collection of of more than 7,000 Japanese and East Asian items. I finally managed to visit the impressive space, after two failed attempts (once when it was closed on a national holiday and later then when it was closed preparing for this installation). I had no idea that it also houses a massive Japanese garden covering more than 20,000 square meters. The picture above is of the approach from the main gate.
Interior of the museum, 1st floor.
This is the new cafe near the museum with a fine view of the garden.
View of the garden from inside the museum.
A bridge over the pond to one of the tea houses within the garden.
Statues of boys in the garden.
One of the several buddhas in the garden.
Here are gates leading to a shrine.
I read about this place the last time I was there, but never made it. Looks as cool as I thought!
Posted by: Brendan | April 07, 2010 at 12:06 PM
Yeah, I was pretty impressed with this place. I knew that the new structure was impressive, but was really surprised how lush the grounds were. It's hard to imagine something like this in the middle of Tokyo.
Posted by: MC | April 08, 2010 at 07:21 AM