Well worth a visit, the entrance fee is 1,000 yen (free to under 18 and over 60). The museum covers 3 buildings, where the main one covers Japanese history with kimono's, paintings and folding screens,lacquerware, arms and armour including samurai swords from the 12th and 13th century which are in pristine condition. The other 2 buildings are the Asian gallery which includes artifacts from around the world and the Japanese archaeology exhibits

I had a lot of fun at this museum. Very informative and well laid out museum with display explanations in different languages which makes it helpful for visitors of different countries. Excellent and helpful staff. The special exhibitions were also very interesting.

Went here on a rainy day. Plenty of exhibits which had descriptions in English. We felt there was not much variety and were basically pottery, sculptures or armoury. We skimmed the surface and were there for a couple of hours. We saw some fascinating objects and would definitely recommend it for a rainy day.

This is a really cool museum inside a beautiful park. We only went to the Honkan building - it has a lot of art and artifacts starting from the earliest signs of civilization to the present day. The highlights were the swords, samurai effects, kimonos, and woodblocks. They also have some fun interactive exhibits where you can make your own postcards with stamps. The signs say that they rotate some of the art and clothes to match the seasons, so it seems like you could go again and see different works!

I liked this museum a lot. It has 20 rooms on two floors with each room dedicated to a specific topic. The museum is very well laid out and it’s easy to breeze through the rooms you’re not interested while spending more time in others. English signage was common. They had a special exhibit for Edo Castle while we were there. We didn’t visit but the lines were extremely long. A great place to visit along the other sights of Ueno Park.

You'll either love it or hate it depending on your preferences. If you like art (calligraphy, drawings), swords, samurai and kimono dress, laquerware, porcelain...then you'll like this museum. If that doesn't appeal to you, skip it. Tickets, you can purchase from a kiosk/vending machine OR go to a ticket counter for personalized service. Seniors, ask about discounts.

Excellent museum large exhibition halls with great content and sufficient resting benches. Easily could spend an entire day here if you had enough time. It's made up of just two floors but as mentioned earlier spaces are huge. The ordinary ticket didn't have a queue only the special exhibition had a 30 metre queue when visited on a Sunday. Museum grounds are impressive also with sakuras and food trucks. Recommended.

Great place to visit. Not overcrowded. This is the oldest and largest museum. I could be wrong. It is not far from the art museum, the Ueno park, Ueno Zoo and also a science museum. It is a stop shop. When the weather is great you can sit around the fountain and relax. I will recommend this place as you get options. I did not take a lot of pics. But enjoyed my experience there.

We tried to go here on a Saturday which was a mistake as the queue was huge to get in. We went back on a rainy day, first thing, and the queue was already substantial. I think it makes sense to book tickets in advance if you know when you are visiting. This is one of those museums that you could spend a good half or full day in. The collections are pretty vast and interesting if you like relics and artifacts from foreign cultures. We spend a few hours here while it poured down outside. If if hadn't been raining we would have spent even longer as the gardens looked very nice. There are some private collection pieces that you can't photograph - the guards will stop you and ask you to delete the photos. You also can't take any water around the gallery. The sword collection here was good and better than the sword museum in Ryugoku in our opinion. The archaeological wing was really fascinating and I also loved the pottery. As time went on the museum got busier and busier so I'm glad we got there early and saw the bits that we really wanted to see before the crowds. When we left the queue had probably tripled.

The Tokyo National Museum was a totally pleasant and informative surprise. Suggest reserving tickets ahead of time due to interest; we went on last day of Golden Week and the crowd was quite low early in the day. Breath-taking view of Japan's history, the shogun period, the various emperors, outstanding shogun "outfits" and swords, terrific art. Well laid out and all artifacts labeled in English, Japanese, and Korean. We only spent three hours, but could have spent three days. Will have to make time to revisit and do more. If you are in the Tokyo area and have at least half a day, recommend highly. Please can take pictures of much of the collection...except a few artifacts that are clearly labelled as photography prohibited. Recommend this highly. But also suggest that good shoes and ability to walk a few miles is a huge help, but also a number of seats and benches around so that you can take a break when needed. P.S. wonderful museum store with very classy pictures, artifacts, screens and other things. Truly classy.