Tokyo National Museum

Founded in 1872, the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno Park is the oldest museum in Japan and holds the largest collection of Japanese art in the world — around 120,000 objects, including 89 National Treasures and hundreds of Important Cultural Properties. For a visitor trying to make sense of what they see in temples, shrines and shops, it is the single most useful stop in the city. The museum spreads across several buildings around a central fountain courtyard. The Honkan, or Japanese Gallery, is the heart of the visit: a grand 1930s building whose two floors walk you through Japanese art history from prehistoric Jomon pottery and haniwa figures through Buddhist sculpture, court painting and calligraphy to samurai armor, swords, lacquerware, Noh masks and robes, and the ukiyo-e woodblock prints of the Edo period. Displays rotate frequently to protect fragile works, so even repeat visitors see new things. The Toyokan houses Asian art from China, Korea, India, Southeast Asia and Egypt; the serene Gallery of Horyuji Treasures, designed by architect Yoshio Taniguchi, displays seventh- and eighth-century Buddhist treasures from the great temple at Nara in a minimalist glass box; and the Heiseikan hosts the blockbuster special exhibitions that draw long queues. Regular admission is very modest, and visitors under 18 and over 70 enter the collection galleries free with proof of age. The museum is closed on Mondays, opens late on Fridays and Saturdays, and is best booked online.

With limited time, focus on the Honkan. Start on the second floor, where the "Highlights of Japanese Art" route runs chronologically through the main periods, then descend to the first-floor thematic rooms for swords, armor, ceramics and the Ainu and Ryukyu galleries. The sword room is a particular highlight: blades by legendary smiths displayed against dark backgrounds so that the patterns of the steel glow. In the ukiyo-e room, prints by Hokusai, Hiroshige and Utamaro rotate every few weeks. Then cross the courtyard to the Gallery of Horyuji Treasures, which is usually quiet and almost meditative, with rows of small gilt-bronze Buddhas in darkened cases; its cafe overlooks a reflecting pool. Special exhibitions in the Heiseikan cost extra and are often crowded — check what is on and decide whether it is worth the queue.

Practicalities: the museum is a short walk through Ueno Park from JR Ueno or Uguisudani stations. Opening hours run from mid-morning to late afternoon on most days, with evening openings on Fridays and Saturdays, which are a good quiet option. Online tickets with a time slot are recommended and sometimes required at busy times, so book through the official site before you go. Signage and audio guides are available in English. Lockers are available for bags, and the grounds include a restaurant, cafes and a museum shop that is excellent for quality gifts. The museum's garden behind the Honkan, with several historic teahouses relocated from elsewhere in Japan, opens to the public in spring and autumn and is one of the quietest green spaces in the city.

Ueno Park around it is one of Tokyo's great cultural districts. Within a few minutes' walk are the National Museum of Western Art, in a Le Corbusier building that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site; the National Museum of Nature and Science; the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum; Ueno Zoo with its giant pandas; and the Shinobazu Pond with its lotus beds and temple to Benzaiten. Ueno is famous as Tokyo's busiest cherry-blossom picnic spot in spring. Ameyoko, the lively market street under the train tracks south of the park, is perfect for street food afterward, and Asakusa is a short subway ride east.