Hakone Open-Air Museum
Last updated: September 13, 2026
Japan's first open-air museum plants a sculpture collection in a Hakone mountain valley and lets the landscape do the curating: some 120 works by Henry Moore, Taro Okamoto, Yasuo Mizui and their peers stand against forested slopes that change with every season, while the Picasso Pavilion holds one of the world's larger gatherings of his ceramics and paintings indoors. Climb the stained-glass spiral of the Symphonic Sculpture for a valley view, let kids loose in the crocheted canopy of the Woods of Net, and finish with the museum's own hot-spring footbath — art appreciation, Hakone style.
Itinerary
- Stop at: Hakone Open-Air Museum
Frequently Asked Questions
Around 120 sculptures spread across the gardens — Henry Moore in notable depth, Taro Okamoto, Yasuo Mizui, Niki de Saint Phalle's exuberant figures — plus the Picasso Pavilion, whose rotating selection from a 300-work holding spans his ceramics, paintings and prints. The valley setting is deliberately part of the art.
Unusually so for an art museum: the Woods of Net is a climbable crocheted playground built as an artwork, several installations are made to be walked through, and the open lawns forgive young energy. The hot-spring footbath at the end resets everyone for the trip home.
Two minutes on foot from Chokoku-no-Mori Station on the Hakone Tozan Railway, one stop below Gora — which slots the museum neatly into the classic Hakone loop of train, cable car, ropeway and lake cruise.
Two hours covers the highlights at a stroll; art lovers and families both stretch it toward three. Clear days flatter the sculptures against the mountains, and light snow turns the whole valley into its own installation — the museum stays open year-round.