Local Guide
 Museums in Karuizawa where you can feel the nature

Karuizawa is rich in nature, nurtured by the diverse ecosystem at the foot of Mount Asama. Many art museums are integrated with nature, taking advantage of the natural scenery that is close at hand, making it an excellent environment in which to relax and enjoy art in a leisurely manner. Here are five museums in Karuizawa that offer a sense of nature.

*Here are recommended sightseeing spots for rainy days

 The museum has a large main room and three smaller rooms that serve as exhibition spaces.
The museum has a large main room and three smaller rooms that serve as exhibition spaces.

The only museum in Japan to exhibit the works of Raymond Peynet, the French painter famous for his "Peynet's Lovers" series.
Many of Peinet's paintings are based on motifs of nature, including birds and animals, and his gentle and warm style, with messages of love and peace embedded in them, has been well received around the world.
The building was constructed by architect Antonin Raymond as his private residence in 1933. Today, it is a cultural heritage site in Karuizawa, and is perfectly suited to the fairy-tale world of Peine's paintings. Walking around the museum, you can hear the mish-mish-mish sound, which adds a touch of elegance.
There are three small rooms, mainly a large room with a vaulted ceiling, where original paintings, lithographs (prints), posters, and other artworks are exhibited according to their themes.

Local Guide Comment
Visitors can enjoy the heartwarming sight of adorable lovers. The view from the building is also wonderful.

A wonderful museum that matches the world of Peine's paintings.

 Store space. Sells postcards and other
Store space. Sells postcards and other "Peine's Lovers Series" goods.

The store space is well stocked with postcards, painting sheets, clear files, and other items from the "Peine's Lovers" series.
Many people buy them for themselves, but they also make great gifts. There are also "Peynet wines" directly imported from France, and many repeat customers look forward to new goods every year. Special exhibitions are held about three times a year. The museum has devised a way for visitors to enjoy themselves no matter how many times they come.
Once you step outside the museum, you will see the beautiful nature. You can sit on a bench outside and chat while looking at the river, or watch the ducks in the pond, relaxing in a comfortable atmosphere. It is a wonderful museum that makes you feel as if you have entered the world of Peinet's paintings.

Peine Art Museum
  • Address 217 Nagakura, Karuizawa-cho, Kitasaku-gun, Nagano MAP
  •  Direction 40 min. walk from Nakakaruizawa Station on the Shinano Railway Line
  •  Business hours 9:00-17:00
  •  Closed Open daily (closed in winter. See website for details)
  •  Admission Fee Adults 900 yen, Junior high school and Elementary school students 500 yen (including entrance fee to Karuizawa Tagliassen)
  •  TEL 0267-46-6161
  •  Parking Charged
 An open exhibition space designed to take advantage of the natural topography. It is at one with the nature of Karuizawa.
An open exhibition space designed to take advantage of the natural topography. It is at one with the nature of Karuizawa.

This museum allows visitors to appreciate the works of Senju Hiroshi, a Japanese-style painter who is attracting worldwide attention. About 50 works are on display at any given time, including "Waterfall," one of his most famous works.
On the grounds of approximately 3,000 tsubo (approximately 1.5 acres), there is a color leaf garden with approximately 60,000 plants of more than 150 varieties, allowing visitors to enjoy a variety of flowers and plants depending on the season.
The building was designed by Ryue Nishizawa, an architect who was involved in the design of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. The flooring takes advantage of the slope of the original terrain, giving visitors a strange sensation of walking down a slope as they move from the entrance to the back of the building.
There are also several small courtyards surrounded by glass, allowing natural light to stream in and making you feel as if you are walking through a forest. On sunny days, the light is abundant, and on cloudy days, the gray of the sky is reflected in the paintings, allowing visitors to appreciate the artwork as one with Karuizawa's natural surroundings.

Local Guide Comment
The paintings, the building, and the light are in perfect harmony, creating a very comfortable space.

A variety of Shops, Cafes, and other attached Properties.

 Museum store with a wide variety of original goods and books
Museum store with a wide variety of original goods and books

In addition to the museum, the grounds also include a gallery, a museum store, and a bakery/cafe by the long-established bakery Boulanger Asanoya. After viewing the paintings, visitors can relax with delicious bread and coffee.
The museum store sells original goods and books. Postcards and clear files are popular. There are also original goods with a deer motif, modeled after a deer Senju himself encountered in the forest when he was looking for a waterfall. The deer also appear in a picture book titled "On a Starry Night. This picture book is a groundbreaking book with no words, allowing the reader to imagine the story as he or she reads. You can enjoy the impression of the original pictures at home.

Karuizawa Hiroshi Senju Art Museum
  • Address 815 Nagakura, Karuizawa-cho, Kitasaku-gun, Nagano MAP
  •  Direction 10 minutes by car from JR Karuizawa Station
    Approximately 25 minutes on foot from Nakakaruizawa Station of Shinano Railway
  •  Business hours 9:30-17:00 (admission by 16:30)
  •  Closed Tuesdays (open if Tuesday is a national holiday, GW and July-September)
    Closed during winter from December 26 to the end of February
  •  Admission fee Adults 1,500 yen, college and high school students 1,000 yen, junior high school students and younger free
  •  TEL0267-46-6565
  •  Parking Free of charge
 Many paintings of rare plants are on display. The colored backgrounds are oil paintings.
Many paintings of rare plants are on display. The colored backgrounds are oil paintings.

This is the private museum of Ishikawa Koichi, a painter who loved and painted Karuizawa's flowers and grasses. The museum has a collection of 3,000 sketches and oil paintings of about 950 species of flowers and grasses native to Karuizawa, and exhibits paintings of flowers and grasses appropriate to the season.
Karuizawa is blessed with a diverse ecosystem, with forests, meadows, and wetlands at varying elevations. Until Ishikawa Koichi's death in 2007, he climbed the mountains with his pencil and watercolor sketching tools and colored all the flowers and grasses on the spot to depict them as they were.
In particular, "yusuge," a summer flower blooming around Mt. Asama, is also known as "asama kisuge. As the name suggests, the flowers bloom beautifully in the evening.

Many paintings of rare Karuizawa plants are on display.

 Many kinds of postcards of plants and flowers are available.
Many kinds of postcards of plants and flowers are available.

There are exhibition spaces on the first and second floors, and approximately 30 watercolors and oil paintings are exhibited on the second floor. The second floor exhibits about 30 watercolors and oil paintings, including paintings of rare plants that are rarely seen in Karuizawa, where development has progressed, such as the "Enbisenou," "Karuizawatsurisuge," "Hanahyotanboku," and "Azumagiku," making the collection a valuable source of information.
On the first floor, watercolor sketches are mainly exhibited, and original goods are also sold. Postcards are the most popular, and clear files and letterheads are also available.
Ishikawa Koichi has continued to paint with a delicate touch while gently watching over the flowers and plants of Karuizawa. The museum is a place where visitors can discover the charm of "small flowers and grasses" that we usually forget about, and which resonates with the heart.

Local Guide Comment
The paintings in soft colors are all warm and you can feel the love for the plants and flowers.
Karuizawa Flower and Plant Museum
  • Address 19-40 Karuizawa-higashi, Karuizawa-cho, Kitasaku-gun, Nagano MAP
  •  Direction 8 min. walk from Karuizawa Station
  •  Business hours Open 10:00-17:00
  •  Closed Tuesdays (closed in winter from late November to late April)
  •  Admission fee 500 yen (junior high school students and older), free for elementary school students and younger
  •  TEL 0267-42-0716
  •  Parking Free of charge
 Admission to the gallery on the first floor is free. There is also a Cafe & Restaurant.
Admission to the gallery on the first floor is free. There is also a Cafe & Restaurant.

The museum is located along the main street leading from Karuizawa Station. The first floor has a gallery and a museum store, both of which are free of charge. The first floor has a gallery and a museum shop, both of which are free of charge, making them accessible to visitors on their way to the area for sightseeing.

The second floor hosts special exhibitions and group shows. Visitors can see the "Symbolized Toilet" installation by Shuji Mukai, Jean-Michel Othoniel's "Kokoro no mon" in the garden, and the Kengo Kuma-designed chapel of white birch and moss.

Art goods that can also be Karuizawa souvenirs

 Museum store on the first floor
Museum store on the first floor

The museum store offers a wide selection of art goods and art-related books. Original KaNAM goods, exhibition catalogs, and works by the artists are also available for purchase, making them perfect souvenirs of your visit to the museum or your trip to Karuizawa.

Local Guide Comment
The museum has a bright, glass-walled atmosphere and offers a variety of events such as workshops.
Karuizawa New Art Museum
  • Address 1151-5 Karuizawa, Karuizawa-cho, Kitasaku-gun, Nagano MAP
  •  Direction 8 min. walk from Karuizawa Station
  •  Business hours 10:00-17:00 (until 18:00 from July to September)
  •  Closed Mondays (open daily in August, closed the following day if Monday is a national holiday)
  •  Admission fee Free admission to the 1st floor gallery and museum store; admission to the 2nd floor exhibition space is charged.
  •  TEL 0267-46-8691
  •  Parking Free of charge

After a day of sightseeing, relax at a Hoshino Resorts inn. Karuizawa is the birthplace of Hoshino Resorts, which has three unique inns, all full of fun and surprises for your trip.

A day off from the modern world, staying in a village in the valley

 The landscape created by the topography of the valley has a different look depending on the season and time of day.
The landscape created by the topography of the valley has a different look depending on the season and time of day.

HOSHINOYA Karuizawa, 70 minutes from Tokyo, is an ideal mountain retreat surrounded by clean air. Guest rooms are set around a waterfront garden, with terraces offering views of the changing seasons. The hotel offers hot springs that have been known since ancient times for their beautiful skin and loved by literary giants, cuisine for rest and relaxation that features ingredients from the mountains and rivers, spa programs that lead to relaxation of body and soul, and various activities that allow you to experience the four seasons with all your body and soul. Guests can fully enjoy their time resting from the modern world in the rich natural environment facing the "Karuizawa Wild Bird Forest."

HOSHINOYA Karuizawa
  • Address 2148 Nagakura, Karuizawa-cho, Kitasaku-gun, Nagano MAP
  •  Direction 15 min. by free shuttle bus from Karuizawa Station/Nakakaruizawa Station
  •  Parking Available

A cosy hotel in Karuizawa loved by vacationers

 Rooms are all independent cottages nestled among the trees.
Rooms are all independent cottages nestled among the trees.

Karuizawa Hotel Bleston Court is a hotel where you can relax in body and soul, where you will be welcomed with the spirit of hospitality cultivated in Karuizawa's guest culture and food that enjoys rich nature and the seasons. In the main dining room, Bleston Court Yukawatan, you can enjoy French cuisine that expresses the uniquely Japanese world, using ingredients nurtured by the richness of nature and valuing the spirit of appreciating the seasons and nature. Breakfast at Restaurant No One's Recipe is a "French Breakfast" of course, featuring a Brittany-style crepe made with buckwheat flour. Enjoy it with a glass of cider in the authentic Brittany style.

Karuizawa Hotel Bleston Court

More than an izakaya, less than a trip, a loose hotel

 A courtyard with a wooden deck where the night breezes of the plateau are pleasant and shooting stars can be seen.
A courtyard with a wooden deck where the night breezes of the plateau are pleasant and shooting stars can be seen.

This is a loose hotel with loose rules and time constraints. Guests can freely arrange how to spend their time, playing board games or card games in the open space "TAMARIBA," which is available 24 hours a day, or simply enjoying being in the same space while reading a book of their choice.
Within walking distance are "Harunire Terrace" with its lifestyle stores, cafes, and restaurants, "Hoshino Onsen Tombo-no-yu," a hot spring with free-flowing spring water, and "Picchio," where you can enjoy "Musasabi Watching," a 90% sighting rate.

BEB Karuizawa BEB Hoshino Resorts
  • Address Hoshino, Karuizawa-cho, Nagano MAP
  •  Direction 10 minutes drive from Nakakaruizawa Station
  •  Parking Available
The information in this article is current as of the date of the update. Please check before visiting as they are subject to change.