Nihon Minka-en (Japan Open-Air Folk Museum)

An amazing and wondrous place. Really enjoyed learning about traditional Japanese homes and their architecture. Located in Kawasaki, just about an hour’s train ride from central Tokyo. I would highly recommend visiting this place if you have half a day to spare.

This place is a must-go for architecture and history buffs, and you can tell they take great care in maintaining the houses. It’s mainly visited by locals and was not crowded even on a Sunday. Many of the traditional looms were used by members from a weaving society and it was a pleasure to see them work the old contraptions.

Totally recommended! Very rich historic value with lots of information regarding each type of home depending on the zone and historic timeline. There is also a soba restaurant with good price and very nice ambient. A must visit place. Update: Went for a second time in March and there are more volunteers to explain each section!

Lovely museum for learning about historic homes from all around Japan. There are 20 or so homes (some are under construction) from various locations and historic periods with helpful employees and signs in both Japanese and English explaining details about the homes and histories. It’s a beautiful walk with benches and plenty of toilets throughout. Please note that it’s not all level and some slopes may be especially concerning in the rain.

Beautiful traditional japanese houses, real ones, divided into regions and displayed in a huge area! Not many tourist because it is kind of far from the center on Tokyo. Worth visiting!

so much to see! lots of english information. cute stamp activity for kids (or adults who want to do it, like me). it’s astonishing how these houses come from all over japan. very affordable entry at 550 yen, pay at door. so empty on a weekday at 3 pm. they have volunteers running hearth fires in the houses that end at 3 pm so i recommended going earlier (unlike me) to enjoy that experience.

We went here during our very first Japan trip in April 2024 and had a wonderful day that we will probably still be telling our grandchildren about one day. Originally, we wanted to visit the Historic Villages of Shirakawa-gō and Gokayama during our tip, but it was too far away from all of our other travel destinations, so instead we went to this open-air museum Nihon Minka-en, hoping we'd see some of the traditional folk houses of the same time and region. Shortly after entering one of the first folk houses, we met a group of senior volunteer workers sitting around a fire who warmly invited us to join them. One of them was able to tell us a little bit more about their work and the folk houses in English, which was really interesting. After hearing about our discarded plans to go to Shirakawa, Shigeo surprisingly and very kindly offered to give us a spontaneous little tour to show us exactly these folk houses from the same time and place. He was also very interested in hearing more about us and our home country, and we're still exchanging e-mails with him to this day.

Serene and informative open air museum less than 30 minutes from central Shinjuku. You won’t believe it’s within an hour of greater Tokyo. The houses are lovingly tended to by a group of volunteers and information is also available in English for foreign visitors. It’s about 1km walk from the nearest station but it’s worth it!